Sunday, February 15, 2009

Re: 21st Century Computer Skills

The whole point was missed,,,,,

________________________________

From: A forum for independent school educators on behalf of Brian Lee
Sent: Sun 2/15/2009 4:11 PM
To: ISED-L@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
Subject: Re: 21st Century Computer Skills

Here are my reasons...

- 15 pg English paper can not be done on wiki or blog
- 5 pg book report can not be handed in on a blog or wiki
- Cover letters are done in a word processor
- Resumes with special formatting are done in a word processor
- Writing a paper for class in college requires you to write in a word
processor
- Accounting requires the use of Excel

A wiki, blog, online communities are another form of communication. They
don't replace the communication we use now. If you have all of your
students say, my report is on a blog, go read it. It's not a polite thi=
ng
to do.

I still believe in understanding the basics is very important. It will=
come
in handy when they go to college. My brother who was in the Navy once
observed personnel input data into Excel, and did the calculations on=
a
calculator because they didn't know how Excel is used.

We can also look at different scenarios:
Scenario 1:
"Hi teacher. You can read my book report on my blog on myspace. Here=
is
the link. Sorry, I didn't hand in the paper. Just go visit the website
when you get home."

Scenario 2:
"Hi teacher. My blog does not allow me to do footnotes, and I don't know
how to use a word processor. I'm sure you will understand. I put the
references at the end of my blog for you to read. When you get home,=
just
access my paper, print it out, and write down your comments for me"

Scenario 3:
"Hi college professor. My chemistry homework is online. Here is the=
URL
for my assignment."

Scenario 4:
"Hi teacher. I printed out my homework from the blog. Ignore these onl=
ine
advertisements. I don't know how to use a word processor, so I printed=
this
from my web page. Also, the tables may look messy because I don't know=
how
to use the tables in Excel, yet."

New technologies does not replace the existing forms of communication.=
They
either enhancement, or they add on to it.

Television did not replace radio. Internet did not replace television.
Satellite television did not replace Cable companies. Satellite radio=
did
not replace terrestrial radio.

Brian Lee

On 2/15/09 12:42 PM, "Norman Constantine" <nconstantine@wakefieldschool.=
org>
wrote:

> "I've been surprised to see students who can run a blog, a wiki, etc.=
without
> problem really struggle with the basics of writing a paper with a word
> processor"
>=20
> So why not let them use the tools that they know to do the
> assignments......why use 20th century tools to do 21st century proble=
ms in
> 20th century ways..
>=20
> Norman
>

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