Do educators need to know code to be effective teachers?
I would have said "no" just a few weeks ago quite catagorically, but after reading about 508 compliance it seems that if we are moving into online classes, then we do seem to need some type of coding experience. I have had a lot of trouble with certain assignments because I am out of touch with computer language and technical skills. I am fully invested in technology as a tool for the future in all aspects, but I am not a very well versed computer user, in the grand scheme of things.
I have created my entire course in an LMS partly because it is user-friendly and simple. This is helpful for teachers who are even more technically illiterate than I am, but as we move further forward I think part of the teaching profession will involve knowing how to create your own work.
There is also the matter of what content we will be teaching in the future. Computer code is becoming more and more like English in other countries for business majors. In Korea, for example, you cannot hope to get one of the coveted jobs in this country without knowing a certain amount of English. I think the same argument can be made for learning code. This will be an important second or third language to learn for the future because we will be surrounded by technology that uses it. We are already surrounded, but we still rely on technicians. But, much like my dad used to say to me, "every man should know how to fix things around their house." He was refering to a certain level of mechanical and carpentry skills, but the future will see our houses full of technology that needs coding to fix it at times, not wrenching or hammering. We should be aware of that and be able to speak and teach in that language at some point.
Below is a New Yorker piece on the subject.
I guess the real question for educators would be "what world are you teaching your students to be a part of?"