From the recent New York Times Magazine Education Issue (9/16/10): Achieving Technological Literacy. A collection of observations gleaned from Kevin Kelly's experiences homeschooling his eighth grade son, the article offers some wisdom regarding the proper role of technology in a school setting. Kelly recommends the following course for educators teaching Technological Literacy:
* Every new technology will bite back. The more powerful its gifts, the more powerfully it can be abused. Look for its costs.
• Technologies improve so fast you should postpone getting anything you need until the last second. Get comfortable with the fact that anything you buy is already obsolete.
• Before you can master a device, program or invention, it will be superseded; you will always be a beginner. Get good at it.
• Be suspicious of any technology that requires walls. If you can fix it, modify it or hack it yourself, that is a good sign.
• The proper response to a stupid technology is to make a better one, just as the proper response to a stupid idea is not to outlaw it but to replace it with a better idea.
• Every technology is biased by its embedded defaults: what does it assume?
• Nobody has any idea of what a new invention will really be good for. The crucial question is, what happens when everyone has one?
• The older the technology, the more likely it will continue to be useful.
• Find the minimum amount of technology that will maximize your options.
What does "Technological Literacy" mean to you, and what sorts of skills ought we to be teaching to students headed for the 21st century marketplace of ideas?
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