I bet, we all here have a smart TV and subscribe to at least one smart streaming service like Hulu or Netflix that selects movies of our choice based on their smart algorithms assessments. It is very convenient and helps to save time on search. We don’t even need to go through reading descriptions. I don’t remember how it all started, maybe my husband was watching some zombie series about the end of the world but since then our streaming services have been pushing to us the end-of-world agenda. Every second movie is a futuristic picture of the earth that is either dying from climate or technological catastrophe, nuclear war or some sort of deadly invasion. For a change, last night, the future that was shown in The Pod Generation movie was not that grim and on the contrary very artistically and even sterile positively painted: clean smart round shaped houses and balanced workplaces managed by machines assistants, female workforce recognition, algorithms measuring productivity (HR dream), and the highlight of the story - children conceiving and bearing in smart pods and receiving data while being in ‘uterus’ from centralized AÍ or from parents who can communicate with their future baby via app. I am not writing a review or judging the idea of the movie, what caught my attention was a little episode showing the future school where machines are making art and the kids are only grading it. School / corporate administration (DOE in this school of the future didn’t have any voice) decided that kids no longer need to learn how to paint or create when it can be perfectly done by Aí. “Smart efficient decision” from AÍ algorithms of the future - you don’t need to be a creator or an artist to grade an artwork, do you?
It brought me to a question: who will teach kids in the school of the future? And you know who I asked first? Yes, ChatGPT. Here was the summary of the answer: “In the future, teachers may take on more of a facilitator role, guiding students through self-directed learning experiences, leveraging technologies like AI for personalized learning paths, virtual reality for immersive educational experiences, and online platforms for collaborative projects and global connections. Overall, the teaching profession will likely evolve to adapt to the changing needs and capabilities of students in the digital age.”
Based on ChatGPT data, a teacher of the future will no longer be teaching rather than facilitating a self-directed learning process, where most likely AI will be creating personalized learning paths for each student based on the algorithms, almost like a smart, efficient streaming service of Hulu or Netflix.
I am from a family of teachers and scientists. My grandmother was 27 when she started teaching world art and literature in destroyed by WWII Crimia, Ukraine. Post-war families, especially kids, growing up often without fathers lost in the war, struggling to get a piece of bread to their tables, were less interested in going to school or thinking about education, especially about literature or art. Despite that, after a full day in school, my grandmother was going to the absent kids' homes, bringing books and assignments, explaining homework and the importance of learning to kids and their parents. It was not in her job description to do that. But it was in her inner algorithm of being a teacher - to give kids an opportunity to create their own future and be a part of their learning path, most importantly demonstrating that everything requires effort and work. I remember hundreds of letters my grandmother received every holiday from her former students who were always grateful for her not giving up and teaching them resilience, a growth mindset and a love for learning under the toughest conditions.
I was so lucky to have amazing teachers throughout my life. Inspiring, humble, dedicated professionals who were influencing young people’s minds and motivated creativity and curiosity for learning more. I remember the art teaching school, where students were assigned to draw a hundred sketches every week to create a muscle memory or motor learning that is an essential step in unleashing one’s creative expression. The same learning approach was used in playing musical instruments, dancing, martial arts and even reading and learning itself. This monotonous boring step of practicing and learning to learn gives a brain an ability to create its own algorithm. And this very important step is under the possibility of being completely taken away from human experience and given to automated tools and AÍ, according to the movie.
Without knocking off technology and progress, how to keep the balance between simplifying our life for the purpose of efficiency and at the same time not giving away the ability to learn and create? Working with the blooming EdTech sector and being amid AÍ hype, we all are creating the algorithms of the future of education. And the main question still remains: who/what will be teaching our kids in the future?
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