{"id":3264,"date":"2013-01-16T09:05:20","date_gmt":"2013-01-16T16:05:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/?p=3264"},"modified":"2014-09-12T11:58:09","modified_gmt":"2014-09-12T17:58:09","slug":"bbc-news-viewpoint-computer-code-frees-us-to-think-in-new-ways","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/2013\/01\/16\/bbc-news-viewpoint-computer-code-frees-us-to-think-in-new-ways\/","title":{"rendered":"BBC News – Viewpoint: Computer code frees us to think in new ways"},"content":{"rendered":"Approximate Reading Time: <\/span> < 1<\/span> minute<\/span><\/span>

BBC News – Viewpoint: Computer code frees us to think in new ways<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Very well said. There’s lots here to like and agree with:<\/p>\n

To date the reasons behind the changes have seemed very skills-based, as if instilling particular skills will lead to growth in business and the economy.<\/p>\n

Really, though, teaching about computers should go beyond mere literacy, beyond focusing on a particular set of skills, and emphasise the fluency that true innovation demands.<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

We need to understand how to have ideas that can be framed to suit the internal workings of computers – and the things they are best at. We need to be able to express thoughts “in computer”. Those are the skills needed to innovate, to invent, with new technology.<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

We need more people who can think not faster, but think new thoughts.<\/p>\n

The training that fosters that should be about learning to think in this new world; learning what is possible. Cultivating a sense of smell, and a sense of balance, to exist in the code-assisted world.<\/p>\n

We will always need the engineers, but we also need the others: artists, journalists, politicians who understand the prostheses and exoskeletons of this digital world; of using the tools around them as rocket boosters to take us to strange and new worlds, not just more profitable ones.<\/p>\n

Teaching children the value of programming may be more useful than classes focused on specific IT skills<\/span><\/div>\n

Technology education, then, should not just be about teaching skills, it should really be about instilling a set of values. A way of thinking, taught as part of a broad, diverse curriculum.<\/p>\n

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