Are we preparing students with skills they need for their life?

The short answer is NO.

The question begs a simpler question, can we prepare students with the skills they will need for their life. That answer is even easier. No.

The difference I will qualify is that we cannot prepare students with skills; however, we can prepare them with habits of mind and skills they can adapt to the not yet invented technologies.

I want all of our students to graduate being information and media literate. †Our IML capacities are not a set of skills to check off on a list. These are areas of capacity for students to grow in. †As the technology grows, they will need to grow and adapt.

A key point for me was at a recent spotlight speech at NECC2007 by Will Richardson. I recall the statement that IBM has 20 000 blogs and 50 islands in Second Life. †How many of our students are trained to cope with blogs and Second Life? I would hazard less than 1%. †Of those that are capable with Second Life or Blogs, how many have the habit of mind to shift that skill set to another application?

Students need to be literate in today's society; however, we need to prepare them to be literate for tomorrow's society.

Can we do this? I believe the answer is a resounding Yes. We have to be willing to spend time teaching students to be literate in more than just "reading text." (I am not against reading; however, to roll the metaphor further, at some point learning to read scrolls was given less time than learning to turn pages in a book.....)

I can hear the concerns from my colleagues with these statements; however, I will echo, "Students need to be literate in today's society; however, we need to prepare them to be literate for tomorrow's society."

In conclusion
IML prepares students to be 21st Century literate. Jeff Wilhelm (2000) supports this in his article, ìLiteracy by Design: †Why is all This Technology so Important?î by stating, "Technology has everything to do with literacy. And being able to use the latest electronic technologies has everything to do with being literate." He presents J. David Bolter's argument "that if our students are not reading and composing with various electronic technologies, then they are illiterate. They are not just unprepared for the future; they are illiterate right now, in our current time and context." (Wilhelm, 2000, p. 4)