OS Teacher: Gates on Education and Technology

Bill Gates believes that when it comes to education, all the technological bells and whistles remain dependent on one thing: how they are used in a classroom environment. And “that the role of the teachers remains central and fundamental,” he said at the Microsoft Government Leaders Forum last month in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Microsoft has spent millions of dollars through the Gates Foundation and other resources, funneling technology into public schools and educational institutions around the world.

Still, Microsoft's founder and chairman admits more must be done to support teachers and to train them in working with new technologies. “And so we have to back them and get behind them, particularly the teachers who embrace new capabilities,” he said.

However, Sydney Thornbury, founder and executive director of WebPlay, a non-profit that links elementary school children in the United Kingdom and in the U.S. over the Internet in projects such as playwriting, believes more must be done than just tossing technology at teachers. “We need to get away from the idea of 'teaching technology' and encourage teachers to use technology to teach,” she writes by e-mail. “Teacher training and building their confidence is key.”

During his speech, Gates concurred with the idea that technology used well is important—not only in the U.S., but the global classroom. “How can you make that even better?” he asked. “Well, if the teacher can take the material that's out there and add a little bit of their own ideas, and then put that back into a community, a digital community, where it's shared, we're building on each other's work.”