Comments on: New Science Points To New Classrooms http://www.hg2s.com/blog/2009/09/19/new-science-makes-new-classrooms/ Ranting & Raving on Instructional Design, Education & Technical Training Tue, 31 Jan 2012 02:39:59 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Jack McShea http://www.hg2s.com/blog/2009/09/19/new-science-makes-new-classrooms/comment-page-1/#comment-75 Jack McShea Wed, 29 Dec 2010 17:11:10 +0000 http://www.hg2s.com/blog/?p=867#comment-75 The Koreans are really buying in to robotic teachers. According to Tom Hornyak at CNET there is a project under way to introduce 29 robot teachers into 19 elementary schools as part of a large scale program to cover 8400 kindergartens by 2013. Interestingly the robots are operated remotely by teachers in the Philippines and even include a picture of the teacher's face. Hornyak's report at CNET goes on to say: <blockquote>"The machines will mostly be used in after-school programs as they can only handle about eight kids at a time. Last month, however, TIME magazine suggested the machines may threaten the jobs of some of the 20,000 to 30,000 foreign English teachers in Korea. It also named the robots one of the 50 best inventions of 2010. 'We will continue to study to improve its teaching ability until it's very close to that of real human teachers,' Kim Mun-sang of KIST was quoted as saying by the Korea JoongAng Daily. Why not just use humans? According to a New York Times report, state education budgets have been strained by importing thousands of foreign teachers, who are increasingly unwilling to live in remote areas and on islands. I don't think a telepresence robot can really replace a human teacher, but then again I nearly nodded off a few times in class during my teaching stint in Korea. A robot would never do that."</blockquote> Read more: <a href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20026714-1.html" rel="nofollow">Korean schools welcome more robot teachers</a> The Koreans are really buying in to robotic teachers. According to Tom Hornyak at CNET there is a project under way to introduce 29 robot teachers into 19 elementary schools as part of a large scale program to cover 8400 kindergartens by 2013. Interestingly the robots are operated remotely by teachers in the Philippines and even include a picture of the teacher’s face.

Hornyak’s report at CNET goes on to say:

“The machines will mostly be used in after-school programs as they can only handle about eight kids at a time. Last month, however, TIME magazine suggested the machines may threaten the jobs of some of the 20,000 to 30,000 foreign English teachers in Korea. It also named the robots one of the 50 best inventions of 2010.

‘We will continue to study to improve its teaching ability until it’s very close to that of real human teachers,’ Kim Mun-sang of KIST was quoted as saying by the Korea JoongAng Daily.

Why not just use humans? According to a New York Times report, state education budgets have been strained by importing thousands of foreign teachers, who are increasingly unwilling to live in remote areas and on islands. I don’t think a telepresence robot can really replace a human teacher, but then again I nearly nodded off a few times in class during my teaching stint in Korea. A robot would never do that.”

Read more: Korean schools welcome more robot teachers

]]> By: Jack McShea http://www.hg2s.com/blog/2009/09/19/new-science-makes-new-classrooms/comment-page-1/#comment-65 Jack McShea Fri, 17 Sep 2010 14:51:21 +0000 http://www.hg2s.com/blog/?p=867#comment-65 The <a href="http://chronicle.com" rel="nofollow">Chronicle of Higher Education</a> has an article on Korean robots designed to teach English. Interesting. <strong>Another Benefit of Robot Teachers: No 'Moral Problems'</strong> <blockquote>"These robots are designed to teach in one of two ways: either by leading students through preprogrammed exercises or by having a human operate them remotely using the Internet."</blockquote> For more information read <a href="http://chronicle.com/blogPost/Another-Benefit-of-Robot/26941/?sid=wc&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en" rel="nofollow">here</a>. http://chronicle.com/blogPost/Another-Benefit-of-Robot/26941/?sid=wc&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en The Chronicle of Higher Education has an article on Korean robots designed to teach English. Interesting.

Another Benefit of Robot Teachers: No ‘Moral Problems’

“These robots are designed to teach in one of two ways: either by leading students through preprogrammed exercises or by having a human operate them remotely using the Internet.”

For more information read here.

http://chronicle.com/blogPost/Another-Benefit-of-Robot/26941/?sid=wc&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en

]]> By: Jack McShea http://www.hg2s.com/blog/2009/09/19/new-science-makes-new-classrooms/comment-page-1/#comment-12 Jack McShea Tue, 22 Sep 2009 20:09:25 +0000 http://www.hg2s.com/blog/?p=867#comment-12 An interesting related post touching on age and the social aspects of learning. From Science Daily: "Children Under Three Can't Learn Action Words From TV - Unless An Adult Helps" http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090915100947.htm An interesting related post touching on age and the social aspects of learning.

From Science Daily:

“Children Under Three Can’t Learn Action Words From TV – Unless An Adult Helps”

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090915100947.htm

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