Can technology replace teachers in the classroom?

The following is a summary of an article entitled ‘Technology in Education: If Students aren’t Worried, Then Why Are Teachers?’ it was first published in The Guardian on the 10th of March, 2014, and full article can be found here.

This newspaper article looks at the way in which technology is being embraced and rejected by teachers and students. The article remarks that many teachers are afraid of technology because it takes the human element away from teaching – but the article’s truthful retort is that technology and human elements are not mutually exclusive.

Technology has the ability to support and engage students, and it is not simply a vehicle for content. Furthermore, it’s evident that many teachers and educators do not incorporate a human element to their work, and instead stand and deliver information.

However, the article most definitely does not call for teachers to be replaced by technology, but to embrace technology as an important tool for teaching and learning that can complement a teacher’s knowledge.

The inclusion of technology in the classroom has been met with some resistance, and rightfully so.

Often, teachers are bombarded with requests by third parties attempting to sell them technology for classroom use. Often, this is met with the promise that this technology will increase student outcomes dramatically.

Teachers may instead be fazed by technology’s inclusion in their classrooms because technology is not a replacement of the current way they teach. Instead, implementing technology in the classroom requires a completely new conception of the way in which content is taught.

A computer’s word processing function does not mean that it can replace notebooks – a whole new way of thinking about how information is required for it to be properly implemented into the classroom is needed. Thus, teachers are not hesitant about technology because it is alien to them, rather, because the implementation of effective technologies requires a whole new pedagogical practice.

What do you think? Can technology replace teachers?