Are we asking the Right Questions about Technology in Education?
“Can a robot replace the world’s greatest artists?” That question was on the cover of the December 2023 issue of Smithsonian magazine. The online edition asked a more specific question: “Can Robots Replace Michelangelo?” Those questions were raised because a company near Carrara, Italy, uses robotic machinery to carve sculptures from the white marble in that region that Michelangelo preferred. Using 3D imaging, that company’s technology produces sculptures in a matter of days or months that formerly took artists years to carve by hand. A founder of the company likens their technology to apprentices and hand tools used by artists in previous eras. Currently, local artisans with decades of experience carving from block to final piece are employed by the company only for the purpose of putting the final touches and fine details on the technology-carved pieces. One of those artisans accepted the use of technology by saying, “you have to go with the times.” Similar questions and sentiments emerge when it comes to discussions about technology, particularly artificial intelligence (AI), in education.
What can technology do?
In a November 2023 Inside Higher Ed article, an English professor said that college students no longer need first-year writing courses because “AI can write for them” and “generate genre-specific text, approximate discipline-specific prose and create content that is free of grammatical mistakes.” The professor asked, “Won’t it be easier to have AI take care of students’ biggest writing problems so that professors can focus on content?” The professor also said that teachers need to “embrace technology and move on” and “be willing to adapt and change . . . to technology like AI.”
Many questions come to mind when I hear ideas similar to what that professor proposed, such as the following: Do we realize that current teachers know the content of their respective disciplines because they did not have AI writing for them? and What might the future look like if scientists, engineers, teachers, doctors, etc., come out of an educational environment where technology did their work for them? As to that last question, perhaps we were given a glimpse of the answer a few years ago.
What should technology do?
In 2021, hackers shut down Colonial Pipeline’s delivery of oil for days all along the eastern seaboard of the United States. Colonial was unable to resume operations on their own because the people who had the skill and knowledge to override the technology and operate the system manually were either retired or had passed away. That incident serves as a caution that the more technology is used, the fewer people there will be with the skills or knowledge to do what has been or will be abdicated to technology. In some cases, such abdication does not have the potential to be as detrimental as in others and might even be beneficial, but that is not true in all cases. Therefore, the simplistic mentality of accepting, embracing, adapting, and changing to whatever new technology comes along can cause problems in the long run.
Technology is increasingly making its way into more areas of our lives, such as education, and is improving in its capabilities. Technology is being used by teachers and students now more than ever before and appears to be continually advancing in what and how much it can do. Technology has been and continues to be helpful in education. But the helpfulness of technology can become a handicap depending on what it is being used for and how much it is being relied upon.
When asked if Michelangelo would have used robot technology, a founder of the sculpture company in Italy said, “Of course he would use robots–100 percent! I tell people who question what we do: How did you come here, on foot, on a horse or in a car? The car cuts time off your journey. So does a robot.” It seems that a similar attitude of getting things done quickly without a lot of human effort is taking hold in education. However, when it comes to education the benefit and value as it relates to learning is (or should be) in the process, not in reaching a destination or producing a product as quickly as possible.
Technology can be helpful during and throughout one’s educational journey, but it should not shortchange or replace steps in the learning process and, thereby, hamstring students for the future. There is much that technology can do in education, but it is more important to consider how it should be used so that tools, such as AI, are not hindering learning by solving problems that students, at a walking or horseback riding pace, should be attempting to solve on their own.
Brenda Thomas has a Master of Arts in Humanities and has worked as an online instructor and instructional designer in higher education.