Daniel Swersky has worked as an educational leader for close to 20 years. In the following article, Danny Swersky discusses technology in education, the advancements, changes, and values technology has provided students, teachers, and the educational system.
Remote Learning
Danny Swersky says that for adults in the working world, the introduction of remote and hybrid home/office working was one of the few good things to come out of the pandemic's restrictive measures. Many companies have embraced this way of working and have saved money and been beneficial to the environment.
But what about remote learning? Many teachers are concerned about the lost learning' period of COVID. They worry some students will struggle to recover from academically and socially. These concerns are based in data and are real.
As with all technology, the advancements in remote learning tech came with both challenges and opportunities reports Daniel Swersky. Forbes has reported on how online learning means children from even the most remote communities now have access to all manner of educational providers, giving some hope when it comes to bridging the gap in educational equality.
The Covid Boom
Daniel Swersky says that remote learning forced schools and educational providers to invest in tech that could ensure all members of their classrooms had access to schooling during lockdown. For tech companies, this meant a huge economic boost.
This has in no small part contributed to the predicted $404 billion price tag put on EdTech within the next two years, as reports Technology Magazine. Global learning companies like Kahoot! report figures of 2 billion participants of their apps and online resources, as more and more students put down their books and learn on all manner of tech equipment, instead.
Danny Swersky explains that it may break some teachers' hearts to see how many of their students are foregoing the traditional methods of learning, but there is no getting away from the reality that tech is here to stay, and data suggests it's children's preferred way of learning.
The Value of Robots
Danny Swersky says that educational technology primarily calls to mind the use of computers, tablets, and similar aids to learning. From a very young age, children are adept at using cell phones and tablets used in the home, and it makes sense to incorporate this technology in the educational environment.
However, the value of robots cannot be overstated. Daniel Swersky explains that the educational robot market is thought to be growing at an exponential rate and will be worth an estimated $505 billion by the end of the decade.
Robots and robotic tech can replicate real-life scenarios and are already being used to great effect in the world of medicine. Students of all ages, particularly in the STEM field, are developing new skills thanks to AI and robotics within the classroom and vocational arenas.
However, as the intelligence of robots grows, so does the fear of teachers who believe AI will compromise not only children's learning, but student integrity.
The Debate over ChatGPT
Hailed by some as the clearest example yet of the potential of AI, ChatGPT is the eponymous title of the Generative Pre-trained Transformer: essentially, a program that can create practically infinite information in the form of either short answers or even long essays on any given subject.
It might help someone find out quick facts about a country or a paragraph or two on economics, but ChatGPT is also capable of producing coherent, eloquent, and convincing essays of any desired length.
Unsurprisingly, Danny Swersky says that teachers around the world are concerned about what this means for student learning, particularly concerning fairness and plagiarism. However, other teachers are embracing the technology, arguing that AI is here to stay, and that educators should find ways to not only get used to it, but incorporate it in their classroom.
Policies that ban the use of ChatGPT make sense, but some have argued that using the bot to create an essay is not really much different from copying and pasting chunks of text from Wikipedia. Blocking the site in schools does not make much difference when students can still access it from home.
Danny Swersky says that some educators argue that teachers had the same concerns upon the arrival of the internet, but that they found a way to continue to fairly assess student learning and development. In time, ChatGPT may simply be another obstacle that savvy teachers will find ways to work around.
