Abdul Ghafoor, Head of Product at Capita Education Solutions
Education is arguably one of the sectors most primed for the introduction of technology. It is, at its heart, a process-driven industry – we teach and test. It’s therefore no surprise that technology is transforming the role of the educator and helping learners reap benefits. But whilst a huge amount of progress has been made, challenges and barriers to adoption undoubtedly remain.
One of those barriers is a fear of what it means for the future of the teaching profession, with many educators afraid of being replaced by software or a robot.
Technology isn’t setting out to replace the role of the educator, rather it’s intended to complement and support teachers, enabling them to focus on the many aspects of the job that machines simply can’t do.
After all, as author Alex Beard says: teaching is the ultimate human profession. Today, hearing aids and glasses are accepted as invaluable technologies to augment the learning process, but even these had an adoption curve.
This paper will explore three key themes pertaining to the changing role of the educator:
Schools, colleges and universities generate and ingest vast amounts of data - everything from recording test results and timetables to logging important health and behavioural information.
However, the real challenge is being able to interpret and deduce actionable insights from the data that can benefit educator and learner alike.
Fortunately, there are technologies developing that can provide educators with aggregated insights that will assist them in making smart choices about how best to educate. But even the most basic technology can have huge benefits.
At a school level, by making the most of software that logs students’ progress - recording classwork, homework and exam results - teachers save vast amounts of time writing reports and providing updates at parents’ evenings, as well as gaining high quality data and a holistic understanding of how students are progressing.
Data analytics help reduce workload in monitoring learning progress and can inform timely interventions for students who are struggling or excelling. There are many analytics tools that can learn educational patterns and therefore identify or predict any future learning issues. They can also help evaluate the efficacy of the educators’ intervention, assisting the individual in understanding if further action will need to be taken.
However, in the age of GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), data privacy is high on the educational agenda. Students and parents are undoubtedly increasingly savvy about their data, but this isn’t to say educators should shy away from making the most of this valuable pool of insight. Making sure it’s managed in the right way is key: having secure, auditable systems for data management is essential for keeping learners’ data safe and accurate.
Capita SIMS and UNIT-e student information systems address these day-to-day data management concerns for educators.
The software helps educators record, streamline and - most importantly - make sense of the vast amounts of data at their disposal.
In the UK, high attrition among teachers is a huge problem - a survey by the National Education Union found that 40% of teachers and support staff predict they will no longer be working in education by 2024.
As a result, the government is using money to incentivise people to join the profession - with a recent announcement promising a 6.3% increase to starting salaries.
It is widely understood that the main reason educators leave the profession is due to the large, and ever increasing, workload.
Outside of the classroom, preparing for lessons and marking are two of the most time-consuming elements of a teacher’s job. Technology can, and should, play a vital role in alleviating the time spent here.
One of the first major successes in learning technology came from teachers connecting, crowdsourcing and opening up their courses, textbooks and class materials to be shared and accessed digitally.
Not only is this saving them time and money, but it allows educators to access the best of what’s available - in turn benefiting the students.
In schools, homework has long been a contentious point - who hasn’t heard (or used!) “the dog ate my homework” excuse? Considering the amount of time that educators spend sharing, chasing and marking homework, there is a strong argument for teachers to share homework tasks digitally and directly with parents, who will then also digitally receive the marks of the homework once completed.
This is possible with the SIMS Parent service today.
Beyond using technology to streamline more traditional homework tasks, education technologies such as Kahoot! automate and gamify both the testing and marking process. This makes it more enjoyable and engaging for the students completing the tasks, while saving educators large amounts of administrative time reviewing and manually logging scores.
Dr Kameel Khan, a fellow at Stanford University’s Careers Institute, has discussed the important role diagnostic tools can play in assisting educators. Instead of testing knowledge, these tools analyse how people learn and where gaps in their knowledge are - enabling the educator to tailor and personalise the learning content.
Virtual reality is being put to practice in science education with products like InSimu patient providing opportunities for real-world diagnostic decision-making on virtual patients and MEL Science pioneering Chemistry VR lessons. Such technology tools accelerate creativity, cater for variant learning approaches and enable distance learning.
In FE colleges and universities, another form of automation that is being developed to support and ease the load of educators is the “digital campus assistant” - aka a chatbot. Nick Waters, Senior Consultant at Capita Consulting, says that digital assistants are now being designed and deployed to help a range of services and personalise a student’s experience, from capturing initial course enquiries to assessment deadline reminders.
However, while the scope for technologies based on automation, AI and machine learning to support educators is significant, there are still many areas where the role of the human teacher remains vitally important.
It’s important to remember that today’s younger generation are digital natives - they’ve been born into a world where smartphones are ubiquitous, and YouTube is an always-on information boutique. Given the embedded role that technology already plays in their day-to-day lives, coupled with the important technological competencies which their future careers will necessitate, it’s only natural that it plays a key role in the classroom.
The internet is undoubtedly a double-edged sword. Children can theoretically find out anything they want to know at the drop of a hat.
However, in a world of fake news, polarised opinions and an overwhelming number of information sources, a key component of the educator’s role is to equip learners with the skills they need to analyse, challenge and filter this information. Teachers also have a key role nurturing emotional intelligence, creative ability, collaborative skills and character development.
This also applies to further and higher education. Technology helps provide content across different channels, accessible online notes and learning resources available whenever they’re needed. The role of the lecturer is to be able to provide context and break down complex ideas into relevant lessons. As Tarun Wadhwa puts it: “the job of the teacher is to make sure the student has a comprehensive understanding of what they seek to know more about - with a strong focus on foundational principles, supplemented with relevant anecdotes, and delivered with clarity and patience.”
Although technology has provided a handy alternative to the teacher when it comes to discovering new information, there are many areas where only a human touch will do.
When it comes to explaining abstract concepts or providing emotional support, machines simply aren’t the solution. In addition to this, one study found that classes delivered live had an engagement rate four times higher than when material was delivered as a pre-recording, demonstrating the continuing importance of the in-person interaction between learner and educator.
The same is true in the workplace. Sometimes the best people to teach you something are your colleagues, who are working through the same problems as you. Google found great success with their Googler-to-Googler peer training programme, which provided the infrastructure for employees to collaborate, removing barriers to sharing, and encouraging the development of communities.
And when it comes to practical skills - like first aid or learning to swim - there are questions as to whether these can really be learned digitally at all.
There are undoubtedly still many areas where technology alone simply isn’t sufficient, and the expertise of the educator remains invaluable. But one area that is ripe for positive impact from technology is in the training of educators.
Countries like Singapore, which are known for their high-performing education system, make a point of investing in, and utilising technology in teacher training.
In countries where teachers don’t get enough support to grow their skills and expand their professional capabilities, learning technologies can be a key resource to help with this.
The changing role of the educator isn’t just a concern for educators and learning institutions. Rather, we all have a stake in education and our investment and support for education will have an impact across society and the world.
We’ve explored some examples of how technology, ranging from data analytics and automation to AI and machine learning - can assist and augment the role of the educator.
These technologies are only set to get smarter and more helpful in the years to come.
As more and more digitally native educators enter the education sector, technology will increasingly be embraced for the supporting role it can play rather than feared for what it might take away.
By re-imagining the learning journey, taking more data-informed approaches, and embracing partnerships we can pool together our best ideas to support and enhance the work of our teachers and profoundly improve the quality of instruction at every stage of the learning journey.
