Running Head: NEVER SEND A HUMAN TO DO A MACHINE’S JOB A BOOK REVIEW 1

Never Send a Human To Do a Machine’s Job: A Book Review

Stephanie Philippe-Victor

University of Indianapolis

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ABSTRACT

This review is regarding the last three chapters of the book, Never Send a Human to Do a Machine’s Job Correcting the Top 5 EdTech Mistakes covering pages seventy-three to pages one twenty-five. Published by Corwin Sage Company in 2016 in Thousand Oaks, California, the book was written by four contributors Yong Zhao, Gaoming Zhang, Jing Lei and Wei Qui. The book has six chapters and is approximately one hundred and twenty-seven pages in length. This review covers the last three chapters of the book. Chapter four “The Wrong Assumptions: Technology as Curriculum Versus Digital Competence. Chapter five “The Wrong Technology Implementation: Top Down versus Bottom Up. Chapter six “Making It Right: Reimagining Education in the Second Machine Age. With four authors having written this book, the facts are much shorter, succinct, packed full of information and examples full worth that makes one feel they read a five hundred plus page on education and technology than one hundred and twenty seventy pages on education and technology.

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Chapter Four: “The Wrong Assumptions: Technology as Curriculum Versus Digital Competence.

One of the points chapter four makes is that technology in curriculum has been more about building ordinary skills and not a deeper creative understanding of technology. Specifically, “schools are still working hard to focus on mostly traditional skills to produce standardized workers and in doing so, the more effective the education system is but the less competent and competitive the next generation of workforce becomes as teachers set up students up for “a race against the machine” (p. 74). In the late 1980s and early 1990s, with the advent of personal computers, were viewed as a supplement to teaching and learning. Computer courses mainly focused on specific skills such as keyboarding and word processing, with the development of the internet schools shifted to computer education. Schools began teaching networking, web surfacing, webpage development, email; in addition to multimedia tools. The education of technology at the time was mostly at the technical and craft levels. The chapter points out even with the progress of technology in the curriculum from keyboarding to content, there was still a lack of technology education focused on deep understanding of the science of technology (p. 76). As a result, schools are forever playing technological catch-up as digital innovations change.

Second point the chapter makes is that viewing technology as a tool omits the value that technology has to offer when it is used in different context for different purposes and thus the social cultural, and legal implications that may apply in such a usage (p.76). The chapter goes on to say that the same technology that may be perceived to carry different social connotations to people in different cultures. The chapter suggests instead of teaching one technology tool after another technology education should focus on preparing competent digital citizens which includes a). knowledge of the nature of the digital world, b.) positive attitude toward the digital world, c.), ability to use different tools to participate in the digital world, and (d), ability to use different tools to create digital products and to lead in the digital world. The nature of digital citizenship also involves the nature of technology and how different media work together, the nature of online/virtual activities, and as the digital world as a constantly expanding and evolving global network of individual and collective participants and the ability to tell fantasy from reality. There is support to move to competent digital citizens since statistics report that more Americans time reported on the internet has doubled in the last 3 years (p. 78).

The key to understanding the nature of technology, understanding both the opportunities and challenges that technology presents, is understanding what technology can do and what humans beings can do better. Second is practicing, learning and doing technology, exploring new territories, gaining new experiences, confidence and more understanding with technology. For example the chapter sites the use of collaboration with others. The chapter stated that “being able to collaborate work with other has become an increasingly important ability for anyone working and living in the digital world since information communication technology has shrunk the world into a global village in which we are interconnected and interdependent with each other” (p.84). Most of the current issues and projects require collaborative efforts such as on the national level, governments around the world must work together to face urgent threats, terrorism, climate change, famine and pandemics (p. 84). To nurture creativity and invention, children need to be exposed to style of creativity, so they can explore their own potential and interests as designers,

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creators, and entrepreneurs (p.85). For example, high-school students used social-networking sites for self-discovery, self-presentation, identity exploration, and specifically for learning 21st century skills. By using different technological features such as photo sharing, graphic design, and multiple communication channels, students indicated that they gained technical skills and began to consider their as responsible citizens in a digital world (p. 87). Similarly, schools should never prepare citizens to compete against technology. Instead, schools need to think differently about the relationship to technology, encourage positive attitudes toward change, nurture creativity and an entrepreneurial spirit, develop abilities to face unknown, and prepare life long learners who can adapt to the ever-evolving digital world.

Chapter Five: “The Wrong Technology Implementation: Top Down versus Bottom Up

In chapter five, the chapter discusses the two technology paradoxes of use of technology mainly the underuse and misuse of technology and the before 3pm and after 3pm model use of technology. On page ninety-four, the chapter discusses how according to a study on college students’ use of online learning platforms where they can take courses, instructors and students use platforms predominately for repetitive tasks such as transmitting course work materials, syllabus, readings, assignments or posting announcements (p.94). According to the chapter, children obsessively outside the classroom the students who are quiet into technology and spend a great deal of time on mobile devices and yet when it comes to applying it to their school work, students often display less time applying technology for excitement and energy than they do on afterschool technology time. The chapter goes to give two examples of technology in school “before 3pm model” and “after 3pm model” For the 3pm model the teacher controls the “who, when, how, and the why” of technology use in the classroom. In the before 3pm model, there are explicit learning objectives, instructions from teachers, tests ensuring that students achieve the learning objectives, and a great deal of teacher involvement (p.95). In the after 3pm model, students “do cool stuff” with Minecraft, gather on Wikispaces to exchange ideas, fly around the house like zombies imagining they are still in the Minecraft world until their parents have to shut down their computers because they have already had too much Minecraft time in a day (p.96).

The authors of the chapter go on to say that while it might be an efficient way for teachers to drive the learning process and meet the benchmarks and standards, there are some serious side affects to the model. One downside is that the students are unintentionally trained to be followers rather than leaders in their own studies. The authors suggest that when teachers make more and more decisions for the students, the student will feel less and less the need to make decisions. Students growing up in this kind of environment might end up spending too much time studying and too little time thinking about what they are studying for (p.99). In contrast, in the after 3pm model, make the boss of their own learning process. They have the lead because the teachers are not around all the time to provide guidance (p.99). While the after 3pm model diminishes adult intervention to a minimal level, it adds a few elements that sweeten the learning process: respect of students’ interests, freedom to explore, faith in students’ ability to achieve something meaningful (rather than underestimation of their ability). These elements are exactly the ones lacking in most of the before 3pm technology programs (p.100). In the before 3pm model, it is not rare to have students overlook instructions that their teachers have meticulously prepared. The excitement that students express about the learning tasks is not nearly as intensive as their teachers would have expected. As for adult support, students

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sometimes, take it for granted, or even shy from it, despite the amazing amount of support that teachers try to provide, many students are politely over looking them or declining them outright (p.101). In regard to the after 3pm model, students might confess that at the beginning it is little scary to embark on the self-service type of learning, but later on they recall proudly that what they have accomplished together with their peers completely exceeded their own expectation (p.101).

The chapter suggests some alternatives to unleashing the true strength of technology such as there is an awkward disconnect between the kind of writing skills pursued in the school context and the kind of writing that students develop outside of school. This disconnect has caused a quite a bit of struggle for both students and teachers in terms of figuring out what writing is for and what it means to be a good writer (p.102). If the power of technology is suppressed rather unleased, no matter “smart” the tablet and apps become, students will not benefit much from this technology in practicing writing or any other subject area, for that matter (p.103). Alternative number two suggests the Long Tail Theory. The Long Tail Theory provides another perspective on distribution knowledge and how technology can be employed creatively to promote the diversity of knowledge that has been underserved by schools. Alternative three suggests designing a space for possibilities, not predictions.

The chapter provides the Chinese Art empty space as an example (p.105). Empty space is a concept that originated in Daoism, and it has a significant on Chinese literature, music, calligraphy, and painting (p.105). According, to the Tao Te Ching, is the empty space inside the cooking pot that makes the pot useful for cooking, and it is the emptiness within a piece of architecture that makes it a livable space (p. 105). Empty space is regarded as the beginning of myriad things. According to chapter five, Weimin He notes that “The very charm in charm in Chinese literature lies where it is without words; in music, where it is soundless conveys more than sound, so the very absence of content can itself create rhythm and consonance (p.105)”. The power of emptiness is embodied in the after 3pm model rhythm and consonance (p. 105) and it is reflected the element of minimal intervention of adult (p.105).

Chapter Six: “Making It Right: Reimagining Education in the Second Machine Age

In chapter six, the authors outline a plan for technology and curriculum. On page 109, the authors write “Technology has failed to even alter the most basic elements of the classroom. “When technology meets the classroom, classroom wins” (Cuban, 1993) (p.109). The authors paraphrase Seymour Papert (1993) who said “thinking about the future of education demands a similar labor or imagination as that required to see “the birth of the industry that would lead to the jumbo jet and space shuttle” in the 59-second flight of Wilbur Orville Wright in 1903 (p.110). According to the authors, innovations such as Progressive education, the Dalton plan, the Montessori method, the Reggio Emilia approach and others were supposed to reshape into more child-centered educational institutions to transform “the grammar of schooling” (p.110). But today, schools operate virtually the same way as they did 100 years ago, with students grouped by age, managed by an adult teacher, in physical classrooms, following a uniform curriculum, and studying for fixed time periods dedicated to each subject (p.111).

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As a result, according to the authors, children are rarely given the opportunity to be challenged to develop their strengths and interests to great talents needed in the age of creativity and in society that needs great entrepreneurs to create jobs and opportunities (p.115). According to the authors, while students still attend school, schools are not solely responsible for providing all learning opportunities students need. In other words, schools no longer need a preset curriculum to guide its allocation of resources (p.116). According to the authors, schools are encouraged to offer a broad range of opportunities for students to “play” with their interests and strengths, to discover their passion, to find out their weaknesses and strengths and to spark unknown interests. Also according to the authors, the goal of learning is about finding answers and giving them back to the teacher properly (p. 118). Also according to the authors, ”This driven need learning helps the learner understand the purpose of learning, exercise responsibility for learning, and practice social-emotional skills such as empathy and sympathy—all important attributes for productive, creative and entrepreneurial citizens (p.121).

Discussion

I found the book made some key points about technology not having to be fix in today’s educational curriculum as technology can pursued individually since student’s passions and interests are diverse and there are enough educational technological tools out there that the student’s interest and passion can learn from and be disciplined by those technology advances. I felt the author made an impressive argument regarding the Before 3pm model of technology versus the After 3pm model of use of technology and how it is the student’s collaboration with others, the passion and drive to learn a new educational tool or technology tool that drives forward tomorrows innovators in the next generation of workforce who know both educational technology tools and technology themselves in addition to “grammar schooling”. What most impressive about the After 3pm model was the students were the leaders in what they wanted to learn and that in certain models they can some complex, sophisticated technology tools, applications along with collaboration. To me the After 3pm model was the most successful point because it is also from here teachers, schools and districts and “beef-up” their curriculum based on the students are doing with technology after 3pm such as more exciting groupwork projects with technology, more individual papers showing work with technology more assessment showing understanding in technology.

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Conclusion

As an educator it important for me to see how curriculum can build an entrepreneurial spirit with the curriculum and technology and I feel the book does a good job bringing up the innovators several times as example that people are still people and as such do not have to compete with a Google or YouTube, nor should they have to, but learn that their human nature and quality makes them an excellent human being to be a recipient of educational technology tools and technology in general which makes them combination of extended intelligence and human intelligence at the same time. I feel the book does a great job acknowledging which parts of a human nature and which parts are of technology tools.

ReferencesZhao, Y. et, al. (2016). Never Send a Human to Do a Machine’s Job Correcting the Top 5 EdTech Mistakes. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Sage Company.