Posts Tagged ‘digital fluency EDAD’

digitally native need computer help

The Smartphone Generation Needs Computer Help

Young people may be expert social-media and smartphone users, but many lack the digital skills they need for today’s jobs. How can we set them up for success?

https://www.theatlantic.com/sponsored/grow-google-2019/smartphone-generation-computer-help/3127/

Kenneth Cole’s classroom at the Boys & Girls Club of Dane County, located on a quiet residential street in Madison, Wisconsin.

The classes Cole teaches use Grow with Google’s Applied Digital Skills online curriculum.

One day he may lead Club members in a lesson on building digital resumes that can be customized quickly and make job-seeking easier when applying online. Another day they may create a blog. On this particular day, they drew up a budget for an upcoming event using a spreadsheet. For kids who are often glued to their smartphones, these types of digital tasks, surprisingly, can be new experiences.

The vast majority of young Americans have access to a smartphone, and nearly half say they are online “almost constantly.”

But although smartphones can be powerful learning tools when applied productively, these reports of hyperconnectivity and technological proficiency mask a deeper paucity of digital skills. This often-overlooked phenomenon is limiting some young people’s ability—particularly those in rural and low-income communities—to succeed in school and the workplace, where digital skills are increasingly required to collaborate effectively and complete everyday tasks.

According to a survey by Pew Research Center, only 17 percent of Americans are “digitally ready”—that is, confident using digital tools for learning. Meanwhile, in a separate study, American millennials ranked last among a group of their international peers when it came to “problem-solving in technology-rich environments,” such as sending and saving digital information

teach his sophomore pupils the technology skills they need in the workplace, as well as soft skills like teamwork.

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more on digitally native in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=digitally+native
more on millennials in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=millennials

K-12 And Higher Education Converged?

K-12 And Higher Education Are Considered Separate Systems. What If They Converged?

By Jeffrey R. Young     Sep 8, 2017

https://www.edsurge.com/news/2017-09-08-k-12-and-higher-education-are-considered-separate-systems-what-if-they-converged

In “The Convergence of K-12 and Higher Education: Policies and Programs in a Changing Era,” two education professors point out potential benefits of taking a more holistic view to American education

interview with Christopher Loss, one of the editors.

What role does technology play in some of the convergences that occur or are happening?

There’s a great essay in the collection by June Ahn, which deals with the idea of technology as a key mediating source and mechanism for the creation of various kinds of convergences between and among different sectors (my note: K12 and higher ed).

Cyberlearning Community Report: The State of Cyberlearning and the Future of Learning With Technology http://circlcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/CyberlearningCommunityReport2017.pdf (Oct, 2017)

Americans like to see themselves as among the best in the world in education. But lately, the education leaders have been looking abroad for ideas, I think. What can we learn from countries that do have closer links between K-12 and higher ed?

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