Which technology tools matter?

January 17th, 2006 | by Tim Wilson |

I meet with a bunch of other ed tech folks from the Twin Cities area once a month to share ideas and see demonstrations of various learning technologies. As I type this I’m sitting in a meeting with a representative from the Minnesota Dept. of Education who is giving all of us an update on state-wide ed tech issues.

During a discussion about technology standards for students, one of the participants pointed out that significant gaps still exist between the technology skills that most kids bring to school and the kind of technologies we expect them to use in their schoolwork. I was struck by the thought:

What if the technologies that already interest our kids are the ones that matter most?

Now I’m not going to suggest that the kids in my school district have things all figured out. But maybe, in the long run, WordPress and IM matter more than Word, iTunes is more important than PowerPoint, and Firefox and Wikipedia are more valuable than the World Book Encyclopedia.

This is almost certainly overstated, but the key point, I think, is that what we old fogies think kids need to know may not necessarily be what matters for them in 10 years.

wordpress, ichat, itunes, firefox, wikipedia, educational technology

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  1. 4 Responses to “Which technology tools matter?”

  2. By Tom Hoffman on Jan 17, 2006 | Reply

    I think you can make a pretty good argument that ed-tech went south when Office 95 (or 97) came out and everything collapsed on business productivity tools. I open a word processor about once a month, if I have to.

  3. By John Pederson on Jan 17, 2006 | Reply

    I actually put a timer (Active Timer, OS X) on my computer this morning that will tell me how much time I am spending on different applications. Update coming tomorrow. (I may lie about the amount of time I spend on WoW this morning.)

  4. By Dan Bassill on Jan 17, 2006 | Reply

    I am looking to hire someone who fits the description of “Technologist” for a non profit tutor/mentor program that I lead in Chicago. Can you look at my job description and a) tell me if it describes what you feel a Technologist does; and b) tell me if you know any people in the Chicago region who might want to apply for this job. The link is at:
    http://www.cabriniconnections.net/jobposting_technology.htm‘

    Thanks.

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