Nearly 25% of the global workforce is set to lose their jobs to robots over the next few decades. The trend was already visible with massive investments in driverless cars and robot chefs but now, the jobs that were previously considered immune from automation are also standing in line to see a shift from human workers to intelligent machines. Teaching is one such sector. Experts have said time and again that robots cannot teach human beings. But that belief changed in a matter of years as students are now learning mathematics through online games and languages via mobile applications. The conservative viewpoint that automation cannot threaten teaching jobs is now obsolete. However, the picture is not entirely grim.
Where is automation in teaching?
The top B. Ed colleges in Delhi will never deny the influence of automation in teaching. In fact, these institutions train their students to maneuver around automation to keep the human essence of the profession alive. As examples, consider the McGraw-Hill Connect software which enables teachers to manage and oversee the coursework of hundreds of students without much hectic supervision. Applications like Duolingo and Memrise are capable of teaching a foreign language to any student. There are also reports that state actual robots are already in circulation in Japan and South Korea, completely capable of teaching English to enthusiastic students. Lastly, there are online certification and opensource courses that are increasingly decreasing the number of students visiting schools.
How are these a threat?
On the surface, the stated examples may not seem like massive threats to teaching jobs. Surely, students cannot master a language from a learning app or get that depth in a subject by seeing a video. But the threat of automation comes in when you consider the advancement of technology. If one teacher is now capable of taking care of a hundred students using the McGraw-Hill software, schools and colleges will need to hire a lesser number of teachers. Something similar will happen if students start picking up the basics of a language or a subject from online resources and do not need to learn the same at schools. A fully functioning robot teacher might still be half a century away but automation in the niche is already here and it is straining the jobs in the sector.
How can you survive the automation takeover?
Fortunately, as students of the top B. Ed colleges, you are still best placed to fend off the threat of automation. The very first weapon with which you can go into battle is upskilling. While in the flow of training, you can pick up the technical skills to use a student management platform. You can also sharpen your computer knowledge to develop efficacy in smart educational technology. Intelligent machines still need human supervision to function properly. And if you are that teacher who can use the tools to increase your classroom’s efficiency, your candidature will never be questioned in the job market. Focus on upskilling. Become a tech-savvy teacher. No matter your field of expertise, learn how to master educational technology.
The second element to bypass the automation threat is creativity. Machines, however intelligent, can only follow instructions or a specific pattern. They cannot become creative enough to conjure a new dish or teach in an innovative way any time soon and that is the opening for future teachers. A robot can teach the English language following the syllabus strictly. It can stick to the curriculum set by the institution. But your value increases above this robot only when you infuse your own tactics into teaching the subject that the robot cannot. You can decide to teach grammar by showing a movie. A robot can only hand out worksheets.
Automation is inevitable
But reaching the same level as humans is still decades away. For now, you need to focus on your training and skill development and extract everything from the best B. Ed colleges in Delhi NCR. One such institution is the Lingaya’s Lalita Devi Institute for Management & Sciences, affiliated to IP university and based in South Delhi. LLDIMS trains its future teachers to work with automation rather than fighting against it. Sure, the increased competition from a non-human entity is straining the market but LLDIMS has always put its students on the positive side of the demand curve and is continuing to do something similar in this teacher-automation debacle as well. Machine critics believe that knowledge and skills can keep the human workforce safe. On those lines, your focus from B. Ed training cannot waver to ensure security in the future.
