Content-type: text/html Downes.ca ~ Stephen's Web ~ Google Magic

Stephen Downes

Knowledge, Learning, Community

Google's latest upgrades to Classroom are "all about injecting more artificial intelligence into schools," writes Ben Williamson. In particular, they've launched what they call Practice Sets, a tool that allows teachers to transform instructional materials into interactive assignments that are autograded by the Google engine. According to the Google blog post, "the kids were calling it 'Google magic' because of the hints, pop-ups and instant feedback they received." Williamson does not appear to be a fan. "These marketing materials are presented in a highly persuasive way," he writes. "Google marketing is also highly technosolutionist. It proposes that datafied forms of surveillance and automation are ideally suited to solving the problems of schooling." And, he notes, the 'gee whiz' aspect of magic often serves to obscure the more important topics of "privacy policies and user agreements, that are reshaping teaching and learning in schools.

Today: 0 Total: 971 [Direct link] [Share]


Stephen Downes Stephen Downes, Casselman, Canada
stephen@downes.ca

Copyright 2024
Last Updated: Dec 13, 2024 12:42 a.m.

Canadian Flag Creative Commons License.

Force:yes