All Annotations of Life-Long Computer Skills (Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox)[Preview]

saved by26 people, first byGreg Falken on 2007-02-26, last byflea on 2008-08-14

• Life-Long Computer Skills

• Information Credibility

  
  In testing websites with children, we found that they click advertisements much more than adult users do. It's definitely important to teach kids how to recognize different types of ads, including sponsored versus organic search hits. But we need to go beyond that and teach kids strategies for judging and checking the credibility of online information.
• People can take simple steps to fight information overload, but as information snowballs, we'll need more sophisticated strategies.
• users read online media very differently than they read print media. Thus, we should teach students how to write hypertext and not how just to write printed documents.
• Good speakers know how to use PowerPoint to enhance their presentations rather than put audiences to sleep with bullet points. Most business professionals agree that solid presentation skills are essential for career advancement. Fewer appreciate that today's presentations tend to be computer-supported and that more than pure speaking brilliance is required to get a point across.
• In their book, The New Division of Labor: How Computers Are Creating the Next Job Market, Frank Levy and Richard J. Murnane highlight three key skills that are less likely to be offshored or automated in the future. Those skills are problem solving, understanding the relation between concepts, and interpersonal communication. The life-long computer skills I've outlined here can similarly prepare students for the type of careers that will be sustainable as globalization intensifies.

• on 2007-03-18 Cburell
  Good framework for teaching 21st century literacy skills.