Does technology lessen the need for teachers in a classroom?
Moe: Technology does indeed lessen the need for teachers in the classroom. In the future, many kids will take much (or all) of their academic coursework online, whether they go to a brick-and-mortar school or not. And if the kids are in a classroom, their in-house teacher will play a very different role—perhaps serving as a tutor, a mentor, or monitoring behavior—with the online courses doing much of the teaching. It should be emphasized, however, that, as most virtual schooling is currently designed, these online academic programs involve more than just children working on computers. Online schools have their own teachers—online teachers—who interact with their students virtually (and frequently), answer questions, give grades, engage with parents, and manage the courses. Terry Moe Can you imagine a time when students will be self-taught? Moe: Technology makes it possible, even now, for students (beyond the very young) to learn entirely from software programs that don’t require intera
