The goals of education are the transmission of a society’s culture and the personal development of the learner; technology is a publicly traded industry that is accountable to its boards of directors and investors for its achievements and problems.

Their speeds are radically different. Education is slow in its transformation processes and is governed by the evolutionary development of learners and by deeply rooted sociocultural norms and conventions; technology, on the other hand, has disruptive (and rapid) research and innovation embedded in its DNA.

What seems indisputable is that both are necessary for normal functioning and growth. Education prepares qualified users for the use and development of technology, from compulsory education through vocational training and higher education, as well as citizens committed to society and critical of that same technology (in the best of cases).

For its part, technology holds the promise of improving educational processes in multiple ways, offering effectiveness in teaching and learning in exchange for the incorporation of technology into the classroom or the digital transformation of learning spaces.

In any case, the key to understanding the present and future challenges in the relationship between education and technology is knowing how to achieve a balance so that education takes advantage of the full potential of technology to promote its social and personal goals, but in such a way that technology does not end up subordinating and subverting education with its enormous capacity for social penetration.

The impact of AI as a paradigmatic example

The paradigmatic example of the difficult balance between education and technology today is the impact of artificial intelligence in both fields. The speed of AI’s technical evolution surprises even experts, who discover new breakthroughs week after week in a seemingly limitless scientific and technical field.

However, in education—at least at the grassroots level—the focus is on “preventive” issues. How to prevent cheating in homework or assessment tests, or how to avoid potential losses in students’ cognitive or cultural development if they “abuse” AI, have become everyday topics of conversation among many teachers.

In fact, the speed of AI advancement is pushing the boundaries of education. The continuum from teacher-led formal education to autonomous learning by the learner has expanded to include a new possibility: AI-guided autonomous learning. In this new modality, AI can function as that “more knowledgeable other” of which Lev Vygotsky spoke , which means that AI is our tutor in learning.

AI can be a teacher, but also a student

Another possibility is that the AI ​​could simulate being an entity we can teach, thus reversing the roles of teacher and learner so that the learner (the human) could teach an AI willing to listen and learn. This would force the human mind to process the content it intends to learn in order to teach it to the AI.

In the first case, for example, the usefulness of generative AI-based chatbots for language learning and the potential of AI to provide corrective feedback to learners on their class assignments are increasingly being demonstrated . In the second case, AI can be transformed into a “teachable agent” for learning mathematics or programming , among other options.

Thus, the main challenge for education in relation to technology is to keep pace with the different speeds of advancement in each field. In the face of technology, education must constantly demand evidence to justify investment and its use in educational contexts.

If technology is intended to replace other practices (for example, handwriting), evidence must be provided to justify such a change. If the technology could pose a risk to learners’ privacy or safety, sufficient safeguards for its safe use must be required.

If technology opens new horizons, such as learning in the Metaverse or the use of AI as a tutor or teachable agent , these must be previously explored in experimental contexts to ensure that such development is worthwhile.

Finally, if technology creates new gaps, education and its professionals have a moral commitment to demand that potential barriers be removed so that all students can learn equally and inclusively.

On the other hand, it’s also worth considering that education must make an effort to equip students with the skills necessary to use technology appropriately. Simply rejecting technology in educational contexts would turn schools into islands disconnected from the social reality and lives of many students, leaving their digital skills training to the companies themselves and their marketing departments.

How we address this challenge will define our relationship with technology in the coming years. Consumption? Critical analysis? User empowerment?

Getting the approach right is no small matter: our future is at stake.

Author Bio: Fernando Trujillo Sáez is Professor at the Faculty of Education, Economics and Technology of Ceuta at the University of Granada