I just came across an article by Jakob Nielson that discusses the skills that young people should be learning. The one-sentence summary of the article is instructive: “Schools should teach deep, strategic computer insights that can’t be learned from reading a manual.” What he means is that schools should not teach to a certain platform or software program, but they should instruct along the lines of critical thinking and problem-solving that will come in handy no matter how technology changes (and it will change — we all know that).
Here is a list of the skills that Jakob says are vital:
- Search Strategies
- Information Credibility
- Battling Information Overload
- Presentation Skills
- Ergonomics
- Basic Debugging Techniques
- Understanding Usability Guidelines
You can read more at his site but I think this is a nice basic list to think about.
Peace (with the basics),
Kevin
“Search strategies” and “information credibility” are two major issues we have to handle in the English classroom and beyond. I agree that “this is a nice basic list to think about.”
Bill