I clipped a little article from The Sydney Morning Herald ("Robot teachers", 29/12/10, p. 9) about a new pilot program which has just started in South Korea. In this program, children are taught English by robots. Is this a sign of things to come?
The robots can also sing and play games with students. Here is an excerpt from an expanded online version of the article:
"The 29 robots, about one metre high with a TV display panel for a face, wheeled around the classroom while speaking to the students, reading books to them and dancing to music by moving their head and arms.
"The robots, which display an avatar face of a Caucasian woman, are controlled remotely by teachers of English in the Philippines - who can see and hear the children via a remote control system.
"Cameras detect the Filipino teachers' facial expressions and instantly reflect them on the avatar's face, said Sagong Seong-Dae, a senior scientist at KIST."
I was relieved to read that the robots will have varying facial expressions, as this is something I sometimes say to students is lacking in their oral presentations. Somehow, it seems harder to trust someone who doesn't display a range of facial expressions, including some politicians.
Anyways, back to the point. Should teachers be alarmed by such developments? Can a robot be an effective replacement for a living human teacher?
Later in the article, Sagong states that during this trial phase the robots will complement the current teachers, but he sees them taking on a bigger teaching load in the future.
He goes on to say that one of the great things about these teacher robots is that they don't complain about working conditions! They merely require "a repair and upgrade every once in a while". If only life were so simple!
Read the full article at: http://m.smh.com.au/technology/sci-tech/schools-plug-in-robot-english-teachers-20101228-19975.html.
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