131–140 of 201 posts
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Word is not a text editor. Neither is Excel a list editor or a database. The inscrutable features of these tools have an actual purpose for the minority of users that need them.
Tell that to LibreOffice Writer which calls its files "text documents". The .ODT extension stands for "OpenDocument Text". Just because it's not plain text, doesn't mean it's not text.
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I think you are missing where the author is coming from. People knew how to use websites and applications in the early 2000s as well, but with the advent of home computers, WWW and smartphones there was a widespread belief that, by nature of being surrounded by tech, young people would automatically learn how it worked under the surface and possess an inherent fluency in IT. That didn't happen. It's still people inte…
Probably any millennial will recognize this picture: https://www.flickr.com/photos/deanwhitney/3926151592/ -- it's Microsoft Word of the late 90s, with every single toolbar enabled. I'm sure all of us, at one point or another, will have discovered how to enable every toolbar and then do so for pure entertainment value. In my experience (admittedly, that's a pretty narrow experience), kids are insatiably curious. They…
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Probably any millennial will recognize this picture: https://www.flickr.com/photos/deanwhitney/3926151592/ -- it's Microsoft Word of the late 90s, with every single toolbar enabled. I'm sure all of us, at one point or another, will have discovered how to enable every toolbar and then do so for pure entertainment value. In my experience (admittedly, that's a pretty narrow experience), kids are insatiably curious. They…
> What happened to the millennials, though, is that about the time we started to hit that age of discovery, technology got a whole lot more featureful, and software developers did a very bad job of coaching users on how to use these features. > Adults didn't know how to use them, but kids knew a lot about them. And the conclusion that people mistakenly drew was that kids just fundamentally understood computers better…
Or even something as simple as having all the fonts too small/too big and being unable to fix them back. Accidentally hiding toolbar you need. There are many ways how to break tech by experimenting it is quite hard to figure out what went wrong later.
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On the other hand, a lot of things that seemed hard really did just turn out to be unfamiliar. Word processing, for example: if you expect a five-year-old to learn it as a matter of course on the way to do other things, they can and will. There's probably a bunch of things like that. Little things. Kids know how to set reminders/create calendar events. Teens can intuit the usage of ACLs in multi-channel group chats l…
>Anyone born in the last 25 years will intuitively think to search for a video tutorial for any new micro-skill. Etc. But many kids have difficulties adquiring a new skill that requires reading because videos are not enough
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Right - of course, I don't really know the cultural background, having not been around when those expectations were developing.
I was around when those expectations were developing, and my frustration with trying to get any kind of computer education from school taught me early on that it was up to me to dig in. None of my classmates learned computer skills by osmosis. Every single one of them that did learn those skills put in intentional effort because they were already interested. And even so, the schools were entirely stacked against us,…
When I was a teen, I couldn't have explained (in any detail) how a car engine worked either. Five years later, I'd quickly learned in order to keep my own running. Those who need to, and have the time, will figure it out. If they are clueless, that's good. There are much more important things a teen needs to learn.
I think the article is not very good, however its main point still stands.
Part of my activity is teaching basic word processing and basic html/css to non-IT students. And it's quite a struggle because most (I say most because of course there are exceptions) students don't know how to use their computer for the most basic tasks.
Most have no idea how files are organized on a computer, ignoring the concept of file system. They simply can't navigate their file system and end up stuck between their "Documents" and "Downloads" folder. They routinely "lose" their files.
Once they've been introduced to the notion of file system, most don't understand the difference between regular folders and files and zip archive. Arguably, Windows is to blame here since it tries to hide the difference. Then they try to edit the files directly from the archive and don't understand why they can't save them right away.
Most don't know how to use a keyboard. Basic shortcuts (ctrl+c/ctrl+v and the like) are ignored. Most rely on the mouse and the menus for everything, and of course are terribly slow to achieve their tasks.
So we have to explain all these things before we even start with our subject, to the point where I wonder if they've been exposed to desktop computer before. I think most have only been using phones and tablets.
So, from my point of view, the conclusion of the article is right: teachers and parents should not assume their children and students know how to use a computer, because it might not be the case.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Word is not a text editor. Neither is Excel a list editor or a database. The inscrutable features of these tools have an actual purpose for the minority of users that need them.
Tell that to LibreOffice Writer which calls its files "text documents". The .ODT extension stands for "OpenDocument Text". Just because it's not plain text, doesn't mean it's not text.
Allow me to preface this by saying that I am, in fact, a teen, and absolutely do not represent the majority of teenagers. This post is a generalization and a subjective rant that absolutely doesn't hold up in real life. >>>When you explain what happens under the hood, they will ignore you. When you tell them what a certain setting probably does, they will ignore you. In my experience, although there may be some teena…