Reflection 1
During the last class, one of the topics we discussed was “Alpha School wants AI to teach a Billion kids. Should it?” I found this article interesting to read, as it talks about how they are bringing in AI to be tutors for students, and they don’t have actual teachers; instead, they have “guides.” They help students but don’t teach them the way a teacher would. I personally would not like this idea of “teaching” if I had to learn this way. I don’t find it as beneficial as face-to-face learning from a teacher. Because you don’t get the same connection with your teachers as students normally would, feeling a connection/bond with your teacher at any age is always important. Speaking from experience, I believe that when I had a bond with my teachers, it made class more fun and engaging to actually learn. As well, kids, I feel, are already on screens enough; they don’t need to be on them more than necessary because school is now “online learning” but still in class.
Another topic we discussed in class last week was a video called “Most Likely to Succeed.” It talks about a school called High Tech High. This was an interesting video to watch, as the school’s way of doing things is very interesting. A few key things this school does are: project-based learning, no exams, preparing you for the outside world, small school sizes, no tracking, and good community internships. I do like project-based learning as it does allow for students to be more creative and complete projects/assignments without the stress. But I do also believe that exams are important to prepare you for higher education, as university and college are very exam-based, especially for the first year. I do really like the idea of a school being focused on preparing you for the outside world, as I feel like other schools really don’t prepare you much for that. I feel like a good combo between the two would make for a good school, as it would teach kids for the real world and also prepare them for higher education if they decide they want to take that path.
Links for these topics: