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The EdTech Revolution Has Failed

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346 points obscurette | 2 comments | 12 Nov 24 14:11 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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brainwipe ◴[12 Nov 24 15:54 UTC] No.42116539[source]▶
IMO education is still built around Victorian structures and needs to be reworked from examinations downwards. Examinations are an exercise in being good at examinations, not proficiency in the subject. Once you strip that away the you wind back all the structures that feed it. You can see this working at schools designed for the neuro diverse. Those students simply can't sit and listen to a teacher all day, so each student learns in their own way and are better of for it.

Arguing about the effectiveness of edtech is like complaining there wasn't a viola on the Titanic's band.

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dyauspitr ◴[12 Nov 24 16:13 UTC] No.42116766[source]▶
In my opinion without exams, kids will never solidify what they learn. It’s usually pretty easy to think you have a solid grasp of some thing until you’re actually asked to solve a brand new problem.
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1. brainwipe ◴[12 Nov 24 16:42 UTC] No.42117096[source]▶
Then I would ask anyone to keep building on knowledge rather than training for an arbitrary benchmark. Filling your short-term memory with knowledge to be then dumped straight after will get you a good exam mark but doesn't mean you have anything close to a solid grasp. Most schools (in the UK in particular) optimise for grade outcome because that's how they are judged, that's not the same thing as being good at a task.
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2. dyauspitr ◴[12 Nov 24 16:55 UTC] No.42117220[source]▶
It kind of is. I’m a firm believer in that knowledge comes from doing. Even the trades use exams. If you want to become a welder, you have to weld five particular welds, then get graded. There’s no better way to gauge someone’s proficiency at something while also letting that person find out what their weaknesses are.