week 9 : Refutation and Concession

1. What is my thesis? 

Computers cannot take the place of teachers in classroom.

2. What is the opposite position?
As the computers has been introduced, the efficiency of education has increased.
3. What arguments can I anticipate?

a) Computers give various method of education rather than cramming education.

b) Introducing computers in education develop the IT market of education.

c)It can be personalized education for students.


4. How will I counter those arguments?


a) The various method can make students confused because it is not identified method for education.

b)It can makes the education commercial. For example, one company can monopolize the textbook market.

c)Human is more sensitive than computers so teachers can consider personality more than computers.



My Refutation and Concession

There is, of course, still promise in education technology. Dreambox, which just this week announced a new series of lessons aligned to the nascent Common Core standards and free licenses for every school in the country, combines real content with an interactive format so kids are learning even when they think they’re just playing games. I’ve looked at a variety of products, and it’s one of the best in terms of powerful instruction. In a short time, it substantially boosted kids’ math achievement. (They have a great teacher, too.) As for engagement? Maybe too much. 

Yet even a top-shelf product can only augment live teaching. Despite Dreambox’s overall good functionality, there are places where students can become frustrated — not because they don’t know how to do the underlying math, but because the directions for the online activity are confusing. Likewise, technology is bringing back in vogue the idea of the “flipped classroom” with the teacher acting as a “guide on the side” rather than the primary source of instruction. Another variation of the flipped-classroom idea is to use technology to explain concepts at home and use classroom time differently. Again, a lot of potential, but only with keen attention to instructional quality. Much of the online content available today merely replicates the lame instruction already available in too many of our nation’s schools.