I didn't know...

Most every single day I fix a computer problem. Though, it isn't a computer problem really. It's a veteran faculty member who can't check their e-mail, wants to know how to use our grade spreadsheet program, who doesn't understand why their computer doesn't get "The Internet." And this, not the computer is the problem. We are in the midst of a dramatic technological advance, one unprecedented in human history. As agents of human development educators are unsure, if not unprepared, how to manage such wholesale change.

It starts in any classroom. A student brings in a project they published from the Internet. The graphs are precise, the pictures hi-res, the information seamless and accurate. Only it is not their own. The teacher unabashedly scorns the student for plagiarism, claiming one's ideas as their own. The bewildered student stares back at the teacher, unsure as to what they have done wrong.

As we become a global community of knowledge, we lose the property rights to such knowledge. The information is out there, part of our collective conscience. Information is readily accessible, learning becomes based on necessity. 21st century students don't understand learning "just in case" or "one day you'll need to know this". No, give 21st century students what they need [tomorrow's knowledge], when they need it [today]. This knowledge can be collected by students, but it is difficult for today's students to evaluate and/or synthesize such large amounts of information. Acquisition is a skill already possessed by most students. Comprehension is still something that can be taught. Students have blind faith in their Internet sources; they do not weight them against their personal values or local circumstances. We must therefore balance the use of technology with the promotion of real-world activities. Students must be able to gauge the effectiveness of tech-info based on its real-world practicality. The only way to make such sound measures is to garner real-world experiences.

But how do we teach students about what really matters? Is it our place? Surely we cannot tell a student what they can/cannot learn when we don't know what will be relevant down the road. But should students decide what matters? Young students may have the world at their fingertips, but they do not have a life's worth of experience to evaluate this world. Perhaps our efforts are best utilized in a compromise between educators' life-experience and students' youthful ambition. These are all convenient philosophical arguments on which we can waste away the day.

In the meantime, other nations have fully invested themselves in the technological age. U. S. students may not know what the 21st century marketplace will look like, but they can be sure it will be globally competitive. We can be sure that if we do not embrace technological literacy and innovation, we will soon find ourselves victim to it. And to ensure the basic competencies of our students, to ensure that they can be employed satisfied adults, we must teach them the skills that matter, the skills that employers might have in demand. These skills will extend beyond tech-savvy, to an adaptive personality that willingly accepts the inevitability and acceleration of global change.