Audrey Watters

The longer I teach, the more I notice that the "hot new trends" in pedagogy are simply repackaged versions of the last "hot new trend" that failed to revolutionize the field. MOOCs. Flipped classrooms. Guided pathways. And while the start of the pandemic made me eager to reconceptualize the classroom itself, two years in I realize that the most effective classroom, as far as just about all student outcomes are concerned, is the in-person classroom with me, the professor, standing in the show more front of the class: teaching them, interacting with them, working with them.

So I was looking forward to reading this book, hoping that it would start out with the early 20th century teaching machines and segue into a discussion of how those same ideologies form the basis for a lot of so-called modern ideas. I was also hoping for a more pedagogical, rather than technological or sociological, critique of the teaching machines. (Although I would suspect that there is no compelling data on the topic, if any data exists at all.) How can a teaching machine as envisioned by Pressey or Skinner teach students to apply knowledge? How can it accomplish anything other than rote instruction? And are "modern" versions of teaching technology any more effective?

I suppose the most amusing aspect of the book was how teaching machines were intended to "reduce the drugery and paperwork" of the teacher. That narrative hasn't changed in 100 years. I still receive solicitations from textbook publishers and other companies for me to use their automatic grading software, their automated learning platforms, their online homework systems. Some of them are quite useful, but none of them actually reduce my need to be an active part of my student's educational lives. None of them actually reduce the amount of time I spend grading and giving feedback.

I didn't dislike this book, but was disappointed that it focused almost entirely on Skinner and pretty much dropped off after the 1960s. It almost seemed like a 200-page historical rebuttal to the story about Sal Khan given in the introduction, and nothing qualitatively more substantial than that. show less

PDFWA1 | https://speakerdeck.com/audreywatters/ed-techs-inequalities | https://hackeducation.com/blog/ | This talk was delivered virtually today at Wesern Oregon University | Education is still the key to eliminating gender inequities, to reducing poverty, to
creating a sustainable planet, and to fostering peace. And in a knowledge economy,
education is the new currency by which nations maintain economic competitiveness and
global prosperity. …Closing the achievement gap and closing the show more opportunity gap is the
civil rights issue of our generation | To the contrary, I maintain that civil rights remain the civil rights issue of our generation.
When we see, for example, the Supreme Court overturn part of the Voting Rights Act,
when we see rampant police violence against marginalized groups when we see backlash
against affirmative action and against Title IX protections, when we see pervasive
discrimination – institutionalized – in people’s daily lives, when we see widespread
inequalities – socioeconomic stratification based on race, ethnicity, gender, geography –
we need to admit: that there are things that, as Tressie McMillan Cottom has argued, the
“education gospel cannot fix.” | Sites like Reddit will remain structurally incapable of producing non-hegemonic content
because the “crowd” is still subject to structural oppression. You might choose to say
within the safe confines of your familiar subreddit, but the site as a whole will never feel
like yours. The site promotes mundanity and repetition over experimentation and
diversity by presenting the user with a too-accurate picture of what appeals to the
entrenched user base. As long as the “wisdom of the crowds” is treated as colorblind and
gender neutral, the white guy is always going to be the loudest. |

Associated Links
-- http://www.ed.gov/news/speeches/vision-education-reform-united-states-secretary-...

-- http://tressiemc.com/2014/05/22/reparations-what-the-education-gospel-cannot-fix...

-- http://asugsvsummit.com/

-- http://www.theguardian.com/education/2013/jun/15/university-education-online-moo...

-- http://www.pewinternet.org/2013/08/26/home-broadband-2013/

-- http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/04/01/us-smartphone-use-in-2015/

-- http://www.educationsuperhighway.org/about-school-networks/

-- http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/03/the-schools-where-kids-cant...

-- http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2723615

-- http://edutechdebate.org/oer-and-digital-divide/open-educational-resources-expan...

-- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_effect

-- http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ecin.12089/abstract

-- http://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ757023

-- http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/education-july-dec12-rocket_12-28/

-- http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2014/01/21/19el-rotation.h33.html

-- http://www.jeananyon.org/docs/anyon-1980.pdf

-- https://medium.com/bright/ipads-teachers-e51896af3930

-- https://modelviewculture.com/pieces/grooming-students-for-a-lifetime-of-surveill...

-- http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/15/technology/with-tech-taking-over-in-schools-wo...

-- http://hackeducation.com/2015/03/17/pearson-spy/

-- http://hackeducation.com/2015/03/17/pearson-spy/

-- http://gmufourthestate.com/2014/08/27/optic-technology-grants-access-to-anytime-...

-- http://campustechnology.com/articles/2014/04/30/counterterror-software-to-become...

-- http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/06/technology/online-test-takers-feel-anti-cheati...

-- http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2014/11/12/12brief-3.h34.html

-- http://www.fastcoexist.com/3043779/world-changing-ideas/is-education-technology-...

-- http://hackeducation.com/2014/11/18/gender-and-ed-tech/

-- http://thenewinquiry.com/essays/very-serious-populists/

-- http://campustechnology.com/articles/2014/04/30/counterterror-software-to-become...

-- http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/06/technology/online-test-takers-feel-anti-cheati...

-- http://hackeducation.com/2014/11/18/gender-and-ed-tech/

-- http://www.fastcoexist.com/3043779/world-changing-ideas/is-education-technology-...

-- http://hackeducation.com/2015/03/11/men-still-explain/

-- http://thenewinquiry.com/essays/very-serious-populists/

-- http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20150402-the-worst-place-on-earth

-- About the Author http://audreywatters.com/

-- https://hackeducation.com/blog/

-- https://audreywatters.com/

SA - https://www.librarything.com/work/31311383/book/253445584 | https://www.librarything.com/work/30604687/book/244526764 |
RT - Value
BT - Equity
NT - Education
UF - The blog entry is about the inequalities in education technology and how it does not necessarily solve the achievement and opportunity gaps in society.
SN - This PDF was downloaded from the internet server/database from the journal is stored. (This entry does not reference a hierarchical list) show less