Computer Skills for the 21st Century

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Looking Under the Hood

@joe_edtech

Thanks to a colleague of mine, I read a very well written blog post recently titled "Kids Can't Use Computers...And This Is Why It Should Worry You," by Marc Scott. In it, the author makes the point that we frequently confuse the ability to navigate the Internet or connect to legions of friends through social networking tools with real computer knowledge. Being Tech Savvy and being Internet Savvy are not the same thing.

I should point out here that I don't agree with some of my more hard core ed tech colleagues who insist that you really don't know anything about computers unless you can program them. Don't get me wrong, I think everyone should know something about coding, but I don't think programming is for everyone.  While I spent hours and hours in my basement learning BASIC, creating fairly lame graphics on my Texas Instruments Computer, I'm not sure that kind of thing is as important for the general population as coding evangelists seem to believe.

As an analogy, I think it is important that everyone who drives knows how to jump a battery, change the tires, and add washer fluid. I don't think it is nearly as important for everyone to know how to change their spark plugs or reattach hoses or really even change their own oil (although it is worthwhile to do that by yourself just once). In other words, drivers need to know how to handle emergencies, to diagnose a problem when something is seriously wrong, and to clearly express that to the professionals who will handle the repairs.

In parallel, it is important for computer users to know how to handle emergencies, to diagnose problems when something is seriously wrong, and to express that clearly to the professionals who will handle the repairs. That means all computer users should be aware of what is in "Settings" or "Control Panels," and how to connect to WiFi, and how to do things like repair permissions or remove malware (or avoid it in the first place).

As a way to defer the cost of registration, I provided free tech support at one of the conferences I attended last year, and I will say that I helped a number of educational professionals, who were about to make presentations on using technology in the classroom, do simple things like extend or mirror the computer display while using a projector. While it made my conference cheaper, I found it a little disheartening.

Do you know your personal settings?

My take away from the "Kids Can't Use Computers" piece is that Mr. Scott is right. Kids do need explicit instructions on managing their computers or tablets. But I think that starts with making sure that our teachers get explicit instructions on managing their computers and tablets. Next semester I'll be offering several Computing 101 session for teachers who want to be more self sufficient on their computers. And that will all focus on understanding Control Panels and Settings in both Windows and Chrome.

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Do you think all kids need to know how to code? How much coding should be required?