The historical record of edtech is pretty shoddy 😞 Surely there are better ways to invest in education than repeating these mistakes with generative AI?
Comments
Log in with your Bluesky account to leave a comment
The huge excitement right now about AI in schools really needs tempering with some historical reality-checking. It won't be "different this time" because the tech is only one part of a bundle of financial and political desires, as tech in schools always has been.
Sadly, that historical record is largely either unknown or mis-known (false narratives abound) by those making the decisions. The tech charlatans prey on ignorance. So... how do we raise the decision-makers' consciousness?
Over the last three decades, the US has gone from almost no Internet access or digital devices in schools, to the vast majority of K-12 students using laptops and the Internet daily in class. Quiet transformation has won the day over high-profile (and yes, sometimes shoddy) splashes.
Well that's the same here in wee Scotland as the US and everywhere. Not convinced it's "won the day" (some of it's crap, if you've seen it, right) and I'm pretty mind-boggled by government deals to make kids lug Google Chromebooks around all day.
Comments
https://www.grendel.no/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/a-history-of-teaching-machines.pdf
As for how they are used, I’ll stand by my old adage: laptops won’t make a bad school good, but they’ll make a good school better