【好文分享】當科技遇上教育，一場溫柔的革命即將展開 ❤️
「邁向未來的學習，老師與科技可以一同重新打造學校」
本期經濟學人雜誌分享了許多科技教育新訊，
希望能透過科技的力量與教師們的經驗，
使教育部再侷限在教室中，在教科書裡，
讓孩子們能放下手中的筆，
讓教育能差異化地走入不同學習起始點的孩子。
感謝均一志工老師 Yee-shih Chin老師 協助翻譯
立即前往中文版翻譯：https://goo.gl/xfKEF7
Education technologyTogether, technology and teachers can revamp schools
老師和科技可以一起重新打造學校
IN 1953 B.F. Skinner visitetd his daughter’s maths class. The Harvard psychologist found every pupil learning the same topic in the same way at the same speed. A few days later he built his first “teaching machine”, which let children tackle questions at their own pace. By the mid-1960s similar gizmos were being flogged by door-to-door salesmen. Within a few years, though, enthusiasm for them had fizzled out.
西元1953年BF Skinner 參觀了她女兒的數學課。這位哈佛的心理學家發現所有的學生都是用同樣的速度、同樣的方法在研讀同樣的課題。幾天以後他打造了第一個教學機器可以讓學生用自己的速度來研讀課題。1960年中期，銷售員會上門推銷類似的小發明，然而，幾年以後，大眾對這些東西的熱忱卻逐漸消失。
Since then education technology (edtech) has repeated the cycle of hype and flop, even as computers have reshaped almost every other part of life. One reason is the conservatism of teachers and their unions. But another is that the brain-stretching potential of edtech has remained unproven.
從那時候開始，即便電腦幾乎改變了現代生活中的每一個面向，但「教育科技」卻不斷的進入炒作和失敗的循環。其中一個原因來自教師及其工會的保守主義。另一個原因則是因為教育科技對於腦力增長的潛力尚未被證實。
Today, however, Skinner’s heirs are forcing the sceptics to think again (see article). Backed by billionaire techies such as Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates, schools around the world are using new software to “personalise” learning. This could help hundreds of millions of children stuck in dismal classes—but only if edtech boosters can resist the temptation to revive harmful ideas about how children learn. To succeed, edtech must be at the service of teaching, not the other way around.
然而，今天Skinner的繼承者們迫使懷疑論者重新回來思考這個問題(見此文)。在億萬科技富翁如 Mark Zuckerberg 和 Bill Gates 的支持下，世界各個地方許多學校開始利用新的軟體來做「個人化學習」。這有機會幫助為數上億困在教室內的學童，但前提是這些教育科技的推動者不能受到一些錯誤的學童學習觀念的誘惑：教育科技必須為教學所用，而不是教學為教育科技所用。
Pencils down
放下鉛筆
The conventional model of schooling emerged in Prussia in the 18th century. Alternatives have so far failed to teach as many children as efficiently. Classrooms, hierarchical year-groups, standardised curriculums and fixed timetables are still the norm for most of the world’s nearly 1.5bn schoolchildren.
傳統的教學方法始於18世紀的普魯士。兩百年來，其他替代教學方案都無法有效地教很多學生，導致傳統教室，學年級制，標準課程計劃，固定的時間表，仍然是今天世界上十五億學童的標準學習模式。
Too many do not reach their potential. In poor countries only a quarter of secondary schoolchildren acquire at least a basic knowledge of maths, reading and science. Even in the mostly rich countries of the OECD about 30% of teenagers fail to reach proficiency in at least one of these subjects.
太多學生沒有辦法實現他們的潛力。在貧窮國家，只有四分之一中學生能夠達到的數學、讀寫以及科學的基礎要求標準。而在一些開發富有的國家，大約30%的青少年在這三項中至少有一項未能達到精熟。
That share has remained almost unchanged over the past 15 years, during which billions have been spent on IT in schools. By 2012 there was one computer for every two pupils in several rich countries. Australia had more computers than pupils. Handled poorly, devices can distract. A Portuguese study from 2010 found that schools with slow broadband and a ban on sites such as YouTube had better results than high-tech ones.
這一個比率在過去15年中都幾乎沒有改變。在此同時，學校花在資訊科技的設備上超過數十億美金。2012年，在若干富有的國家中，每兩個學生就有一台電腦。澳洲的電腦數目甚至比學生還多。用之不當，電腦只會分散注意力。葡萄牙在2010年的一項研究顯示，較慢的寬頻以及禁止上類似YouTube的網站，結果比給高端電腦的效果要好。
What matters is how edtech is used. One way it can help is through bespoke instruction. Ever since Philip II of Macedon hired Aristotle to prepare his son Alexander for Greatness, rich parents have paid for tutors. Reformers from São Paulo to Stockholm think that edtech can put individual attention within reach of all pupils. American schools are embracing the model most readily. A third of pupils are in a school district that has pledged to introduce “personalised, digital learning”. The methods of groups like Summit Public Schools, whose software was written for nothing by Facebook engineers, are being copied by hundreds of schools
最重要的是如何使用教育科技。其中一個方法是透過客製化的教學。自從馬其頓的飛利浦二世雇用了亞里士多德來教導亞歷山大如何成就他的大帝國，富有的父母就開始為子女請家教。從聖保羅到斯德哥爾摩，改革派相信教育科技可以使所有的學生都能因材施教。美國的學校最能接受接受這模式，有三分之一學生的學區承諾引進個人化及數位化的學習。像Summit 公立學校，他們所使用的軟體是臉書的工程師免費替他們撰寫的，而且被其他上百家的學校模仿學習。
In India, where about half of children leave primary school unable to read a simple text, the curriculum goes over many pupils’ heads. “Adaptive” software such as Mindspark can work out what a child knows and pose questions accordingly. A recent paper found that Indian children using Mindspark after school made some of the largest gains in maths and reading of any education study in poor countries.
在印度，大約一半的小學畢業生沒有辦法讀完一句簡單的句子，這課程似乎超越了學生的腦袋瓜子。像 Mindspark 之類的適性化軟體能夠算出學生的程度，而提出適合的題目。最近的研究發現，印度在課後使用 Mindspark的學童，他們數學及讀寫上的進步，超過了所有其他在貧困國家所做的研究結果。
The other way edtech can aid learning is by making schools more productive. In California schools are using software to overhaul the conventional model. Instead of textbooks, pupils have “playlists”, which they use to access online lessons and take tests. The software assesses children’s progress, lightening teachers’ marking load and giving them insight on their pupils. Saved teachers’ time is allocated to other tasks, such as fostering pupils’ social skills or one-on-one tuition. A study in 2015 suggested that children in early adopters of this model score better in tests than their peers at other schools.
另一個教育科技可以幫助學習的方法是讓學校提高它的成效。在加州，學校利用軟體大幅調整他們傳統的教學模式。學生不用教科書，而是使用“播放列表”，去看在線課程並進行測驗。 這些軟體評估兒童的進步，減輕教師改功課的負荷，並給予他們對學生的洞察力。教師省下的時間就可以做其他事，如培養學生的社交技能或一對一的教學。 2015年的一項研究顯示，早期使用這種模式的兒童比其他學校的同齡學生的成績要好一些。
Pay attention at the back
Such innovation is welcome. But making the best of edtech means getting several things right. First, “personalised learning” must follow the evidence on how children learn. It must not be an excuse to revive pseudoscientific ideas such as “learning styles”: the theory that each child has a particular way of taking in information. Such nonsense leads to schemes like Brain Gym, an “educational kinesiology” programme once backed by the British government, which claimed that some pupils should stretch, bend and emit an “energy yawn” while doing their sums
其他要注意的事項
這類創新無疑是受歡迎的，但是要充分發揮教育科技的功能還要做對幾件事。第一，個人化學習必須根據學生如何學習的證據來進行。他不能成為一些假科學的觀念-像“學習風格”來作為捲土重來的藉口：學習風格的理論是每個學童都有他自己接收訊息的方式。這些無稽之談導致像“腦力體育館”，這曾經是一種英國政府支持的“教育運動學”計劃，這計劃主張某些學生在學習的時候需要做伸展，彎曲及吐出「精力的哈欠」。
A less consequential falsehood is that technology means children do not need to learn facts or learn from a teacher—instead they can just use Google. Some educationalists go further, arguing that facts get in the way of skills such as creativity and critical thinking. The opposite is true. A memory crammed with knowledge enables these talents. William Shakespeare was drilled in Latin phrases and grammatical rules and yet he penned a few decent plays. In 2015 a vast study of 1,200 education meta-analyses found that, of the 20 most effective ways of boosting learning, nearly all relied on the craft of a teacher.
另外一個影響較小的錯誤是，有了科技，學童們就不必再學習事實或向老師學習-他們上 Google 就行了。還有一些教育學家甚至說記住事實反而阻礙了學生們的創造力以及思考力。但真正的事實是相反的。充滿了知識的頭腦才可以發揮一個人的天份。莎士比亞反覆練習拉丁詞句以及文法，他才能寫出一些很了不起的戲劇。2015年針對1200個教育的整合分析結果，在促進學習的20個最有效的方法中，幾乎都依靠老師來進行教學。
The second imperative is to make sure that edtech narrows, rather than widens, inequalities in education. Here there are grounds for optimism. Some of the pioneering schools are private ones in Silicon Valley. But many more are run by charter-school groups teaching mostly poor pupils, such as Rocketship and Achievement First—or Summit, where 99% of graduating pupils go on to university and laggards make the most progress relative to their peers in normal classes. A similar pattern can be observed outside America. In studies of edtech in India by J-PAL, a research group, the biggest beneficiaries are children using software to receive remedial education.
第二個任務是確保教育科技縮小教育的不平等，而不是更增大它。而我們的樂觀是有根據的。一些先驅學校是矽谷的一些私立學校，但更多是教導著貧困的學生們的特許學校，例如 Rocketship 和 Achievement First，或Summit，後者的畢業生99%都會繼續上大學，其他落後者，相比於在其他普通課程的同儕也有顯著的進步。在美國境外也可以看到類似的模式。 研究組織J-PAL在印度的教育科技研究中發現，使用軟體接受補救教育的兒童所收到的成效最佳。
Third, the potential for edtech will be realised only if teachers embrace it. They are right to ask for evidence that products work. But scepticism should not turn into Luddism. A good model is São Paulo, where teachers have welcomed Geekie, an adaptive-software company, into public schools.
第三點，教育科技要能發揮潛力一定需要老師們完全地接受它。老師們對這些產品的成效要求證據是可以理解的，但是懷疑主義不該變成盧德運動。聖保羅是一個很棒的例子，那裡的老師們接納了一家叫做 Geekie 的適應性軟體公司進入公立學校。
In 1984 Skinner called opposition to technology the “shame” of education. Given what edtech promises today, closed-mindedness has no place in the classroom.
在1984， Skinner 稱那些反對科技者是教育之恥。相對於今日的教育科技所能帶給我們的可能性，這樣封閉的心態在教室裡是不被容許的。
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