In “Teachers in the Age of Digital Instruction,” The Fordham Institute (2011) presented a policy statement regarding how technology will impact the teaching profession.  In the digital age, effective teachers will be those who are capable of leveraging technology to produce outstanding learning outcomes among massive numbers of students.  As a result of this transformation, a hierarchy will emerge, and the nation will require fewer teachers.  Effective teachers  will be retained through increased pay and career opportunities.  Average teachers will be relieved of duties involving “complex tasks” (p. 2) and will be used to personalize instruction to students in traditional classrooms.  Their working hours will be reduced, along with pay.  Ineffective teachers will work as tutors, monitor online learning labs, or be replaced by candidates who are more qualified.  Teacher training programs will appeal to “digital natives” (p. 7), those who have grown up using digital tools, as opposed to “digital immigrants” (p. 7),  those who were not born into the digital age but who adapted to and sometimes adopted technology (Prensky, 2001).  Great teachers will become “media-genic super-instructors” who reach “boundless number of students” (p. 5).

What’s wrong with this picture? 

Any number of things, as pointed out by Luis A. Huerta in an article entitled “Review of Teachers in the Age of Digital Instruction” (2012).   The Fordham Institute report lacks empirical research evidence to support its assertion that the digital technologies will improve education.  According to Huerta, it presents a utopian vision that is untenable in guiding future policy and practice.  Although teachers do need to “harness technology to optimize learning” (Derbel, 2013, p. 94), the process will likely unfold gradually in slow pedagogical transitions.  While teachers may not enthusiastically embrace digital tools, as depicted in The Fordham Institute report, online roles will certainly encompass more complex tasks.  Derbel (2013) identified three roles that will need to be adopted:  an instructional design role, a managerial role, and a social role that includes humanistic teaching that draws on best practices in face-to-face instruction.  Effective instructors will therefore require a mixture of skills in order to facilitate and mediate within online communities in the future.

Recommendation:  Take “Contemporary Teaching and Learning Concepts,” offered in the DHSc program at A.T. Still University, to find out more about distance education.

References

Derbel, F. (2013). Facilitation of learning in electronic environments: Reconfiguring the teacher’s role. Proceedings of The International Conference On E-Learning, 94-100.

Hassel, B. C., & Hassel, E. A.  (2011).  Teachers in the age of digital instruction.  Thomas B. Fordham Institute.  Retrieved from http://edex.s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/publication/pdfs/20111116_TeachersintheAgeofDigitalInstruction_7.pdf

Huerta, L. A.  (2012).  Review of ‘teachers in the age of digital instruction’. National Education Policy Center.  Retrieved from http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED530732.pdf

Prensky, M.  (2001).  Digital natives, digital immigrants.  On the Horizon, 9(5), 1 – 6.