The continuously changing technologies of literacy mean that we must help children learn how to learn new technologies of literacy. In fact, the ability to learn continuously changing technologies for literacy may be a more critical target than learning any particular technology of literacy itself.
Donald J. Leu, Jr., The New Literacies
I found this quote when I was reading the Web 2.0 blog and I was struck by the phrase "In fact, the abilty to learn continuously changing technolgies" I sometimes point out to students that when I get confused about showing them a program that since I have started using computers, I have had to learn to use around 8 different operating systems (Mac and PC), I can't remember how many different word processors I have learned, plus their upgrades. Then add on that all the different software programs I have worked with. The most important technology skill I have is the ability to sit down at a new piece of technolgy and figure out how to use it. (Still haven't quite figured out Dreamweaver yet)
I have been a big fan of Mac computers for years, and I think the reason is that most of their programs are intuitive and fairly easy to figure out. (The latest iMovie being an exception).
I agree with Mr. Leu. It is imperative that we teach our students how to learn new technologies.
Probably the best way to do this is to expose them to a number of different programs. So teaching them programs like "voice thread" Power point, google docs, comic life, iphoto, garage band, blogs, wikis and whatever other programs lend themselves to our subject matters are never a waste. They are more training in being able to adapt to different technology tools.
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An excellent point, Deb. Lately I've been thinking about the fact that (as far as I can recall) nobody TAUGHT be how to use any programs. My high school "computer" class was completely out-of-date with times, and I taught myself different applications in college (and beyond) just because I had to (i.e., in the context of other learning). The exceptions: I did have an education class in college which explicitly taught HTML so we could build webpages, and I was taught keyboarding in high school -- which I credit as being one of the most helpful, time-saving skills I have.
We may have spoken about this before, but I try to remember to point out the "Help" section in whatever we are using, and I try to encourage kids to use it since *I* (or another person) won't always be around to show them. And I love it when they show each other how to do things.
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