Giving Compass' Take:

• Thomas Arnett, writing for the Christensen Institute, touches on the essential points of why technology will not replace teaching and ways to strengthen the practice.  

• One suggestion is to have teachers iterate on their instruction methods and give them more opportunities to experiment. How can schools foster a supportive environment of both emerging education technology and teacher invention? 

• Read about the opportunities for technology in the classroom. 

Over the last few years, the Christensen Institute has written extensively on how innovation in K–12 education will impact teachers. We’ve tackled important questions such as “Will computers replace teachers?”, “How will technology change teaching?”, and “How do you develop teachers for next-gen classrooms?” Below are highlights of our key findings and insights.

  • Technology will not replace teachers: Good teachers do more than just dispense information. They provide expert guidance and feedback on student projects, foster students’ motivation to explore real-world problems and issues, and help students develop important social skills and work habits.
  • Teachers’ strengths can also be stumbling blocks to innovation: Sometimes the skills that make a teacher effective at her job in one setting can make it difficult for her to adapt to new roles in next-generation teaching environments. The first step to helping teachers adapt to new instructional models is to help them recognize the need for change and then give them opportunities to experiment with new approaches and iterate on what they learn.
  • Innovative schools should build their own teacher development pipelines: A huge problem slowing innovation in personalized learning is that we don’t have a clear pipeline for preparing and developing personalized learning teachers.

Looking to the future, we can see that many of the instructional innovations that come with blended learning can have a powerful and positive impact on the teaching profession. But to fully realize the opportunities innovation offers, teachers and school leaders will need to proactively manage how innovations unfold.

Read the full article about teaching by Thomas Arnett at Christensen Institute