Future Applications
Costco and a few others notwithstanding, automation isn’t going anywhere soon. The trend of movement from human to human transaction to machine to human transaction shows no sign of reversing. Banks, libraries, restaurants, coffee shops, and other retail establishments have decided that the argument for efficiency in automated transactions is too convincing to ignore. As the trend continues, we can expect to see customers doing more of the work themselves, while workers at these establishments become watchdogs, ensuring people don’t cheat the system. The nature of already low-skill work can be expected to change dramatically in the coming decades.
Automation, personalization, and deprofessionalization in education
The same principles which guide the push for automation in the grocery market have encouraged the adoption of a similar philosophy in public education. In some ways, the personalization offered by automated processes can be a boon to students and teachers, as students are given the opportunity to explore individual interests and work at a pace that is appropriate for them.
However, there are some more troubling implications as well. Besides the lack of socialization inherent to such a model (how often do you make eye contact with the person at the next self-checkout machine), the teacher in such a model is assumed to be irrelevant. Some proposals I have read lately would create an online database of “master teachers” lecturing on various subjects so that students in classrooms across the country could benefit from only the best teachers (not their own obviously flawed ones). Combine this with the endless array of standardized tests students are exposed to, and the classroom begins to look a lot like a self-checkout lane: people engaged in their own personal business, an environment designed for speed and efficiency, and an employee present to make sure the technology works and no one is cheating the system.
Costco and a few others notwithstanding, automation isn’t going anywhere soon. The trend of movement from human to human transaction to machine to human transaction shows no sign of reversing. Banks, libraries, restaurants, coffee shops, and other retail establishments have decided that the argument for efficiency in automated transactions is too convincing to ignore. As the trend continues, we can expect to see customers doing more of the work themselves, while workers at these establishments become watchdogs, ensuring people don’t cheat the system. The nature of already low-skill work can be expected to change dramatically in the coming decades.
Automation, personalization, and deprofessionalization in education
The same principles which guide the push for automation in the grocery market have encouraged the adoption of a similar philosophy in public education. In some ways, the personalization offered by automated processes can be a boon to students and teachers, as students are given the opportunity to explore individual interests and work at a pace that is appropriate for them.
However, there are some more troubling implications as well. Besides the lack of socialization inherent to such a model (how often do you make eye contact with the person at the next self-checkout machine), the teacher in such a model is assumed to be irrelevant. Some proposals I have read lately would create an online database of “master teachers” lecturing on various subjects so that students in classrooms across the country could benefit from only the best teachers (not their own obviously flawed ones). Combine this with the endless array of standardized tests students are exposed to, and the classroom begins to look a lot like a self-checkout lane: people engaged in their own personal business, an environment designed for speed and efficiency, and an employee present to make sure the technology works and no one is cheating the system.
Sources:
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/02773940601021197#.VRgaBfnF91Y
http://cdh.sc.edu/~hawkb/790/Cooper_Agency.pdf
http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1748&context=etd
http://www.teachthought.com/learning/the-changing-role-of-the-teacher-in-personalized-learning-environment/
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/02773940601021197#.VRgaBfnF91Y
http://cdh.sc.edu/~hawkb/790/Cooper_Agency.pdf
http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1748&context=etd
http://www.teachthought.com/learning/the-changing-role-of-the-teacher-in-personalized-learning-environment/