Assuming Skillsets

I work with students under twenty. Young and savvy, they are skilled with all technology, they easily adapt to new tech evolutions and can sit down at computers and cull magic from the keys….right? Is it safe to assume that my students are great with computers simply because they’re young? Of course not. No matter the simplicity of the system and the depth of experience, my students spawn from a wealth of life experience and bring every minor ounce of baggage to each classroom interaction.

Though young, my student’s experience with technology stems largely from the directions formulated by popular culture and social networking. My students are Facebook wizards, some are likely acrobats of Myspace and still others can work an MP3 or video file through a complex set of filters that make mush become great music. One holds no safe assumptions though they’re young and fully enriched in the American culture of technology there remain a series of gaps and disparities that reveal the contradiction of our notion that youth and technology skills are automatically linked.

…more on this to come.

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