College Freshmen Struggle With Tech Literacy

snow_man writes to mention an article on the E-Commerce News site about techno-literacy problems with incoming college freshmen. Some schools, like CSU, are planning on including a technology comprehension test alongside their English and Math evaluations for new students. From the article: "Not all of Generation M can synthesize the loads of information they're accessing, educators say. 'They're geeky, but they don't know what to do with their geekdom,' said Barbara O'Connor, a Sacramento State communications studies professor involved in a nationwide effort to hone students' computer-research skills. On a recent nationwide test to measure their technological 'literacy' -- their ability to use the Internet to complete class assignments -- only 49 percent of the test-takers correctly evaluated a set of Web sites for objectivity, authority and timeliness. Only 35 percent could correctly narrow an overly broad Internet search."

Comments

Re:Uh...

[pbaer]

I knew thought I should write this, but people need to be better to do math in their heads.

Why does the average person need to be good at mental math? What function does being good at mental math serve? Everyone I know has a cellphone with a calculator that can do basic arithmetic. Technology has allowed for an increased level of abstraction so people can focus on the important things.

For example: How does the average person benefit from knowing how to make soap by hand? They don't, the same way the average person doesn't benefit by being proficient at mental math.