What Role Can Technology Play in Education?
By Maya Robnett
Between social media, video games, and electric scooters, if there is one thing my generation is known for it is being absorbed by technology. Technology has had an integral part in shaping modern culture, and in recent decades it has had an important role in the education system. Many high school and college students can recall using Shmoop, Spark Notes, Crash Course videos, and Khan Academy in their times of academic need. Going through schooling from a young age while having limitless information at your fingertips is a unique privilege of Generation Z. However, are there times where technology is more of a burden than a benefit? In this essay, I would like to investigate the impact that technology-based education platforms can have on students, and the educational system as a whole.
Personalized Learning + Artificial Intelligence
Technology can be used as an incredible learning tool for students of all ages. Many platforms providing online learning tools tout their ability to provide personalized learning. Personalized learning is instruction that emphasizes students’ individual learning needs alongside their interests and preferences. In a study conducted by The Rand Corporation, personalized learning both through technology and traditional teaching has positive impacts on students’ test scores. Personalized learning systems through technology is intended to give students a certain level of independence in their learning. They are allowed to process at their own pace and take detours to where their curiosity takes them. This can be used to catch-up on material that was not well understood from class, or can be integrated into the classroom curriculum.
In order to fully grasp what personalized learning in technology looks like, I invite my readers to take a moment to click through Khan Academy and explore the platform for yourself. Let’s say you are in elementary school and you are looking to improve your arithmetic skills. You navigate to the lesson on Early Math to build on your counting skills. Every time you get a problem correct, you receive a star and you are told you need a few more correct answers in order to level up. The only thing the student sees is a game where the goal is to reach a streak of correct answers. Behind the scenes, Khan Academy algorithms are determining which areas the student needs to improve and is strategically feeding more problems to build skills. These algorithms tailored to the users strengths and weaknesses are an important part of how users are able to build skills. How could this possibly be a negative thing?
An important thing to consider when weighing the impact of artificial technology and machine learning is that these algorithms have to be trained by programmers in order to recognize patterns. Depending on the training data that the algorithm is given, it will generate machine learning models to approach different situations. Since ultimately, these computers are trained by humans, these algorithms can hold the same biases that the programmers training them may subconsciously hold. In fact, research has shown that the algorithms that run these artificial intelligence platforms can carry racist, sexist, and ableist biases. An issue lies in the fact that many times these biases in technology are overlooked because we tend to see technology as objective and logical. While it may not seem consequential for learning arithmetic, it is easy to see how the danger of these implicit biases could escalate when teaching young minds about history for example. How would you feel if potentially racist technology is determining how students should best learn about slavery? Without viewing technology-based education platforms as a product of human decisions, we could overlook all of the ways that these technologies could -- for better or worse -- shape the way students see the world.
Privatization of Education
Most technology-based education platforms are now being run by private companies. This privatization of education can provide an avenue for rich people to influence young people through the guise of learning. This puts billionaires instead of elected officials behind the scenes of making artificial intelligence-based decisions. This can be dangerous for multiple reasons. Firstly, this gives private companies massive amounts of psychological data on how these students minds work. This provides not only a personal security issue, but this data can later be used by these corporations to specifically target these students without their knowledge. Secondly, this gives private companies control over artificial intelligence-based decisions that changes the trajectory of students’ lives. For example, artificial intelligence is increasingly being used to determine a student’s admission into an institution. This would allow private companies to have control over where students are getting accepted into college. Any biases -- whether unintentional or strategic -- that are reflected in a private companies’ artificial intelligence algorithms would give private companies the opportunity to slot students into the educational system.
UNIVERSITIES AND THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM
Technology-based education has also had an immense impact on the educational system. These platforms push the status quo on traditional schooling and push elite institutions to stay innovative. To look into this further I would like to dig deeper into our analysis of Khan Academy. Sal Khan, the founder of Khan Academy, has two ideas to push the status quo on traditional schooling. First, he wants to uphail the system of degrees. This purpose of this is to replace degrees with certifications that can determine a person’s ability to accomplish certain tasks regardless of their ability to attend schools. In a way, this would deem prestige from elite institutions somewhat useless if Khan Academy is able to prove that it’s users are able to build the same skills for free. Secondly, he wants to replace the transcript system with a portfolio system. This will transition the emphasis in school away from grades, and towards application-based projects. While it is hard to imagine university degrees and transcripts becoming obsolete in the near future, Khan’s ideas reflect a general direction for where education may be headed someday. Both of these ideas would theoretically be an equalizer in education by providing education accessibility at a much lower cost, but in this essay I would like to remind people to be cautious of the ways in which technology may also recreate existing inequalities in the educational system.
Access to Technology
Another flaw with a technology-dependent educational system is that it can be unfair to students that lack access to technology at home. 2013 Census data reveals that only 48% of households with income less than $25,000 have access to the internet at home. It is easy to see how students in these households have a clear learning disadvantage if their school curriculum becomes technology-dependent. They would not be able to complete assignments at home, while their peers are able to work on assignments around the clock. Efforts to reduce this digital divide must also be strategic and thoughtful. Researchers say that focusing on providing technological resources to less affluent communities can be detrimental if funds are being pulled from already scarce resources in the community to do so. It is important that the desire for increased accessibility to technology-based education in low-income communities is not overshadowing efforts to fight for other fundamental rights for students.
Closing Thoughts
I would like to reiterate that I in no way mean to criticize the use of technology in education. I myself am incredibly grateful to live in a time where I have access to so many resources online. Technology can provide an incredible way to cater to different learning types and make education more accessible. I genuinely believe that the dangers surrounding the use of technology in education have nothing to do with the technology itself, but rather in the ways that we decide to implement technology. Technological platforms cannot be used as a cover-up for flaws in the education system. We cannot expect these technologies to exist as an unbiased force of equity when it is working within systems of inequality in American education. Technological education platforms cannot be used to replace quality teachers and robust resources in schools. Technology should be used to take students’ learning to the next level. As time goes on we must not shy away from the shift in education towards technology and instead stay simultaneously open-minded and vigilant when embracing technology as a way to grow young people’s minds.