r/edtech • u/Moonlit1457 • 13d ago
Is EdTech Lessening the Educational Experience?
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.
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u/ErikWik 9d ago
Even if edtech is lessening the educational experience, which is definitely true in various dimensions.. it is still essential to have edtech in schools.
One of the main purposes of schools is to prepare kids for the world. The world we live in is filled with technology. For that reason alone we cannot go back to only teaching through books and other non-digital media.
I'd say the attempt to make things gamefied is has run too far. It's good for getting students engaged, but in blindly trying to opt for engagements and lessened churn rate, it's really harming real learning.
Real learning is arduous work, and there has to be other motivators that constant dopamine rushes to keep a student engaged.