But Not Least... Skills

I don't believe this mantra. It does, however, explain much of the content core that has driven technology education and computer classes since the rise of the computer lab. If computer integration is ever to go hand-in-hand with computer education, this "given" needs to be rethought and put in its proper place. Technology education needs to embrace a new paradigm, one focused upon empowerment and the adventure of learning, if integration is to become a reality. I discuss the redefinition of the teacher in But not Least essays Change Happens and Dis What? In this essay, let's take a fresh look at skills delivery.

What skills and Why and When Which skills?

In Group #1 fall what might be called "tutorial lists" - the How-To's that take up hundreds of print pages and can be learned in a 1-1 encounter with a manual. There is no doubt that a computer project is facilitated if students enter the project with basic application skills in hand (see Expectations). However, there is no point in teaching a skill that will not be used for a year, two years, or ever. My favorite example is spreadsheets. There is a fuzzy idea in Middle and High School technology departments that spreadsheet knowledge is essential for science class. Excel or AW Spreadsheet can be useful for the organization, graphing and evaluation/comparison of data collected in science or social studies research. However, putting students through the drill of learning how to manipulated columns, rows, layouts, worksheets, formulas, calculations, scripts, pivot tables, etc. is not necessary. Students are not accountants or CIO's. Learning is not about the minutia of application manipulation, interesting as that may be, but about the content data that is entered into the spreadsheet. What is necessary is a template (see, for example, Create a Graph), clear instruction about data type and entry, and instructions about building the appropriate charts or tables necessary to display the information. The rest of instructional time is better spent discussing the data and its display.

Similarly, what do teachers need to know about spreadsheets? Excellent grade report templates are available from Microsoft and Apple and commercial software packages, such as Easy Grade Pro, are "plug and play." High School science classes are more likely to use data manipulation software specific to the subject matter or text, such as Logger Pro, than they are to require creation of a spreadsheet from scratch. Teachers need, generally, to be able to adapt or create a template that can be used by their students for a specific educational outcome. They need to frame an appropriate data discovery and analysis exercise. They need to be concerned about the skills of defining and teaching what needs to be taught. There are many ways to accomplish gain this skill and knowledge without a graduate class or half-day workshop. For example:

The next time you find yourself (the teacher) saying, "They can't do it until they have the skills," think about what you have said. Does it really translate to, "They can't do it until I teach them the skills that I know"? Does it really translate to, "They can't do it because I don't have the skills"? Either way of thinking is guaranteed to put a fence between where you want to go, educationally, and getting there, as well as to place a burden on you and/or on your technology support people that amounts to time taken away from teaching ideas and content.

Rephrase your thinking about application Do it skills to:

Are there important Do it skills? Yes, and here is The Rule of 3 x 3 : 9 Essential Skills

Not a single one of these is application specific. They should be taught beginning in Kindergarten and reinforced with every use of a computer. They are essential to your Fear Factor Toolkit. Which leads us nicely into the Group #2 Skills:

In Group #2 fall toolbars, menu bars, Help menus and the naming of parts. Teaching about these is essential and much more important that teaching Do it skills.

Which leads us nicely into the Group #3 Skills:

In Group #3 fall skills that make use of Group #1 and Group #2 skills to integrate technology into the solution of a problem. Channeling students and teachers away from application-specific integration activities into Group #3 thinking should be the goal of all technology education. The Big6 is a useful problem-solving construct that can be applied to a technology problem as well as to a research problem. However, common sense problem-solving and a Mindset for Adventure are all that is necessary to solve most technology challenges. What specific skills are necessary?

Think About It Skills - learning to use applications to accomplish a task is really about learning how to learn the necessary skills. Identifying the necessary skills is the hard part. A discussion of the following questions is more useful in a technology education session than either endless skills practice or the pursuit of unnecessary skills:

It is these last skills that are hardest for adults and easiest for students (see the But not Least essay Dis What? ). We believe at Least Tern that the best students are not passive learners, but active learners who have embraced the sense of adventure inherent in learning. Technology "teaching" should focus from day one upon constructing the Mindset for Adventure rather than upon the minutia of skills. Simple to elucidate, the Mindset must be practiced and may never become fully automatic in the adult. Like a diet, it will succeed and fail and succeed again. Here is the routine:

Say to yourself:

The new trainer must be more cheerleader and support group than teacher. Knowledge is sought, found, developed and used by the learner with increasing independence. Mistakes are OK. Risk-taking is encouraged at all times. The challenge to technology educators, librarians, and IT staffs is to let go themselves of a "safe" set of essential skills against which to measure teacher learning. Trainers should be the first to embrace the Mindset for Adventure.