Bill Gates: Three Trends With Technology Empowering Teachers
Forty years ago, Paul Allen and I founded Microsoft , because we wanted to help everyone get as much from computers as we could. Then only large businesses had access to modern computer technology, and we thought that it would be useful for millions of people to have such opportunities at their fingertips. Since then, personal computers, programs, and the Internet have changed almost every aspect of life in the United States — almost.
I still wonder why technology has so weakly impacted education. Now I think a lot of time about what teachers can do if they get new tools, especially if they themselves say what tools they need. Last year, I wrote about six sites for teachers that attracted my attention, and noted that "it is too early to say which one will make a breakthrough in education." And it’s too early now, but we are starting to notice patterns in which teachers use computers and the Internet to give students a more dynamic education.
Here are three trends that the teachers tell me.
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Right now, teachers spend hours checking homework and tests, write down grades in tables, which they themselves compile. After this routine, the teachers do not understand how each of the students works - after all, they are guided only by the lines and columns with numbers and the information about the student that they remember. But online systems provide information about each student. In the California Summit Public Schools school network, students and teachers work on the Personalized Learning Platform. Teachers not only see the tasks for each student and their implementation, but also use predictive analytical tools and visualization to determine which students are on the right track and which urgently need help.
Teachers spend time choosing the technologies that work best. Then developers get feedback and improve products. There are more successful examples. Software called Newsela , for example, interprets news for readers of different levels. It doesn't matter what skills specific students have in a particular class — teachers can discuss the same information with everyone. Another example is ThinkCERCA , an essay writing software. It’s easier to solve a math problem online than to write an essay online, but ThinkCERCA helps teachers and students work together on each part of the process, from writing notes to creating a plan and working on a draft. The program does not generate an assessment of the essay - the teacher works one on one with the student.
For many years the students had a textbook, and the teachers had a plan, although they might not like it. The Internet helps teachers publish their own curriculum. Teachers communicate, discuss lessons, share experiences to improve the learning process. The teachers are pleased with the possibility of such collaboration - before it was not. A few years ago, New York State assembled a collection of the best curricula called EngageNY. This collection was useful to the teachers, the materials from it were downloaded more than twenty million times. Other sites, including Better Lessons and LearnZillion , have made similar libraries. Teachers use proven plans to teach or lend to individual techniques, to adapt and improve them.
Two common denominators unite these trends. First, technology gives teachers more resources. Teachers save time, get the right information and are free to choose how to use this information. Secondly, teachers themselves have become a tool in the development and application of technology. The head of the ThinkCERCA is the teacher. Summit teachers have worked with creators for several years. Teachers with their feet vote for software and aggregators of lessons that they like more.
For me, the main technology is what people can achieve with them. We begin to see teachers using their improved interaction with students. It will take a lot of time to understand which ideas will have a greater impact, but it is very interesting to observe the changes that are already occurring.
I still wonder why technology has so weakly impacted education. Now I think a lot of time about what teachers can do if they get new tools, especially if they themselves say what tools they need. Last year, I wrote about six sites for teachers that attracted my attention, and noted that "it is too early to say which one will make a breakthrough in education." And it’s too early now, but we are starting to notice patterns in which teachers use computers and the Internet to give students a more dynamic education.
Here are three trends that the teachers tell me.
')
The revolution in the joint work of teachers and students
Right now, teachers spend hours checking homework and tests, write down grades in tables, which they themselves compile. After this routine, the teachers do not understand how each of the students works - after all, they are guided only by the lines and columns with numbers and the information about the student that they remember. But online systems provide information about each student. In the California Summit Public Schools school network, students and teachers work on the Personalized Learning Platform. Teachers not only see the tasks for each student and their implementation, but also use predictive analytical tools and visualization to determine which students are on the right track and which urgently need help.
New educational software changes the rules of the game
Teachers spend time choosing the technologies that work best. Then developers get feedback and improve products. There are more successful examples. Software called Newsela , for example, interprets news for readers of different levels. It doesn't matter what skills specific students have in a particular class — teachers can discuss the same information with everyone. Another example is ThinkCERCA , an essay writing software. It’s easier to solve a math problem online than to write an essay online, but ThinkCERCA helps teachers and students work together on each part of the process, from writing notes to creating a plan and working on a draft. The program does not generate an assessment of the essay - the teacher works one on one with the student.
Teachers use online aggregators to share ideas with colleagues across the country.
For many years the students had a textbook, and the teachers had a plan, although they might not like it. The Internet helps teachers publish their own curriculum. Teachers communicate, discuss lessons, share experiences to improve the learning process. The teachers are pleased with the possibility of such collaboration - before it was not. A few years ago, New York State assembled a collection of the best curricula called EngageNY. This collection was useful to the teachers, the materials from it were downloaded more than twenty million times. Other sites, including Better Lessons and LearnZillion , have made similar libraries. Teachers use proven plans to teach or lend to individual techniques, to adapt and improve them.
Two common denominators unite these trends. First, technology gives teachers more resources. Teachers save time, get the right information and are free to choose how to use this information. Secondly, teachers themselves have become a tool in the development and application of technology. The head of the ThinkCERCA is the teacher. Summit teachers have worked with creators for several years. Teachers with their feet vote for software and aggregators of lessons that they like more.
For me, the main technology is what people can achieve with them. We begin to see teachers using their improved interaction with students. It will take a lot of time to understand which ideas will have a greater impact, but it is very interesting to observe the changes that are already occurring.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/294012/
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