Blockchain! Robots! AI! Zij gaan het onderwijs veranderen.
Mocht je nu geeuwen omdat dit al 10 jaar gezegd wordt, ik geef je geen ongelijk. Op het eerste gezicht klinkt het nieuwe rapport OECD Digital Education Outlook 2021 weinig – euh – vernieuwend.
Je krijgt zeker leuke video’s, maar de echte vernieuwing lees je onder de video’s, en die is misschien minder leuk maar des te belangrijker.
Want, de echte vernieuwing zit ook in de waarschuwingen die vaak ontbreken bij dergelijke rapporten en aanbevelingen:
- Smart technologies are human-AI hybrid systems. Involving end users in their design, giving control to humans for important decisions, and negotiating their usage with society in a transparent way is key to making them both useful and socially acceptable.
- Smart technologies support humans in many different ways without being perfect. Transparency about how accurate they are at measuring, diagnosing or acting is an important requirement. However, their limits should be compared to the limits of human beings performing similar tasks.
- More evidence about effective pedagogical uses of smart technologies in and outside of the classroom as well as their uses for system management purposes should be funded without focusing on the technology exclusively. Criteria for this evidence to be produced quickly could also be developed.
- The adoption of smart technologies relies on robust data protection and privacy regulation based on risk assessment but also ethical considerations where regulation does not exist. For example, there is mounting concern about the fairness of algorithms, which could be verified through “open algorithms” verified by third parties.
- Smart technologies have a cost, and cost-benefit analysis should guide their adoption, acknowledging that their benefits go beyond pecuniary ones. In many cases, the identification of data patterns allows for better policy design and interventions that are more likely to improve equity or effectiveness. Policy makers should also encourage the development of technologies that are affordable and sustainable thanks to open standards and interoperability.
X, Y of Einstein? 
Men kan toch geen zo’n rapport publiceren zonder precies te weten wat de consequenties zijn?
Het is vooruitgang dat men voorbehoud maakt. Maar : krijgen geen concrete informatie wat de negatieve gevolgen kunnen zijn. De ambtenarentaal in het voorbehoud geeft ons geen enkel houvast in de praktijk. Het lijkt me onverantwoordelijk zomaar ideeën in het onderwijs te gooien zonder over de harde feiten te beschikken, voordelen (die er zeker zijn) én nadelen.