Friday, February 13, 2009

Re: 21st Century Computer Skills

On Fri, Feb 13, 2009 at 5:23 PM, Thomas Daccord <tom@edtechteacher.org>wrote:

> "I can guarantee that the job I hire someone to do will change or may not
> exist in the future, so this is why adaptability and learning skills are
> more important than technical skills." (Clay Parker of the manufacturer BOC
> Edwards quoted in Tony Wagner's Global Achievement Gap, 2008, p30).
>
> Ultimately it's not about learning technology, but learning to learn with
> technology. The tools you choose are less important than what students are
> doing with them. Ideally they should be learning how to problem-solve in a
> team framework. So, don't "teach" them word processing, but rather tell
> students you expect them to create a multimedia magazine complete with a
> Cover Page, Table of Contents, an Index, formatted text, columns, scanned
> images, graphs, and charts and they need to figure out collectively how to
> get it done. (Break them into small groups for specific tasks, if needed.)
> We should spend a limited amount of time teaching kids tools, and much more
> time trying to figure out how to use technologies to foster 21st century
> competencies in our students.
> Tom


OK, but looking at this from a musical perspective, don't you have to spend
a certain amount of time practicing your scales and learning a bunch of
chords (and maybe even a little music theory) before you can go out there
and not only accompany anyone, especially to the point of being able to
cover up their mistakes?

Does every student have to figure out for themselves what a I-IV-V
progression is, or can we give them that particular set of nuts and bolts as
a start, and then let them figure out more complex progressions as/if they
need them?

Is it easier to learn how to use the advanced aspects of a tool, or a
different manufacturer's take on a tool if you've been given the basics
first? Looking at it in a way that's much more relevant to the lives of our
teenaged students, do we expect them to "problem-solve" how to drive a car
on their own, or do we make sure that they have plenty of training in how to
use this potentially dangerous tool?

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