Marc Prensky - Article Review

The following is based on observations of a)http://marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky-TheRightStuff-EdTech-May-Jun2012.pdf 

And b) http://marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky-What_Isn't_Technology_Good_At-(Part%202)-EDTECH-Nov-Dec-1012.pdf

Article 1 - Skills

Both articles express interest in the continued development of today education, however were as the first focuses the transition of content, the latter looks towards the use of lenses and individualized learning to excite student motivation. Looking at the first article, it is clear that the author has hit on a key point in todays' schooling; the needs of today are different than the needs of yesterday. It is true that essay writing is largely not used in todays market place, neither is writing letters, or reports.

However, all the these are necessary skills.

True, we do not write letters. the author made it clear that we now write emails, but are they all that different. They still need an address, a format, and a signature. Essays? without those skills how will we produce the next generations authors. If the sum of a persons skill set allows them to write a two page short story; will there ever be a novel? As to reports, yes we use ppt and other media these days, but the sciences still need those basic skills to be successful. Business managers and researchers still need to be able to produce concise written material.

On to blog posts... As is evident here and elsewhere, formatting is choppy. Yes, they are nice to look at, but the informal nature of them can be taxing. They end up being more like personal journals or logs than acceptable material. Are they useful... yes. Do i see a blog replacing the lab report. No. blogs to me are by their very nature supplementary.

Article 2 - Passion

Motivation is the achilles heel of today's teaching styles and there really isn't anything i can fault in this article save his call for individualized material. While i applaud his vision i cannot realistically expect a subject to be recorded every which way. It would be nice, but i feel that material is already stylized to the point that anyone can find a learning niche to work with and be successful.