Can technology replace teachers?

Dear readers,

Welcome to my blog again! Last time, I was talking about the changes of technological adoption in classroom from past to now. Today, I would like to focus more on how technological inclusion in education will affect the workers, like the teachers for instance.

Technology has changed the workplace significantly in the past few years. Remote access means thousands of people can work from a home office instead of commuting. This working style is getting more common because of the technological advancement.

However, when it comes to the field of education, can technology replace teachers? In the past, teachers seems to be an indispensable element in the educational industry. But time keeps changing. Nowadays, many students are taking online courses, online assignments and even online examinations. Students are all using technology as a tool to enhance their education. It seems that it is not a must to maintain a face to face teaching interaction in the classroom anymore. The role of teachers is to help others to acquire knowledge, competences or values. What if the computers can convey more knowledge to students? In my home university, when I need to do some research or I want to know more about certain topic. What I do is not ask the professors, but to use our school online library. There are different academic resources, paper or journal in which I can find everything. Sometimes, I even doubt that why I still need to go to the lectures? Staying at home can learn everything by myself.

To know more about students’ view, I tried to ask my friends. They told me that they need real teachers while technology is only a supplemental learning tool in the classroom. It is because teachers can give them quick responses and take care of the students depend on their personal needs while computer cannot do the same. Some of them even said that teachers had a positive impact on their life. In fact, although technology is able to take on a whole host of tasks, it does have its disadvantages. One of the shortcomings is computers are unable to interact with humans. Can it really know what every student need? Can it help to teach students about discipline or positive value?  

I do agree that technology can facilitate the learning process and reduce the teachers’ working burden. Yet, it cannot replace the role of the teacher in root. After all, education is human in nature. Great technology still requires great teachers. When do you think?