Laura Turner has written an excellent article on technology skills that people should now have if they plan on working in the education industry. The article, 20 Technology Skills Every Educator Should Have, is a great read but realistically can you imagine the amount of resistance an educational institution would face when trying to implement a process to standardize or review technology skill sets? Furthermore, aside from technology skills, most people would probably argue that interpersonal and administrative skills should also be benchmarked and evaluated. One argument that supports the article is that most higher education institutions are graduating students with the same skills listed below, and so it makes logical sense to ensure that the people with whom the students interact with are at least exposed to the skills. Nevertheless, do you think that the 20 basic technology skills listed below are a good collection of what an educator should have?
- Word Processing Skills
- Spreadsheets Skills
- Database Skills
- Electronic Presentation Skills
- Web Navigation Skills
- Web Site Design Skills
- E-Mail Management Skills
- Digital Cameras
- Computer Network Knowledge Applicable to your School System
- File Management & Windows Explorer Skills
- Downloading Software From the Web (Knowledge including eBooks)
- Installing Computer Software onto a Computer System
- WebCT or Blackboard Teaching Skills
- Videoconferencing skills
- Computer-Related Storage Devices (Knowledge: disks, CDs, USB drives, zip disks, DVDs, etc.)
- Scanner Knowledge
- Knowledge of PDAs
- Deep Web Knowledge
- Educational Copyright Knowledge
- Computer Security Knowledge
Related Links:
T.H.E Journal (Technology Horizons in Education Journal)