Over the last three years I have witnessed a concerning interest in 'adaptive learning systems'. These systems are computer based programs that provide the exact lesson the student needs in order to gain mastery in a standard. For instance, during a test, a student consistently misses questions about cell parts. At the end of the test the program says "hey, this student needs more work with cell parts. They need to read this section, watch this video, then answer these questions." The student does this and then takes another test and the program checks for growth. If they do well, the program sends them on to the next standard, if not, they go back to review more material. Eventually, they will progress and everyone can point to the program and say "IT WORKS! Look at that growth, wow! You're a great teacher!"
I have a lot of issues with this, and I fully admit that I am jaded in this area. This goes against every reason why I am in education and the day that someone tells me I will use this is the day I start looking for a school that is not as 'progressive'. First, and most importantly, the majority of my students HATE this style of learning. I don't think this can be glossed over. I want kids excited to come to school. I want them excited about learning. That does not seem to happen doing prescriptive lessons behind a computer. I have never heard a student say they don't need to be in class "because we are just doing a lab" but I have heard you didn't miss much "we just did insert adaptive program name here".
Second, teachers, you are shooting yourself in the foot. Now this is entirely self serving, and someone could read this and say "he's just protecting his job" and they wouldn't be wrong. I love my job, I do want to keep it. But I also want the students to enjoy school. When/If I come to the conclusion that students would rather be behind computers, I will happily move on myself. But my opinion is driven primarily by them, myself a distant second. Why do you need a small class size when they are learning via a computer 50% of the time? Why do you need to get paid for that masters when you just watch students on a computer? Why do you need to be paid for that National Board when anyone can monitor a computer lab. I foresee a shift from teaching to monitoring. I can effectively teach ~20-25 students, I can monitor and assist as needed, 35, 45, maybe 50 students? It is not hard to imagine a computer program that detects you are struggling with balancing equations. It provides a video and extra questions. You still struggle, but specifically you are struggling with counting atoms, so it provides another video and more focused questions. You still struggle, but it is only when there are coefficients in the problem, so it provides another video dialed into that issue. AH -HA the light bulb goes off, you have it! Again, I can admit I am not looking at it completely objectively, but I see it going that way because that's what I do, as as teacher, because I actually teach.
With all that said, I have to acknowledge that it works. I have seen the growth myself. Supposedly, the teacher that has shown the most growth the last 3 years uses one of these programs "almost daily". As an admin, it would be hard to turn it down. If a teacher uses it regularly, you are almost guaranteed results. We are continuing to move towards more and more testing and more and more data, why would I not want that for my school and district? Because it is being done at the expense of exciting students for acquiring knowledge. Because no one in the real world gets paid to learn behind a computer all day. Because the social dynamic is lost between student and teacher that has been at the center of education since the great Greek philosophers.
update 1/28 - Yesterday we got off track and started talking about the school's budget, (I love these students) and they made the comment that we spend too much money on technology, and specifically laptops. I probed further and it turns out they hate the laptops because all they do is use them for taking tests and doing programs. "What's the point of having teachers if someone else is just going to teach us?" -S1.
