Skills inversion

In the 21s century, educators must come to grips with the fact that there is (for the first time in human history) an information technology skills inversion-- the young people are more skilled at using the dominant information technology than the adults.

Certainly, they have more experience finding YouTube videos and texting and dealing with multiple information sources at the same time... but it is unlikely they have more experience creating understanding. (I used to include evaluating information in the list of skills that adults had over young people, but I have seen in recent months many students who were far more critical of dubious information presented on the web than adults were!)

Every so often, I notice students who are dismissive of teachers attempts to "use technology." (This is typically expressed as students bypassing the teachers' instruction and just getting to work... sometimes as giggles or even outright laughter at the teacher promoting as "cutting edge" what students have been using for years.) This seems to be happening now relative to mobile technology. If students cannot get what they need on their phones, then the technology is viewed as primitive.