Computer Education

Usability guru Jakob Nilsen has posted a brief essay on Life-Long Computer Skills that I would love to see taught here in Tuolumne County. As a technology provider, I often see people frustrated by a lack of understanding of how their computer works below the surface of the desktop. There are many computer classes available locally which focus on the use of a particular program or tool, but none that I know of that provide the broader picture that Mr. Nilsen suggests:

Teaching life-long computer skills in our schools offers further benefit in that it gives students insights that they're unlikely to pick up on their own. In contrast, as software gets steadily easier to use, anyone will be able to figure out how to draw a pie chart. People will learn how to use features on their own, when they need them -- and thus have the motivation to hunt for them. It's the conceptual things that get endlessly deferred without the impetus of formal education.

Picking and choosing from the article's list of course topics, almost every computer user that I know would benefit from a better understanding of:

• Search Strategies
• Information Credibility
  
• Information Overload
• Writing for Online Readers
• Computerized Presentation Skills
• Workspace Ergonomics

Notice that none of these topics are tied to any particular program or operating system. Rather, they teach strategies for working more easily and successfully with any computer, particularly one that is online. With a grounding in skills such as these, students can branch into more technical subjects such as debugging or user testing and usability issues.

To use military jargon, these skills are strategic, rather than tactical. Understanding them is a necessary step to being successful in today's information economy. Again, Jakob Nilsen:

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.

Read all of Life-Long Computer Skills.