A great book on this topic is "Failure to Disrupt" by Justin Reich. It summarizes how some ed tech worked really well in some cases, but there was no ed tech that radically changed the nature of education. The book summarizes a lot of hype cycles that fizzled out for various reasons, but a consistent problem in ed tech is the desire to make large-scale changes to teaching and learning (either removing teachers from the process and/or casting teachers as the enemy) while making tremendous profits.
The more charitable read of some ed tech development is the need to lower overall costs as state funding declines. ASU has a lot of money, but funding from the state is not a big part. Michael Crow, President of ASU, claims the university could still function if the state reduced its funding to nearly zero. ALEKS works, in part, to reduce the need to hire qualified math faculty and reduce costs. AI development is really expensive and not likely to be a cost-saver right away, but it could allow ASU another revenue stream and make it even less dependent on state funding.
What about the teacher that reaches that one student and changes her/his life? Zoom is not in person and AI (admittedly not an expert) feels so cold and calculating. Everyone blamed the lack of personal interaction, during Covid, for the mental health crisis we now see in teens. We need to think long and hard about these consequences.
A great book on this topic is "Failure to Disrupt" by Justin Reich. It summarizes how some ed tech worked really well in some cases, but there was no ed tech that radically changed the nature of education. The book summarizes a lot of hype cycles that fizzled out for various reasons, but a consistent problem in ed tech is the desire to make large-scale changes to teaching and learning (either removing teachers from the process and/or casting teachers as the enemy) while making tremendous profits.
The more charitable read of some ed tech development is the need to lower overall costs as state funding declines. ASU has a lot of money, but funding from the state is not a big part. Michael Crow, President of ASU, claims the university could still function if the state reduced its funding to nearly zero. ALEKS works, in part, to reduce the need to hire qualified math faculty and reduce costs. AI development is really expensive and not likely to be a cost-saver right away, but it could allow ASU another revenue stream and make it even less dependent on state funding.
What about the teacher that reaches that one student and changes her/his life? Zoom is not in person and AI (admittedly not an expert) feels so cold and calculating. Everyone blamed the lack of personal interaction, during Covid, for the mental health crisis we now see in teens. We need to think long and hard about these consequences.