How is Education Like the RONCO Veg-o-matic?

One can always cut an onion with a knife like its been done for centuries. The onion would be cut and the cutter would cry, but the onion would get diced for soups, dips, and tacos.

In the 1960s the RONCO corporation invented a kitchen dicing device to take the pain out of cutting onions. The device was the Veg-o-matic and is an example of technology in my opinion. One definition of technology is doing the same job faster. So now cutting onions was faster and the cutters didn't cry.

Teachers need to be like the Veg-o-matic. We have been teaching the same way for the past century and, perhaps, making our students cry. We are going to have to find a way to use technology to get more learning completed faster. Someone once said that, "Even if you are on the right road, you will get run over if you stand there." All of the techniques we are using to teach are right. We are just going to have improve.

I think teaching is labor-intensive. Therefore, teaching follows the Solow Growth Model experiencing diminishing marginal returns. A technological advance would lift the curve upward so that more could be learned with the same amout of labor. Like the mythical man in a barrel and a lantern looking for the truth, I am looking for how teachers can improve instruction without working longer.

What have you done to improve instruction? Please comment.