The techies are just techies, I think you are misreading what they are saying about their technology. The techies are producing amazing tools that free almost all professions, teachers too, from drudgery and low value-added work.

Karim is reading Leonard’s quote literally, in fact. Leonard doesn’t argue that digital technology will increase the efficiency of existing algebra courses. (Which is your point, and true.) He’s saying digital technology will eliminate those existing algebra courses entirely. Which is true only if we accept a really impoverished definition of “algebra.”

Such a course does not seem to exist at the moment. Where I teach, we have many remedial math courses, with high failure rates. We would notice the advent of such a course, as we would no longer need to run these courses.

I think it would be great if something like this appeared, but I’m not optimistic that anything like this is about to appear in the near future.

Consider the huge increase in computing power available to individuals over the past 50 years. What proportion of the population understands fractions now, as opposed to 50 years ago? It is not clear that this proportion has increased.

I’m wary of people who discuss online education in terms of transmitting information. Its now easy to transmit information to me, but suppose I don’t understand it?

Is teaching easier than grading homework? Think how far we are from a computer program that can read a written solution and grade it, as opposed to just checking whether the final answer is correct…

I love what you said! We talked a lot about differentiation in my teaching liscensure program, in the sense of having varying levels of rigor through out a lesson. For the last couple of years during my evalulations with administrators most all have noticed that I talk to each student differently. Some I support and encourage, others I start a “math fight” with, some I ask how their day is going (and listen to them) before talking about math, others are uncomfortable asking me for help so I start a discussion with thier neighbor and wait for them to join in. I don’t think about it, it just happens as a by-product of my effort to reach each individual student. Its a different sort of differentiation, but its the one that gets the students to come in with a smile, engage in problems with me and their peers, and leave with a smile. (Sometimes they even come after school for more math!)

I wonder if anyone has ever counted the smiles on kids faces before, during, and after a session of learning math from software…

Share positive stories with your friends and family. Talk about the kid who had a breakthrough. Talk about the student who needed someone to listen and found you. Take out the details and mention them on Facebook.

Be willing to politely stand up for education in a political discussion. It’s not about instantly convincing an opponent of education to abandon their beliefs, it’s about finding a middle ground that moves them one little step toward understanding reality. It’s about repeatedly sanding down the points on their pitchfork.

I teach a remediation class for all math students at my school which is smaller and allows me to provided interesting/meaningful math activities (thanks to your 3-Act Math site). I work hard to connect to the students and their needs.

Yesterday in class, some of the students asked if they could be moved into my pre-algebra class because they were understanding math better than they had before. I attribute that to the fact that I have worked to build a relationship with each of them.

The students who struggle in Algebra 1 need a person who is going to connect with their struggles and facilitate their learning using different tools including technology. They need a cheerleader to provide encouragement and patience as they change their mindset about mathematics.

And the pipe is getting wider. When you are forced to work through the pipe…. then you find ways to get build relationships, and build technologies that drive towards open problems and rich assessments.

So by finding myself in a round pipe… yet a “square” guy, being a software and curriculum developer (curricula ware) I am trying to widen the pipe, and push the interaction envelope!

The opportunity for teachers is to embrace the technology and start really adding value, not drowning in busy-work which is easily automated. BTW, the remote lectures liberate them from having to spend time covering the material in class. When Khan talks about the miracle of “creating” educational opportunities, it’s more about third world situations where kids, with no decent schooling, have used a cell phone and Khan academy to educate themselves. This is far from the US situation where we have competent teachers at all levels.