When it comes to downloading music and instant messaging, today's students are plenty tech-savvy. But that doesn't mean they know how to make good use of the endless stream of information that computers put at their fingertips.
Educators and employers call those skills "technology literacy," and while everyone agrees it's important to have, it also is difficult to measure.
Now a test that some high school students will begin taking this year could help.
Read more... (AP)
There isn't one "intelligence", but a score of them.
That's why Mark Twain who can write good literary
works that obviously recounts African-American boys
such as "Tom Sawyer", couldn't do the simple
multiplication table.
An artist who uses a graphic program to draw images
can't program the image drawing software, because
that's a different type of intelligence.
Trying to instill tech intelligence isn't going to
work because we are using different intelligences
to achieve our goals.
The best option is to make technology transparent
and invisible, just like oxygen in the air we
breathe.
In the meanwhile before technology can mature to
that level, there's a need to develop something
better than the keyboard as the most efficient
user data inputting method. After all, the
most problematic point about technology is the
user interface, where the least amount of money
is spent, causing the most confusion and the
most wasted time.
Indeed, the VCR managed to get over those who
can't program the date and time by using auto-
clock.
What did computers do? Windows 95 used to have a
macro-key recording feature to automate repetitive
tasks. But now, Microsoft replaced that with
Visual-Basic, which is too difficult for anyone
but a programmer, causing everyone to either
stop upgrading their operating system, or take
the time to manually do what they used to
perform with a macro.
That's why Mark Twain who can write good literary
works that obviously recounts African-American boys
such as "Tom Sawyer", couldn't do the simple
multiplication table.
An artist who uses a graphic program to draw images
can't program the image drawing software, because
that's a different type of intelligence.
Trying to instill tech intelligence isn't going to
work because we are using different intelligences
to achieve our goals.
The best option is to make technology transparent
and invisible, just like oxygen in the air we
breathe.
In the meanwhile before technology can mature to
that level, there's a need to develop something
better than the keyboard as the most efficient
user data inputting method. After all, the
most problematic point about technology is the
user interface, where the least amount of money
is spent, causing the most confusion and the
most wasted time.
Indeed, the VCR managed to get over those who
can't program the date and time by using auto-
clock.
What did computers do? Windows 95 used to have a
macro-key recording feature to automate repetitive
tasks. But now, Microsoft replaced that with
Visual-Basic, which is too difficult for anyone
but a programmer, causing everyone to either
stop upgrading their operating system, or take
the time to manually do what they used to
perform with a macro.
Specialized intelligence? I buy it, but I don't buy it. It seems to me you're describing idiot savants. Normal people are more general purpose than you would have us believe. Mark Twain wasn't that limited in his intelligence, nor was Albert Einstein.... contrary to all the myths made up about him. Real intelligence is tranferrable to various skill sets. One thing we do have are specialized interests.
Skip
Skip
I agree with the fist poster. Most of my friends and I consider myself a complete moron, but I have great vocabulary and computer skills. It seems I traded my common sense for intelligence at some point in my life. 
Hi Skip,
I would have to agree with you, with the addendum that while tech skills can be learned by anyone from any discipline, many of these "tech-savvy" skills require learning whereas something so simple as instant messaging and internet browsing are practically self-explanatory. Anyone could learn these skills if training courses came standard with operating systems. Of course, since operating systems are made by people who know what they're doing, they can't have a very good idea of what Average Joe Computer Illiterate needs/wants to learn in order to fully utilize his computer's capabilities. I will admit to being plenty ignorant of many tasks that could likely be performed with greater speed and accuracy, despite being considered the most computer-literate person in either of my families and among my friends.
I would have to agree with you, with the addendum that while tech skills can be learned by anyone from any discipline, many of these "tech-savvy" skills require learning whereas something so simple as instant messaging and internet browsing are practically self-explanatory. Anyone could learn these skills if training courses came standard with operating systems. Of course, since operating systems are made by people who know what they're doing, they can't have a very good idea of what Average Joe Computer Illiterate needs/wants to learn in order to fully utilize his computer's capabilities. I will admit to being plenty ignorant of many tasks that could likely be performed with greater speed and accuracy, despite being considered the most computer-literate person in either of my families and among my friends.
"Of course, since operating systems are made by people who know what they're doing, they can't have a very good idea of what Average Joe Computer Illiterate needs/wants to learn in order to fully utilize his computer's capabilities."
Kind of off-topic, but this is probably the reason open-source software is so popular with newbies (for lack of a term with a more positive connotation). It's made by the people, for the people! I guess they really know what you want!
Kind of off-topic, but this is probably the reason open-source software is so popular with newbies (for lack of a term with a more positive connotation). It's made by the people, for the people! I guess they really know what you want!