I live about 2 hours out of Toronto (Canada's largest city), and there are a large number of Old-Order Mennonites in our area. They still use cash and cheques exclusively. (As well as horses and buggies for transportation.) I know there are many other similar communities across Canada, especially out west. I don't know if it is similar in Australia, or if it is, that the government would care. But it's an issue.

I'm afraid I respectfully disagree. Without trying to shame you for your opinion, I'll try to explain why I strongly believe the complete opposite of you.

Knowledge WAS power, that is true. In the time of Galileo, in which you have placed your argument, knowledge was hard to come by. One would have to hunt down the proper books, and spend countless hours reading through them to acquire the knowledge necessary for some task at hand. But we don't live in that world anymore. Now, a properly formatted Google search will instantly take you to several resources somewhat-related to what you need. Learning how to synthesize that knowledge into a solution is now where the time can be spent, instead of spending the hours finding and memorizing knowledge which will soon be out of date.

But, I get where you're coming from. It's hard to recognize that a fundamental paradigm shift in society has occurred, and even harder to change oneself as a result. I could have happily gone on teaching as my forefathers have, all the way back to Galileo. It certainly would have been easier! But we're not in Galileo's world anymore, nor will we ever be again.

I love the idea of having a lab which is offline, but at the (public) high school level that's unfortunately not an option for me.

My "online" tests/exams seem to involve all the same things you do, but without code writing. It's taken a lot of time and effort on my part to figure out how to do that -- as I still believe in the validity of tests/exams, just not writing code without an IDE. So, for example, I'll give them code and have them explain what's happening in English. Or I'll give them broken code and have them explain what's wrong or how to fix it. Or I'll ask what situations you'd use one construct vs another. I just don't like asking them to code in tests/exams. It seems like a skill that doesn't mimic the real-world, and to me that's what education is supposed to be preparing them for. Though, I realize that MANY disagree with me on that point.

Wow -- they're using these techniques at the job interview level! I had no idea -- thanks for sharing. The disadvantage of having become a teacher and leaving the programming industry, is that I've left the programming industry. So all my skills have aged, and keeping up has been a challenge. Thanks for the insight!

I like your idea on how to condition the students to take exams on paper with regular quizzes. Thanks for sharing!

I hear what you're saying, many of my colleagues initially react in a similar way (though with more professional language, mind you). They make the same initial, and faulty, assumption -- that my students aren't being taught the skills necessary to analyze information for its authenticity/relevance. If I could pick one skill which is most important in our world of FAKE NEWS and biases galore, it would be that.

Although I suppose we could stick to the government-supplied textbook model of information acquisition. Heck, it's worked for over 100 years, why change?

(NOTE: I don't know why an f-ing iPhone can't submit text properly, but here's my response properly formatted.)

Here's how I've adjusted my teaching practice for a world with smartphones:
1) All my tests are open book/note. In a world where you can lookup anything anytime, knowledge is no longer a valued commodity. However, using knowledge to solve problems is. So all my questions involve higher level thinking, with students able to use their notes.
2) My tests and exams are all done on computer through Google Classroom (when in a lab setting). So there's always a keyboard and screen.
3) I have my students write code in their assignments with an IDE, not on tests. Writing code without and IDE has always pissed me off. So, my tests/exams involve things like analyzing code, eg: here's some code, tell me what it does. Or, here's some code with problems, what are they and/or how can they be fixed? Or, when would you use a while loop vs a do loop? Or a local variable vs a class variable?

I must note that this form of teaching is entirely my own, after spending much time reflecting on how I think teaching and schooling must adjust for a world with instantaneous access to endless information.

This is not endorsed by my government (Ontario, Canada) or school board, and even many of my colleagues disagree. However, something has to change in education which still uses methods developed over a century ago for chalk and slate!

I do espouse these methods when possible, and continually strive to evolve my teaching for an ever evolving world, as I certainly don't think this is the final answer in education methodology. Any further ideas you have would be welcome!

At some point I would like to evolve my tests/exams to be "open Google", but frankly have no idea how that would work. However, that's my thoughts on next steps from where I'm at currently.

Hereâ(TM)s how Iâ(TM)ve adjuated my teaching practice for a world with smartphones: 1) All my tests are open book/note. In a world where you can lookup anything anytime, knowledge is no longer a valued commodity. However, using knowledge to solve problems is. So all my questions involve higher level thinking, with students able to use their notes. 2) My tests and exams are all done on computer through Google Classroom (when in a lab setting). So thereâ(TM)s always a keyboard and screen. 3) I have my students write code in their assignments with an IDE, not on tests. Writing code without and IDE has always pissed me off. So, my tests/exams involve things like analyzing code, eg: hereâ(TM)s some code, tell me what it does. Or, hereâ(TM)s some code with problems, what are they and/or how can they be fixed. Or, when would you use a while loop vs a do loop? Or a local variable vs a class variable? I must note that this form of teaching is entirely my own, after spending much time reflecting on how I think teaching and schooling must adjust for a world with instantaneous access to endless information. This is not endorsed by my government (Ontario, Canada) or school board, and even many of my colleagues disagree. However, something has to change in education which still uses methods developped over a century ago for chalk and slate! I do espouse these methods when possible, and continually strive to evolve my teaching for an ever evolving world, but I certainly donâ(TM)t think this is the final answer in education methodology. Any further ideas you have would be welcome! At some point I would like to evolve my tests/exams to be âoeopen Googleâ, but frankly have no idea how that would work. But thatâ(TM)s my thoughts on next steps from where I'm at currently.

Am I the only one who thinks that Rage looks a lot like Borderlands, but without the variation in weapons? I haven't come across such a comparison yet, but it was the first (and still prevalent) thought I had upon seeing the trailer.

I set all my computers to hibernate instead of powering down if the power button is pressed (or if the lid is closed on laptops). It takes a large chunk of hard drive space, but it's MUCH faster than powering up/down every day/night.

Now I only reboot when something weird happens (1-2 times a week) or when Windows Update forces me to... even though it "will work in the background while I keep working". Right.

I don't know exactly when it happened, but over the last few years "TV" stopped working for us and we started working for "TV". Do you notice how your favourite programs (if you still watch TV) randomly move around? They are constantly jumping timeslots, days, and taking random holidays. What's that about? Now I have to actively hunt down my favourite shows each time I want to watch them... and having to continually rearrange my evenings certainly doesn't endear the format in my eyes.

This lack of respect for the viewer seems minor when compared to the larger issue of the big companies/stations randomly interfering with and even canceling shows for no _good_ reason. Firefly comes to mind. So does Family Guy. And Global Frequency - a FULLY complete pilot for a new Sci-Fi show that never even aired! (You can find copies of it online, and I found it well worth the download.)

Basically I see it coming down to this: there's an odd mentality in TV-Land (whatever that even is) that the viewers' opinions -- the reason TV exists in the first place -- are no longer important compared to what the big stations and companies want. Anyway, that's why I think TV is in the process of losing. It's no longer there for us -- we're here for it. And WTF is that?

Obvious Man!

Since the M in ATM stands for Machine, saying ATM Machine is redundant.