Quote of the day

"In fact, one of the saddest but most common conditions in elementary school computer labs (when they exist in the developing world), is the children are being trained to use Word, Excel and PowerPoint,"

Mr Negroponte said.

"I consider that criminal, because children should be making things, communicating, exploring, sharing, not running office automation tools."

Click here for the rest of the article.

This is my sentiment exactly as I believe that the most students need is how to use a basic word processing package in order to put down their thoughts. All the really useful stuff that we can use to learn from the internet does not need Office. Blogging, vlogging, photo sharing, creating video, podcasting, wikis, and the like are the applications that will give our students the chance of getting a first class education. If, at some point they require a knowledge of Office tools then I'm sure they'll pick up the necessary skills in a matter of weeks.

But just teaching office automation tools, especially to younger learners is like teaching somebody to drive by letting them only learn the Highway Code and three-point turns.