Today's Old News: Paying Attention

According to Mark Weiser, “The most profound technologies are those that disappear,” that “weave themselves into the fabric of everyday life until they are indistinguishable from it” (qtd. in Selber, 159-160). Selber adds, “Technologies may be the most profound when they disappear. But when this happens, they also develop the most potential for being dangerous” (160).

Technology and its corresponding literacy are already deeply woven into our way of life. We see its hemlines at work, school, home, and even in the twenty-first century workings of our democratic government. As more of us go online it instantly creates a division with those who are still offline. We get so used to our new access that we easily forget those without it. The internet and its uses are ingrained in our lifestyles, but what of them who never had it?

Does your child have NimbleFingers?

I heard from a friend of mine teaching in the Walnut School District that many elementary classrooms are teaching typing skills (sometimes in place of handwriting skills). Hearing this impressed me and made me cringe a little at the same time. I recently googled “teaching typing to elementary students” and came across an online typing program called, “NimbleFingers.” It can be used by adults but seems mostly geared towards teaching typing skills to kids. Here’s a link to the Teacher’s Typing Manual that goes with the program:

http://www.nimblefingers.com/teachers.htm

The objectives state, “Keyboarding is an excellent way to introduce students to computer literacy and to improve one’s ability to interact with the computer. Once you know how to type, you do not have to search for the key to press and you can concentrate on the application at hand.” I never really consider using my computer as “interacting” with it and these objectives definitely push kiddos to be as productive as possible.

I’m wondering if I’d mind it if my child did not know how to write in cursive? I feel torn.