This article appeared on the BBC news site half an hour ago. There is also a video but you have to have access to a UK proxy to view it. I’m sure it’ll appear on youtube soon. Basically 7 schools in the Netherlands have gone towards personalized learning and all students learn on tablets. Teachers act mainly as coaches and mentors.
There is also a related article/video on the site in which Thailand’s goal to distribute a tablet to every child is discussed.
Links are below
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-23845345
So what do you think this means for us as educators? Will we be relegated to the role (and pay point) of teaching assistants? How does this impact instructional design?
In the case of this US school district, the whole district has gone digital. Few paper textbooks; they’ve been replaced with laptops, tablets and ebooks.
https://www.cisco.com/web/strategy/docs/education/CiscoEduEveryLearner.pdf
I’ve been assigned to a classroom where I have been more of a mentor for students on how to find the correct answer, rather than the instructor that can supply all of the correct answers.
In many ways, it was more difficult that my traditional job. Students can learn independently and with personalized plans, but I think that teachers will always be needed, even if they move more into a coaching role than ever before.
In the past, school divisions have tried to place teaching assistants in these teaching jobs, and the programs turned out to be complete failures. It shows that teachers are important, and necessary in the learning environment.