The Changes of Teachers in Digital Economy
The digital economy is an economic system which is developed because of the innovation of digital technology. In this system, all information and business activities can be digitized. This has brought huge impacts on competition strategy, organizational structure and culture. Thus, in the digital economy, many industries and jobs have changed. This article will focus on the changes in the profession of teachers in the digital economy in the present and in the future.
In the digital economy, the teaching time, teaching place and teaching form of teacher are changed. In the traditional economy, the image of teacher most is a person using blackboard and textbook to explain in the school. However, with the development of digital technology, teachers' teaching methods can become more flexible. In school, teachers can use digital media to explain to students more vividly. For example, playing videos and animations.
The video shows that the study has been changed by digital technology.
Moreover, when they outside the school, teachers also can teach online. For example, teachers can record and broadcast online question and answer or live broadcast plus online question and answer for teaching. This means that as long as the network and computer are available, teachers can teach at any time. Teachers' working hours may become more flexible, working places may be more casual, and students taught may come from all over the world. In the digital economy, those changes are both an opportunity and a challenge for teachers.
Kelly Miller © The Balance
Firstly, there are more job opportunities for teachers. Due to the innovation and development of the Internet and some educational platforms, there are more and more students and more and more disciplines that teachers can teach. The market of teaching that can be all ages and in various categories. For example, Kumon Math & Reading Centers is an early childhood education brand (Tiffany, 2008). New Oriental Education & Technology Group is a famous education and training brand for teenagers in China. Ealing Council is a choice for adults and older people to study. Those study platforms also can be the workplace for teachers.
Secondly, the teaching ways of teachers can be more diverse. According to the research of experts (Frezzo, 2017), the psychology of human learning will not change greatly over time, however, there are a variety of outside factors that can affect human understanding, acceptance and retention are constantly changing. Therefore, on the good side, the development of the digital economy and digital technology will help teachers develop flexible and tailored teaching strategies. For example, teachers can use big data to create a variety of learning tools, courses, training camps and academic programs.
In the digital economy, these changes to teachers also mean that teachers face higher requirements and more intense competition. In addition to mastering digital technology knowledge and skills, teachers' teaching methods and teaching concepts need to change as society changes. According to the research (Riding, 2001), the online teacher has become the employment choice of many people. The number of online teachers has continuous growth (Riding, 2001).
Flickr user Ester Vargas
In the future, with the development of the digital economy, it is an inevitable trend for teachers to use digital technology to teach. Online education and offline integrated teaching will be synthesized. Teachers may need to spend more time on designing an interesting and useable teaching plan, in order to teach, attract and retain the students. Moreover, due to the development of the Internet and other digital technologies, the working hours and locations may be more flexible to teachers. They can negotiate working time based on their own and student's plans. Meanwhile, it also should be mentioned that teachers' working hours may be extended. For example, teachers will work at night if they teach online at home. In addition, the amount of information is enormous to everyone. Therefore, it will important for teachers to think about how to form the high quality, attractiveness and unique teaching style in the future.
In general, the development of the digital economy has brought new opportunities for teachers' employment and development, as well as new challenges. The development of digital technology promotes the development of artificial intelligence. However, artificial intelligence still cannot replace the role of teachers. In the present and the future development of in digital economy, this article supposes that teacher has more benefits than drawbacks. In the changes of the digital economy, teachers should combine learning science with digital innovation in daily teaching activities, in order to provide the best knowledge. Moreover, teachers may need to create learning experiences that keep pace with the digital skills that the market demands. From another perspective, the simultaneous changes of teachers and the digital economy will affect individual lives and change communities around the world.
by Limin Qi
by Limin Qi
Resources:
Riding, P. (2001) Online teacher communities and continuing professional development, Teacher Development, 5:3, 283-296
Frezzo, D. (2017). The role of technology in the education of the future. From https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/05/science-of-learning/
Tiffany, L. (2008). Top 10 Children's Franchises. From https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/195050
Thank you very much for your blog. As you wrote in the article, the digital economy has brought many opportunities and challenges to teachers, which not only changed the way teachers work but also made the teachers' working place and time more flexible. Two points have caused me to think. The first point: more of the trend of digital education should be popularized, and teachers should realize the benefits of digital education. This is a big challenge for teachers in the digital economy. Two: Emerging education methods do bring benefits to teachers, but can this guarantee the quality of teachers' education? The teacher you wrote in the final summary must create a learning experience consistent with the market, which has sparked my interest. This makes me feel that with the development of digital technology, can it also promote teachers' creativity in teaching?
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