I think I may have a couple of answers.
But first, a flowchart:
(Click to see the whole thing.)This was a great post from xkcd, one of my favorite web comics, and a great many of my computer literate friends loved this flowchart, but I have found two major problems with it. Both problems can be illustrated with stories. The problems may be related.
The first problem is first decision point. Finding a menu item or button related to what you are trying to do. I have found a significant number of people that cannot even recognize what is and is not a button. Why? Because they do not deal with them every day.
A story: About a year and a half ago, I was remodeling the house I had just purchased. My father, a lifelong general contractor, was helping. Or more to the point, I was helping him for a great deal of it. At one point I was sent into the living room to fill nail holes from the paneling we had just removed. I was in there for about 30-45 minutes. I came out satisfied that I was done. My father came into the room and glanced around.
"What about that hole?" he asked, pointing to a hole I had missed. "And that one, and that one, and..." My father then proceeded to point out between 30-40 holes that I had missed all around the room. All it took from him was a casual glance, and he was able to see so much more than I. He looked at my astonished face and asked, "You didn't even see those, did you?" I mutely shook my head. Then he said something profound: "It's just like me on the computer."
Since that day, I have never been frustrated with my Dad when he has computer issues. I just recognize that there are a lot of things that he simply cannot see due to lack of experience.
The second problem that I have found with the flowchart applies to both the first decision point and the box that instructs people to Google for a solution. Googling for a solution would also include looking in the help file. This problem is that many people are conceptually illiterate. I just made that term up, but I could not think of one that I already knew that fit.
What I mean by that is that many people can decode words and understand, often slowly, the written word, but they are unable to understand complex sentences, or quickly evaluate textual information for any sort of value judgment. They also cannot generate a list of words that are related to their current situation that might not be the exact words that they are thinking of. They cannot act as their own thesaurus.
How is this a problem? Let me illustrate with a couple of stories:
1) A few years ago, a friend of mine, Scott, was teaching some graphic design courses for a local private college. He taught all about the elements of graphic design, and he had a class that really seemed to get it. They were able to produce very good images. The final test was a multiple choice exam with questions asking about design principles and the answers clearly in the choices. Every student failed the exam. (Scott, if I am telling the story wrong, let me know.)
Why, when they were clearly able to consistently produce images using good design principles, were they unable to recognize those same principles when they were in written form? It is because they are conceptually illiterate. They never learned to process and internalize concepts in written form. In effect, all but the most basic text might as well be gibberish. They can read the words, but they cannot understand the concept.
The second story. Recently in my InDesign class, I had a student who asked a couple of very specific questions to which I did not know the answer. During a break, I found the answer to both questions in under 2 minutes per question. One answer I found in the help file, and the other in a Google search. When the student asked how I found the answers, I told her they were simple searches. She asked me to show her the procedures to do what she had been asking. I asked if I could just point her to the solutions online. Her reply, "I really have a hard time following any sort of written directions." She also asked what search terms I had used, as she expressed frustration that she had also looked in the help system and in Google. When I told her, she just said, "Oh." I did not have the heart to ask what she had searched for.
Many times in my classes, I have attempted to teach people to use the help systems that come with computers. I have little success. The biggest reason is that I ask people to look for something in the help file, and unless the answer can be found using the exact words that I used, they are unable to come up with their own search terms. They cannot verbalize what they are looking for.
What are the implications of conceptual illiteracy, or the inability to process concepts from written language? People cannot understand contracts. People cannot understand terms and conditions. People cannot understand The Constitution of The United States or their own state. For those that are religious, they cannot understand the scriptures. They are cut off from what should be one of the most powerful experiences of their life.
The only question that I have, and that I have not found satisfactorily answered anywhere: can conceptual literacy be taught effectively after about the age of 12?
What do you think? Are you conceptually illiterate? Do you know those that are? How in the @#$%#@ do they cope with life?
On the other hand, they make failbook a funny place to visit.
