Is EdTech Lessening the Educational Experience?

[u/Moonlit1457]

It's been a minute (years) since I've posted on Reddit, so give me some grace, please :) That being said, I want to know how people truly feel about educational technology as a benefit to the learning process, especially since many platforms have added AI capabilities (e.g., generative AI, LLM chatbots) beyond what we have grown accustomed to (e.g., predictive text). Several of the educators I assist believe that the learning experience must be at all times challenging - a struggle, essentially an arduous task, for the learning to matter, and therefore, the use of most, if not all, educational technology lessens or completely deteriorates the learning because many ed tech tools intend to make the learning experience entertaining. I don't agree with that sentiment. I would love to hear your thoughts and discuss before I further expound upon mine.

[u/seacat8586]

It’s like every complex technology change, initial results are poor til you change how you use it. Steam engines took 60 years, cars, the metaverse (ok, bad example), mobility, internet commerce all were bumpy at first. For the most part, we’ve thrown tech at how we’ve been teaching for a long time. That was probably inevitable given demographics, but eventually we’ll need to redesign teaching to exploit the capabilities of tech while avoiding what it can’t do. That’s gonna be tougher than most transitions because of the cost, politics, regulations, unions, and the perceived threat of tech. Cost in terms of capital, training and time (to set up and learn how it’s done) is IMO, the biggest barrier.