Speculative Narratives: my story
Reflection
In my speculative design I focused on where education may be moving with the enhancement of artificial intelligence. I intersect two different narratives related to one idea- robot-teachers in the classroom. One narrative introduces the idea of artificially intelligent robots taking over educational design and assessment. The idea is that robots will work far more efficiently when it comes to designing educational programs for students. The internet has connected curriculum ideas and design from people all over the world and I robot may be able to search through all that data to find something that would work best, given a certain context, for students to learn. Robots also may have the potential to assess students far faster than a human. The idea being that these robots can assess student work on the go and design their educational plan according to their assessments and readiness levels. The robot could also take in facts provided by each child about their interests and passions and weave that into each student’s individualized education plan. Teachers can be slow- slow to provide feedback, slow to assess student progress, slow to design new learning opportunities for students. Humans only have so many hours in the day and with 30 students in a class, all at different levels, with multiple learning needs, it is so overwhelming to tailor education to the individual student. Robots have the potential to academically enhance the learning and learning environment for all students.
The second narrative speaks to the job teachers have that no one sees. It’s the job, that unless you’re a teacher, you probably don’t know about or at least don’t know the toll it can take on you. It’s hard to understand the time this part of the job takes, the emotions it evokes. Students are little humans that can have adult problems. When we hear about these problems we as the teachers have to process these issues and help the students to navigate them. Sometimes it involves getting the student to seek professional counselling and sometimes, on the very serious side, it involves calling the Ministry of Children and Family or the police. Dealing with these issues all happens outside the hours of the bells. The fictional narrative explained by Ms. Street in my story speaks to the social emotional side of learning teachers have with their students. It’s nothing that can be put into code or algorithm… instead it’s a feeling. It’s reading someone’s face and knowing somethings wrong without them ever needing to say anything. Educators that make connections with their students and build relationships know how to read their students so they know if something is wrong or off. Students need to have their basic needs met: food, water, clothing, sleep, and shelter. If these items are not available or being restricted to students they will not be able to learn. If their social emotional needs are also not met, for example the student feels stress, anxiety, or trauma, the student will not be able to learn. No matter how spectacular the individualized learning plan is, the student will be unable to focus on it. I am not confident that technology can ever replace a teacher in this respect.
Dunne and Raby (2013) speak to speculative design and its importance in providing a look at alternative futuristic scenarios. They discuss the importance of having an early look at possible undesirable features of future speculative design so that these problems can be addressed early on in the technology advancement. This relates directly to my intersecting narratives. AI in education has the possibility of enhancing academic achievement of students, however, I don’t believe AI could ever replace a teacher. I don’t believe robots will ever be capable of reading emotion and helping students navigate the social emotional side of learning.
References
Dunne, A. & Raby, F. (2013). Speculative Everything: Design, Fiction, and Social Dreaming. Cambridge: The MIT Press. Retrieved August 30, 2019, from Project MUSE database.