I watched intently as my Classroom Excel Instructor gave details on how to find the totals of a column of figures fifteen cells long through the Presentation Software PowerPoint. "Type the equal sign, then enter the word sum," She started. "Then add the parenthesis followed by the Column Letter and the Row Number of each of the rows below. Next close the parenthesis and click enter. Raise your hand when your done and I will come around and check to see if you have the answer correct." She completed. Being a little older... (okay much older in some cases) than other students, I listened intently and did everything exactly as instructed and got the answer correct. What happened next sent what seemed like a wave of furrowed brows through the classroom. The teacher stood in front of the class, moved to the next slide and said "Very good class, now delete the answer that you came up with. Now highlight the fifteen cells as shown and click auto sum and enter." As I followed her instruction and got the same answer, I wondered why in the world did she have us go through all of that previously when we achieved the same thing with three steps? The cue-de-gras (yes it felt like a death blow.. to my time!) came when she asked us to delete the answer again, stay in the cell click auto sum and enter... Why didn't she ask us to do that in the first place?
In this week's learning content taught us the importance of computer software uses as a designer and the importance of standards. While there are many different types of software used in the educational arena, such as Content and Organization Software, Presentation, Assessment Software, Communication Software, and Collaboration Software it is important that standards are set when designing so that things like how successful a design was or wasn't to the student that are gaining knowledge from it. Now while the mini Digital Native in me may not have liked the fact that the teacher showed us three different ways to do one task, each one being simpler than the previous, I realize now that was a standard set for that class. By equipping the students with how to get the most out of the Excel Software, she could then go back and assess what we learned and each time she taught that class, she would have the same standards in place so that each student would receive equal instruction.
As designers of the future we must take in account how the student we will be helping learn. While many will be Digital Natives, we still have to (at least for now) Design for both the Natives and the Immigrants by incorporating a mixed variety of ways to learn so that it connects with each of the students independently. Now while having a mini Native trapped in my Immigrant Body, this was a hard sell for me because at times I want knowledge fast and now. On the other hand, if my teacher would have never gone through those steps, I wouldn't have learned it and wouldn't be writing about it today. I guess it is true that you can't really unlearn something that was taught well.... Kudos to you Mrs Copeland!
