The Fordham Institute released a report focused on teachers in the digital age, particularly on the issue of if, in the near future, traditional teachers could be replaced by full-blown digital instruction delivered online. The authors claim that as digital learning become more widely used, “solid instruction in the basics will eventually become ‘flat’—available everywhere globally. The elements of excellent teaching that are most difficult for technology to replace will increasingly differentiate student outcomes.” In other words, teacher effectiveness will matter even more than it does at present. This means that though schools will not need as many teachers, the teachers they do have will need excellent resources (both in technology and support staff), and could command higher pay.
The authors argue that digital learning has the capacity to revolutionize the teaching profession in three primary ways:
Enabling excellent teachers to reach more students.
Attracting and retaining more of these excellent teachers.
Boosting effectiveness and job options for average teachers.
The authors picture a world in which the excellent teachers are the primary instructors, average teachers work with small groups of students and personalize instruction, and ineffective teachers who wish to remain in education as online learning lab monitors or similar, non-instructional capacities. This would lead to a smaller but stronger and more highly paid teaching force (who would be solely accountable for student outcomes), supported by lower-paid, more flexible, and less time-consuming roles (i.e., small group instructors or lab monitors who would not be accountable for outcomes).
In order to realize this picture, policies at all levels of government will need to change significantly. This includes management systems, funds allocation, technology infrastructure, and “in the level of will and demand for better student outcomes.” The authors go on to detail the facets of their vision: teacher roles, retention, effectiveness, training, professional development, and certification; class sizes; teacher evaluation and supervision; compensation and other finances; employment arrangements; and the role of unions.
To read the full details of this vision, please visit http://www.edexcellencemedia.net/publications/2011/2011_CreatingSoundPolicyforDigitalLearning/20111116_TeachersintheAgeofDigitalInstruction.pdf
