Parse.ly Technology educators lament lack of thinking skills.

To begin with, I believe we would all agree that with the onset of Twitter, Facebook and Wikipedia (and copious other services) that information is easy to come by.  Additionally, we have all read blogs and news articles pointing out the lack of research skills and originality in student’s of this generation.  However this article (see link above) notes a loss of other skills we should be aware of.  Randi Weiner reports, “[Student's] use computer-assisted drawing programs to do the same work” that traditionally was done on paper.  He continues, “Many don’t realize that there used to be artistry in creating plans. For many, making buleprints and plans is just another job before the computer.”  In other words, their skills in using basic tools such as the straight edge have become nugatory.

As a teacher myself, I have on occasion first taught student’s how to perform a particular assignment apart from a computer and then showed them how to do the same thing on a computer.  My rational behind this was because I felt computers often hinder one’s imagination; therefore, a computer is used in order to aid one in achieving their imagination’s potential.  However, after reading this article I for one will be focusing more on making sure the basic non-computer skills are taught whenever possible.

The second aspect to this post I would like to mention is a little service I just discovered: Parse.ly.  The best way to describe it is an advanced news aggregator.  I recommend all to check it out, it’s how I ran across the article referenced above.

California has begun to push legislation which would allow electronic books as an alternative to paper for K-12 public education (as reported here by the L.A. Times).

As someone who has been using various electronic books (nearly 400 books and journals spanning three different library systems) for over 10 years, I have come to rely on the research and search capabilities which only digital has to offer. I strongly support this option and I hope that California becomes the first of many states to adopt similar legislation.

U.S. News and World Report journalist Zach Miners reports:

A coalition of education leaders, advocacy groups, and teachers unions is pushing for the development of nationalized common academic standards, an oft-debated tool of education that has yet to be truly implemented. This new groundswell of support for common standards—which would create a single framework of material and skills for students to master in all 50 states and the District of Columbia—is signaling that national standards might be moving closer to reality.

My question is, why?

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