If you ask any freshman who’s currently taking calculus how the homework is, they’ll probably mention a site called “Gradarius.” While the way to pronounce the name is debated among some students (some say grade-arius, others gruh-darius, or still others gra-doodle) there’s one common theme among opinions: it sucks. It’s difficult to use, makes any homework assignment take at least twice as long as it should, and it’ll give you random error messages, sometimes when the answer itself is correct but there’s a minor difference from their solution that doesn’t even affect the final product. So if it’s so bad, why are we using it? The answer is simple: our Institute of Technology is trying to incorporate more technology into our classes. That may seem like a good thing, but the fact of the matter is that technology isn’t currently (and probably won’t be for a very long time) in a place that allows it to replace a live professor standing in front of a classroom, or even just a live professor checking a homework assignment. Let me explain:
It’s no secret that robots are taking over jobs around the world. In fact, it may be the reason that many people are at Stevens studying engineering (even if robots are taking over jobs, there have to be jobs to make and design the robots themselves). But one position I’ve always argued will never be taken over by technology is teaching, specifically teaching in high-school and collegiate levels. Gradarius is a perfect argument for my case, as the complexity that comes with typing up simple limit equations makes it clear that although technology is making strides in many areas, it’s seemed to hit a roadblock when it comes to education. And that’s simply because there’s not one way to teach, or to learn.
To prove my point, let’s try a thought experiment. Say, for a moment, that we were going to attempt to implement robots as teachers. Obviously, different students are going to need to learn differently. There are four main types of learners (visual, auditory, reading/writing, and kinesthetic) so in an attempt to personalize the learning experience to make it more “human,” we could split up the students so that there are four types of instructions for each class, one for each type of learning. But wait — many students excel in different subjects using a different type of learning than in others. So within each subject, we’d have to program four different types of learning into our robot-teachers. But wait again — many students learn different units within subjects using a different method than other units. So we would have to break each class down further to categorize which type of learning each student felt most comfortable in for each unit. But even if we were to give them these choices, most students would find it hard to identify which type of learning suits them best. Most don’t think about such an abstract concept — they just learn. In an attempt to find something so specific and ingrained within themselves, the students might even identify the wrong type of learning for themselves. What results is a hyper-specific, regimented way of learning by a robot instructor doing its best to teach a group of students in a way that cannot possibly lend itself to every type of student’s needs, even if we break it down into every possible component. A human teacher can switch between these types of learning with ease — draw a model for one student, write an equation for another, do literal experiments for another — but this type of seamlessness and empathy for the learner will not soon be found in a robotic professor. And that’s what brings us back to Gradarius.
Although Gradarius is not teaching students calculus, it is still an excellent example of why technology isn’t at the point where it can be perfectly incorporated into a classroom. There are simply too many factors to take into consideration, and the process of learning itself (even for a single unit of a single subject) is still too complex to possibly grasp what every student needs to succeed. So for now, we’ll struggle through yet another weekly WebEx assignment and wait for technology in the classroom to catch up to where we need it to be.
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