Sunday, February 15, 2009

Re: 21st Century Computer Skills

Your 2 cents are worth a hundred million!!!!!!
=20
Norman

________________________________

From: A forum for independent school educators on behalf of Ernest Koe
Sent: Sat 2/14/2009 4:28 PM
To: ISED-L@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
Subject: Re: 21st Century Computer Skills

Let me offer a perspective from the 'outside'.

We don't teach kids to play computer games, yet they develop gaming lite=
racy
just fine on their own. They can figure out the rules, learn on their=
own,
from their friends, try and err and ultimately play these games. There=
is no
class for Warcraft and we don't send kids to class learn how to play Sim=
s.

That we adults believe that basic computers skills are critical to stude=
nt's
technology literacy doesn't necessarily make it so. In my experience,
children will solve problems and learn the skills required to tackle the=
m so
long as the feedback loops exist. We are prone to get in the way.

Years from now, the idea that we have classes to teach kids how to recog=
nize
the basic patterns of using software will seem as quaint as the notion=
of
teaching someone to make a phone call by dialing a rotary phone.

That we, as a generation, needed the five-steps to learn this stuff does=
n't
mean that it should be the norm.

This isn't to say 'skills' are unimportant. Complex human activities req=
uire
skill, but I would suggest that these skills can and should be developed=
as
an integral aspect of the learning activity and not separate from it.

There is nothing sacred about having skills in Microsoft Word, Excel,
Photoshop or Insert-your-favorite-software. Today's Word is tomorrow's
Wordstar.

As a software engineer/designer, the only constant we believe is in the=
idea
that newer technology will let us design better interfaces. Nothing toda=
y is
sacred. Software is "soft--malleable by definition. Our expectation is=
that
people have the cognitive abilities and experience to see patterns, make
connections, relate, try and fail on their own. And their expectation=
is
that we do preciesly that to make things easier and fun.

We should be teaching writing, not wordprocessing. We should be applying
math, not teaching Excel. We should be blogging, not teaching Wordpress.

my humble 2cents

Ernest Koe

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