Today’s school curriculum focuses on 21st century skills which are about processes of applying information, problem solving and collaborating.
A key skill in our current era is the ability to draw on lots of different types of information and bring them together to work out a solution, to gain a new perspective on a situation or to develop our knowledge of something.
Is it important to remember all the research you did for your trip to Hawaii? Probably not. As long as you can access, organise and use the information while you’re there is what most people would need.
We also all have different learning styles. The availability of a range of platforms to create information and from which we can access information is important for all. Handwriting and reading text doesn’t necessarily suit everyone.
Deep Thought
If remembering and understanding are linked to deliberate action then editing some footage or composing a script for a YouTube clip needs to be well thought through. It’s not about if it was written on paper first but just that deep thought has been given to it.
Also if the argument for turning back to books is about not being distracted by online ads or checking our social media or email accounts, then it’s important that we learn to work well in our e-society. Technology is not going away.
The shift away from pen on paper has been driven by:
- convenience – our devices are always close by
- cost, as cloud-based content eliminates expensive printing costs
- the thrill of the latest innovation.
These are important factors and suggest screens will become an even greater part of our lives in the future.
Some may suggest that we are losing opportunities to learn because of our love affair with our screens but our era today is about understanding and managing information and then developing knowledge from that. A turn back to focusing on remembering information is simply not important now.
This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.
