A&HM 4029 Spring 2010 - Question #2 February 1, 2010
Posted by jamesfrankel in Main Page. trackbackWhat is your opinion about the possibility of technologies such as PowerPoint taking over for a “live” teacher? Do you think it will ever happen?
A Blog for Students enrolled in A&HM 4029.001 & A&HM 4029.002 - Fall 2009
What is your opinion about the possibility of technologies such as PowerPoint taking over for a “live” teacher? Do you think it will ever happen?
Technologies such as PowerPoint taking over for a live teacher is definitely a possibility in the future. With the capabilities for teachers to record comments and have the key points of a lecture available for students to see without having an actual person there, it certainly is possible to have a classroom without a teacher.
However, I don’t think PowerPoint has the capabilities to replace a real, live teacher. If students have questions, the program can’t answer them. The program can not see the classroom or even interact with it. Students could be falling asleep or passing notes and the PowerPoint would still be rolling, making the information useless since no one would be paying attention. Non-verbal communication with the students is impossible for a computer/program, so confirmation of the students’ attention is impossible unless the powerpoint is interactive for them. Perhaps if a teacher couldn’t be there in person, they could set up webcams for the classroom and the teacher and lead the discussion and PowerPoint presentation.
So, there is a possibility of technologies such as PowerPoint replacing “live” teachers, however I don’t think the students would benefit as much as compared to a live teacher.
Technology such as PowerPoint should not take over as a “live” teacher. One main reason is that the presentation of lessons would become repetitive. This would lead to loss of student’s attention and actually learning of the lesson. Another reason is there would be no student to teacher interaction. So the students could not ask questions or receive feedback.
Although I do not think technology should take over as a “live” teacher the thought may be explored. Some may think it would be more effective to teach students or give more financial support to students since they would not have that teacher to pay. I am sure this idea has already been pursued or will be in the future. As for if it will happen I doubt it, but you never know.
Liz Weissman
Technologies such as PowerPoint taking over for a live teacher is
definitely a possibility in the future. With the capabilities for
teachers to record comments and have the key points of a lecture
available for students to see without having an actual person there,
it certainly is possible to have a classroom without a teacher.
However, I don’t think PowerPoint has the capabilities to replace a
real, live teacher. If students have questions, the program can’t
answer them. The program can not see the classroom or even interact
with it. Students could be falling asleep or passing notes and the
PowerPoint would still be rolling, making the information useless
since no one would be paying attention. Non-verbal communication with
the students is impossible for a computer/program, so confirmation of
the students’ attention is impossible unless the powerpoint is
interactive for them. Perhaps if a teacher couldn’t be there in
person, they could set up webcams for the classroom and the teacher
and lead the discussion and PowerPoint presentation.
So, there is a possibility of technologies such as PowerPoint
replacing “live” teachers, however I don’t think the students would
benefit as much as compared to a live teacher.
I am all for using technology in music classrooms however; I don’t think technology will take over for a “live” teacher because I believe that some students need some sort of human interactions that you can’t get from a computer screen. For students who are emotional and social learner, they need that “live” teacher-student environment to build relationships and connections among their peers and teachers.
Also, there can be an uneven balance among the socio-economic classes. It is unfair for students who can’t afford computers or software’s because they live in poor neighborhoods. In this case, the school and teacher can only be their primary source for learning. While technology can enhance learning and teaching it can be in danger if misused by the students, such as taking shortcuts through the massive information that is available online. Students will tend to take the easy way out and therefore no critical thinking is required.
Therefore, I believe that technology needs to be implemented in the classroom couple with the “live” teacher as the facilitator in order to enhance the student’s overall development. Technology is certainly here to stay and it is up to the educator to gel the human touch and electronic age together.
Technology programs such as powerpoint replacing live teachers is a scary thought. It would essentially mean that most of us woudl be out of jobs in the near future. It is a realistic possibility, especially with so many states trying to cut funding and wanting to reduce teacher salaries. It would simply require one person to develop powerpoint programs that the students would be able to access and read. However, this “easing of the budget” is really the only (if you could even call it) positive side to something like this. It was mentioned above about the fact that humans are social creatures by nature and require interaction between peers and those more knowledgeable in order to truly and effectively learn something.
Powerpoint, and other such tools are simply that. Tools to allow teachers to better and more effectively instruct students. Sure, any student can sit there at home and click a button and read a slide, but what would happen if something didn’t make sense to them? To whom would they be able to address their questions? Technology is not THAT advanced yet where it can answer students’ questions directly. Google etc. can only do so much.
I believe technologies such as PowerPoint are best used to support and enhance presentations and lessons delivered. In my opinion, previous to starting at TC, I had never seen a PP presentation that I found to be effective - someone just merely reading aloud every word and bullet point that was already on the screen - very boring!
While taking some courses here, I have seen PP used in some interesting ways, such as including audio and video clips. While these could have been viewed separately, it was helpful to have them presented during the presentation/discussion.
I’m looking forward to learning how to better embrace PowerPoint, however I do not think that it could ever replace the “live” teacher.
Establishing a learning community and relationships is integral to successful teaching and obviously this would be absent. I do believe that some schoosl will try it but I don’t think it would be successful enough to continue.
This point has made me think about online courses however, which I’ve never taken and I’d be interested to hear from those that have and what it was like…
Also, I really think Wendy put it best above, when she talked about bringing together the human touch and the electronic age.
It might be possible that other subjects such as math or history could be taught using technologies. Currently, many kinds of on-line classes have been used for long-distance learning. After students read books, they can discuss with other classmates online. Also, they can do their own projects outside of class, post them on website, and give comments to each other. However, I believe that a “live” teacher is necessary even for online classes to answer the questions and motivate students to learn subjects.
In music classes, technology can be a teaching supplement, but it cannot take over for a “live” teacher. Let’s think about instrumental classes. Who is going to listen to music produced by students’ instruments, find out the problems, and provide strategies to solve these problems? I don’t think that students can learn how to hold the bow and have embouchure only through PowerPoint presentations.
I am not sure how well technologies will be developed and how it will affect the teaching and learning in classrooms. In the future, it might be possible that teacher robots teach students and help them do their own assignments in and outside the classrooms. Let’s see.
I agree with all of the above statements and I definitely view technology to be an effective method for class instruction that would be utilized to benefit both teachers’ and students’ skills as well. Despite this fact, I am against the possibility of any kind of such technology to replace any teacher’s power and role inside a classroom.
All students need the social interaction and supportive communication of their teachers that provides them with confidence, excitement, interest and promotes awareness and discipline towards their learning. No matter how advance the technologies may be, they would greatly lack this kind of chemistry and human perspective and in addition, they would be incapable of addressing further the students’ issues and concerns.
I personally find all forms technologies to be very anti-social and inefficient means of communication when they are used inappropriately and above their structured purpose. At the end of the day, would the society be encouraging our students, especially the younger ones, to learn to operate as computers or as humans?
Nothing can replace a “live” teacher, except perhaps another live teacher. And even that would provide a different learning experience for the student(s) in the class. I am a firm believer that technology in the classroom can be a good and powerful tool to aid in learning, but it cannot be the only tool. As a form of documentation of course materials already thought out by the presenter or as documentation of a class/lecture which has already happened and is worth repeating again in future, it can be quite useful. An important term here is “thought out.” Wendy brought up the idea of critical thinking. This is something I find of paramount importance in the learning experience (especially if any of that learning is going to remain with the student and not just pass away after the exam has been passed).
I agree with others in this discussion who bring up the particular nature of music as a subject. While it might be possible to teach certain subjects to a great extent (but I’m sure not entirely or most effectively) “from the page” (or the PPT) without the continued presence of the human who wrote the materials, I find it sad to think of a student learning music without a human teacher to guide and respond on a (sometimes, as in private lessons) moment-by-moment basis. It could be possible, but I think it would drastically change the resulting musical expressions. At the risk of sounding inflammatory, it might have a similar outcome to someone who creates music using only pre-existing clips (recorded by another artist) as their raw material. Certainly, a new work is created and I won’t say it’s not musically expressive, but that same person might be cutting off a large body of creative expression by not generating a completely new work without the recordings of others. See? I told you it might sound inflammatory. I think that music-making and teaching with the use of technology is powerful and can be highly effective and can open doors not previously opened, but it can not be done in a vacuum.
Another point I find important is that of the social environment of the classroom. Technology can aid in connecting people who would not otherwise be in communication (distance learning, otherly-abled learners, students who speak different languages using digital translators). In music (in the practice aspect) we are used to focusing between self and instrument and blocking out other influences for periods of time. It is necessary, however, to come out of that focus and communicate with those around - again the critical thinking which I find crucial.
I do not think that power point or any other technology will ever take over for a “live teacher.” The first reason I think is because of the social interaction that is so important to teaching. I couldn’t imagine, as a teacher and a student, not having someone to talk to about things. If there was just a screen at the head of the class going through the material what kind of interactions could there be. Someone is needed to foster classroom discussions and as much as I like to see the good in my students sometimes they just don’t talk and I need to urge the discussion. I guess depending on the technology, that could happen but I think genuine human interaction is important to the development of a child and sometimes school is the only place they get that.
From a musical standpoint I think the student teacher assessment is key to the classroom learning environment. Technology can pick out points of pitches being sharp or flat and things like that, but I feel that the actual music expression would be non existent. Who would add phrasing, dynamics, and check balance. I think there would be a complete lack of musicality. In addition to that music making is a group activity. The group needs to be disciplined and in tune with each other. I don’t think that could happen with just technology and no “live teacher”
The last point I feel that would lacking if technology would take over for a live teacher would be the special attention that is needed for individual students. First, students who just need that little bit of personal help after class to fix a specific passage in a song, work on their breathing, or work on some musical theory they just aren’t getting. Then you have the needs of the special ed students in your class. There are special considerations and accommodations that need to happen to have them succeed in your learning environment and I am not sure how technology could over come that. Like most I do feel that technology will aid in teaching a lot, but can never replace a good “live teacher”
In some ways, I think technology has taken over. The fact that a school like Teachers College even offers some courses that are strictly online is a perfect example. I’m not saying that online courses shouldn’t be an option, but I also don’t think they should replace actual classroom learning. I understand that at the other end there is a teacher, but when they’re not interacting with students first handedly, their role changes entirely. They don’t know how their students are obtaining information, what kind of learners they are, etc., so something like differentiated instruction is basically impossible.
I think we’ve all seen PowerPoint used in good and bad ways. I’ve sat through lectures/classes where teacher clearly reads everything off of the slides that are overflowing with information and words. In those cases, PowerPoint does the opposite of what many expect it to. If used effectively, it can help some students learn as it is a visual tool. Many students are visual learners, so simply listening to teacher lecture isn’t necessarily enough. On the other hand, if there is too much stimulation from the PowerPoint, it can also cause students’ minds to go a little off track.
If technology is used in moderation in the classroom, I think it’d be perfect. It shouldn’t have an absence, and it shouldn’t take over.
I believe PowerPoint would help both teachers and students. Teachers can organize their lessons through PowerPoint by highlighting the main topics they would like to teach on and the students will be able to understand the material by visual learning, allowing them to take notes more effectively. I am not necessarily saying live teachers will be replaced by PowerPoint but I believe it will help grab students’ attention better by using visual effects that PowerPoint offers. Using PowerPoint’s visual effects also show a variety of different teachers’ creativity towards their students to teach their lesson. In the future, I do not think anything will replace a “live” teacher but I believe technologies such as PowerPoint will give teachers more freedom and teach in a more versatile way and at the same time students will benefit from receiving the best education offered by their teachers.
I am skeptical about the “live” teacher instructions would possibly be taken over by the PowerPoint. Yes, I do agree that our technologies today are rapidly and constantly changing, but still, nothing can replace effectiveness and efficiency of the face-to-face instructions (if we are going to look at the effect of the teaching-learning process). Even if PowerPoint might simply lead to a professor’s or teacher’s improvement and/or modernization of their teaching performance in classroom, but still it doesn’t have significant effect on the student learning outcome. However, the PowerPoint can be used as “guide” by the teacher to enhance pedagogical methods.
There was a research study (Rankin and Hoaas, 2002) examined the effect of PowerPoint presentation on student learning performance in an introduction to economics course taught be one instructor. Each semester, one group of students was taught using PowerPoint and the other without slides to serve as control group. Results show that no significant effect in terms of student learning performance but significantly enhanced teacher’s methodology.
This is just to show that even if we have the best technological innovations today to enhance instructions, I believe that there are still consistent evidences, however, to show that conventional method or face-to-face instructions are still the best methodology in teaching. Nevertheless, with the rapid growing numbers of technologically developed teaching equipment to teach a concept, students like to be taught using PowerPoint perhaps because of the novelty and the availability of printed handouts of PowerPoint slides and think that the presentation is entertaining, enhance clarity, consistency in organization, and aid recall of the subject matter. Finally, I don’t think PowerPoint will take over “live” teacher in the future since there is a lot of factors to be considered. But in fairness to PowerPoint, no other method can be used to enhance teacher’s creativity except this technology.
I believe that power point could take over higher ed classes. For large lecture classes a power point could easily replace someone just talking in front of a class. As for asking questions, the computer can’t answer them but I’m sure the computer could tell you to go “google” it. Who knows, with crumbling economies or even poorer countries might resort to paying for a projector rather than paying an actual person to teach a class.
Also, it depends on how far in the future we are talking. Someday there will probably be a computer that can answer questions and probably even teach better than me. It would probably be invented by Apple and it would be called “iteacher”. (joking)
Although Powerpoint is a very effective teaching TOOL, the idea of any sort of technology replacing a teacher fully is not, in my opinion, completely feasible or effective in most cases. However, I could concede that technology replacing instructors in some cases can become more of a possibility. If the class is an independent study course that consists of highly self motived students whom need little direction this may work. In Instances where this has been mentioned before are higher education settings. I would be curious to know what the data says about the efficacy of powerpoint/virtual classroom versus more traditional “settings”.
Philosophically speaking, teaching in my opinion, goes beyond merely disseminating information to a group of individuals. Interaction between student-student-teacher is a key component to effective education particular when dealing with teenagers and children. Even highly motivated children with the best of circumstances need mentoring and guidance.In many cases particularly urban settings that are underfunded, the need for greater adult guidance in the school settings increases dramatically.
I am sure that there are computers that could probably handle the task of drill and memorization techniques better than human beings can. However comprehension may be neglected which may need a human being to analyze. When dealing with human beings, it is my opinoin that human beings are neccessary component. If we as teachers are mainly talking encylopedias made of flesh and bone then powerpoint and other technology should rightfully replace us. It probably will be more efficient and more accurate than we can be. However, if part of our mission is to help shape people to rise to their full potential as learners and as human beings, then technology will be a great TOOL but will never be able to replace human beings as teachers.
There will be proponents for technology taking over for the teacher however, I am adamantly against it. Music is interactive. Despite the fact that technology is constantly advancing; (solving new problems while creating new ones) the importance of balance should not be overlooked. The pros and cons of teacher versus technology are many. To abandon the human connection in music would have far reaching effects and change music as we know it.
Nothing compares to a live performance-nothing. It is our human connection that allows music to transcend race, and culture. It will never happen-at least not in my lifetime. Who knows what music will sound or how it will even be taught centuries from now?
I think technology taking over for a live teacher would be a terrible idea. Although technology serves as a great aid for teachers it would never be able to replicate all that a teacher does.
Teachers are there not only to educate students, but to serve as a role model and guide. I am sure technology would be able to answer students’ questions, but not in the same in depth way as teacher, who can ask and answer questions in multiple ways and assist students in not only the product, but the process of learning. Teachers who are passionate about their subject share that with their students. Helping a student learn to love music, art, or science is something I believe is beyond the capabilities of technology.
I have heard many people say how they have had teachers who have made a huge impact on their lives; I highly doubt technology could be as influential as a human being.
In terms of technology taking over a music teachers position I think there is definite chance that this will happen. As I mentioned in my previous post from last night, technology is rapidly growing and advancing so quickly. I think definitely that in five to 10 years music teachers will be dominated by technology. Powerpoint, and other electronic devices will dominate the classroom, and students will be respond to classroom assignments by technology driven devices, such as the ipad now, and future devices that will be designed. I don’t doubt one second that technology will rule the classroom in a few years. I think that it is almost happening now. Kids are learning so fast from computers and technological educational programs where the “live teachers” are replaced by computers and screens. I can even point out that home schooled children are dominated by the computer screen and power point presentation. They are learning by electronic visual representation of a teacher and I would say this will soon happen not only for home schooled kids, but for many children even in school settings.
So my official to this answer, is yes, I do believe that programs like powerpoint will take over live teachers in the music classroom.