The debate we should have about education today goes beyond public discussions to date. We should openly discuss, “How should educators use our power over learning?”
I’ve grappled with this question for decades, beginning in the first grade with my wonderful teacher Mrs. Hyatt at Theodore Roosevelt Grammar School, Burlingame California. I learned to think of the benevolence of teachers’ power.
My view may now be incomplete, when I think of the potential electronics has for learning.
Educators have tremendous power over what, when, and how much students learn. We control access, methods, content, and reports of selected kinds of student learning. Many teachers argue, without educators many students might not learn as much as they do today.
The proposed debate about educators’ power would include, but not be limited to the emerging place electronics for learning, such as with mobile PCs and yet to be released products.
Arguably, the job of educators is changing. An internationally esteemed educator mentioned recently, “We won’t need teachers some day with all this new technology.”
He knows that his statement is not new or news worth. He also recognizes that people use on-demand websites, direct learning software, webcasts and podcasts more than they attend to scheduled formal teaching.
No one knows how changes will evolve in teaching positions and electronic learning tools. Discussions about the use of mobile PCs in schools, funding special education, minority group memberships, student discipline and similar debates, as important as they are, pale against the shadow of educator power.
What’s your view of educator power over learning? How do you see the changing job of educators influencing this power? Do you see mobile PCs as a part of these changes?