Can You Replace a Teacher With an iPad?

An artist can not be replaced by a tool just as a teacher can not be replaced by an iPad.  We are here today to discuss the important role of both technology and teachers as they work together to improve education. 

This is a comment post that we hope to see lots of useful information come to fruition.  So to get the ball rolling,  "Why should you get to keep your job as an instructor when a device like the iPad exists?"

The hash tag of this conversation on twitter is #BeAMaverick.

UPDATE:

The conference went well and there was some good input.  A note to myself and instructors that want to use twitter in the class is that you need to start a hash tag early if you want lots of support from an online community.  It is like any kind of event.  You can not create some signs in the morning and expect lots of people to be aware of your event.  It takes an advertising strategy where you build up to your event. 

One of the big topics we saw at the conference was that the students of K-12 education are being taught skills that are based on algorithms.  These are problems that have a clear set of steps to achieve success.  These skills can be taught by an iPad since they can be drawn up in advanced and they know the expected outcome to grade the student. 

This is great except that most employers do not want those skills.  They are useful for assembly line work which has been fading in the United States.  Would you want a carpenter that has the skill set of building those prefab desks that have the instructions shown step by step or do you want a carpenter that can analyze any section of your house and adapt to any possible issues that may arise?

What current employers are looking for are those students that have learned in a heuristic environment.  This is where you apply problem solving skills to try to solve something that does not have any clear outcome.  It deals with the ability to discover new knowledge.   Currently the iPad or any other computer is weak on this type of processing.  

You will find code that is heuristic in the AI(Artificial Intelligence) field.   It is still something that computers can do but not very well.  IBM Watson is an example of this type of program.   A majority of code developed for computers is algorithmic in that it behaves in a predictable manner by following a set of steps set up by the programmer.  When you press save you want the program to save your data.  You don't want it to think about how to save or other possible ways of saving.  You just want it to do what you told it to do.   This is a difference between employees and computers.  People are fine laying out step by step instructions for a computer.  They are not OK with hiring a new employee that you have to explain their job to them step by step all the time.

Heuristic style programs will be interesting to see in the future when we get better AI.  Can a computer program teach and analyze your problem solving skills when there is no set answer?  Can it use a knowledge base to determine if you are getting better at solving real world problems and can the test adapt to your learning.  Would it be able to raise the bar at exactly the right time to keep you moving on the right track? 

Another big topic was that learning occurs when the student reaches a failure and they have to think and analyze what went wrong.  A good teacher will swoop in at that very moment and help the student just enough so that they don't give up but that they solve the problem and become motivated to move forward.   It is a fine line where you want them to struggle a little so that they really think about the problem they are trying to solve.  You don't want them to spit out facts and that be the end of the class.  You have to be careful not to burn them out either.  I feel this is an area where the iPad is weak. 

It will be interesting to see if future apps use the front facing camera to determine if a student has understanding or if they are confused.  It will also be interesting to see if they can build educational apps that push the student at the right pace for them to be successful.  This is already in the computer science field but it resides in games and not as much in education.  A good game will push you enough so that it is challenging but not ridiculously impossible. 

Overall it was a great learning experience.  Please comment if you have thoughts and ideas yourself on how teachers and iPads can work together to get the most successful students.