technology replaces the teacher ( click here for link to article)

Read a very interesting article and post on Education Week; 14.4 million dollars spent on testing the effectiveness of reading and math software programs has found few significant learning differences between students who used the technology and those taught using other methods. Attached link to the article click on title of this blog but in summary key points I found of interest are:

• that is a lot of money to spend on research
  
• one blog attached reflects that who makes the programs may have a significant affect (educators or businesses)
• study results which were designed to be unbiased showed even software makers consider who is teaching as critical. “These studies are intended to wash out all the variation in school environments, teacher quality, resources­—all the things that we, in fact, know make a difference when it comes to student learning,” said Margaret A. Honey, a technology expert who is the president of the New York Hall of Science.
• Only critical readers and thinkers can use these computer based programs independently

Cathy this made me think of you with your adults who want a teacher not a computer to learn from. The computer is a tool and we as educators become so important monitoring it is used appropriately while supplying constant guidance and feedback.
This makes me think about cooperative learning groups and how they do not function if you give them little to no, direction, guidance, intervention or feedback.

In reference to my title, since the data reported there was no significant learning change,which implies it is not better, does that mean that it is as good. If that is true could we see very large computer based courses needing less teachers?