17_Gerry

I disagree that robot avatars are good teachers. Even though they may help students learn better in class, a human teacher is there for much more than learning. If students teachers have difficulties, human teachers are there to help them, but robots cannot. Human teachers can laugh and cry with the class, but robots can only play pre-recorded laughter and cries. Engkey is a robot avatar that teachers children subjects in South Korea. ** Engkey could provide a more feasible long term alternative to the high cost of employing thousands of American, Canadian, South Africans and Australian teachers who are not only expensive, but less willing to work in remote areas in the country. The robots are reported to cost 10 million won (about US$8,700) each. And well educated, experience Filipino teachers are far cheaper to employ compared to many other English teachers from other parts of the world. Thus, robot avatars do not make good teachers. **