Sunday, February 15, 2009

Re: 21st Century Computer Skills

On Sun, Feb 15, 2009 at 5:15 PM, Ernest Koe <ernestkoe@gmail.com> wrote:

> Great discussion so far. This is a topic close to my heart. To further
> clarify my thoughts from before, let me offer the following ideas (aka, How
> To Think Like a Geek).
>
> It seems to me that...
>
> 1. It is not about having skills in specific software programs, it is
> about having generally adaptive thinkers/users of technology


But as I said, once you have the skills in even WordStar, figuring out how
to do the same thing OpenOffice becomes that much easier.

>
> 2. it is not 'general software skills' vs 'specific programs'. We need to
> stop thinking of software as requiring skills. There is nothing skilled
> about being good Microsoft Word user.
> 1. Incidentally, if I get resumes that list software programs as
> skills, they go into 'filed' bin


That's *you*. There are some employers who need people with those specific
software skills because they don't want to have to spend the time
[re]training them. Don't assume that your needs are everyone's needs. The
resume you "file" may well be the exact one I'm looking for.

4. It's not about being a good Excel/Word/Powerpoint user, it is about
> knowing how to communicate ideas with these stuff


Or about being the expert user who can help someone else communicate the
ideas with it. One could say that it's not about being a good animator, but
about being able to communicate a good story. But the animator works
hand-in-hand with the story person. And if you can be *both*, well, that's
even better. Walt Disney said that Ub Iwerks was the world's greatest
animator. But he wasn't a good story person, and the studio he set up when
he left Disney floundered because of it. Walt was a passable animator, but
an excellent story person, who knew how to get the animators to communicate
his story. Both are important.

As far as Excel/Word/PowerPoint goes, as far as I'm concerned, knowing how
to communicate with those tools involves knowing how to use them properly,
and especially so as not to give your audience a headache when they look at
your presentation.

7. All specific software 'skills' can be taught by showing someone how to
> find the 'help' button or how to search google.


So are you saying that all I have to do now when a student asks a question
is to say, "Look it up yourself?" Don't we have some obligation to at least
show them the basics before we cast them adrift and make them fend for
themselves?


> 9. Our 'standards' about style, format and form are diminishing in value
> everyday. Insisting on having a Microsoft Word processed 'essay' will
> seem
> like asking for a type-written essay.


Um...it's the same thing. It's typed output on paper. What has changed over
the past 30 years is the number of people who will accept handwritten
essays. Even when I was a freshman in college, back in the 70s, the
typewriter was a relative rarity among students, and many short papers were
handwritten.


> 12. but the Remix generation is already here (Lesig's term, not mine) -
> and if we don't get with the program, we'll be the ones taking classes
> about
> how to use Flickr circa 2020


And what is the remix generation remixing? Things that were done the old
way.

15. Nurture the internal geek or be ruled by them.


But the geeks often misunderstand what regular humans want and need.
--

keg

========================================
Keith E Gatling
mailto:keith@gatling.us
http://www.gatling.us/keith
The fact that I'm open-minded doesn't mean that I have to agree with you.
========================================

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