The META Problem
My wife and I went out to eat with my sister and brother in law the other day and over lunch an interesting topic came up. My brother in law was talking about a conversation he had with a local business owner in the area where they live. The business owner was complaining that schools are doing students a disservice these days by "forcing" them to use Chromebooks.
Now, as a person who works in public education, more specifically, the technology side of education, my brother in law thought this might be interesting to me and he wanted to pick my brain a bit about the subject.
Let me give you a bit of background just in case you aren't familiar with Chromebooks. Chromebooks are mobile devices like laptops that run the Google Chrome (or Android) operating system. They have become a staple in school districts due to their low cost, ease of management, and integration into the Google Workspace ecosystem.
Having worked in education technology for over 20 years, I immediately knew what the business owners issue was. It has been a long standing debate in education circles for the better part of a decade. You see, there are a fair number of people who feel that since business used to mainly use Microsoft products like Word and Excel, those are the things that students should be using in school.
While I understand their argument, I don't really feel like it applies as much as it used to. Besides some extremely high level stuff, Google Docs and Sheets offer pretty much the same functionality and experience as Word and Excel.
My guess is, this business owner had a couple of new hires fresh out of high school or college and they weren't able to easily pick up the programs and processes that they use in his business. Which honestly, I think stems from a bigger problem than Microsoft versus Google.
I wonder if what it boils down to is the the fact that young people don't have the problem solving skills they used to in the past. I think @tarazkp has talked about this at length in several of his posts. You'd have to go searching through his blog to find them though.
META - Most Effective Tactics Available
Don't misunderstand, I am not blaming gaming for this issue, but I think the use of META is a good example of how problem solving has gone out the window. Personally, I am guilty of using META myself. I recently picked up Diablo 4 a couple of months ago. Instead of trying out a class and building it the way I want, I immediately went online to read the numerous guides about what class and build will help me master the game the quickest.
All the hard work has been taken out of the equation. With the advent of AI, that is going to be even more the case. When everyone is looking for that easy mode, they aren't able to put in the work to solve the problem on their own.
I remember some time ago we implemented a new "test" that people who wanted to be secretaries in the district needed to pass to get the job. Oddly enough, it mostly involved doing different things in Word and Excel. Everyone was complaining about how hard the test was and how it was impossible to pass.
I also remember there was one lady who took the test and was able to pass it. Some of the others complained that she only passed because she used the Internet to look up how to do the tasks we were asking her to do. Much to their chagrin, I wasn't appalled as they were, I was actually kind of impressed and that lady went on to be a secretary at various positions in the district until she retired.
I can tell you right now, on paper, she probably wasn't the best candidate for the job, but she had problem solving skills and she was able to grow into the position. Unfortunately, on the flip side of people not having problem solving skills like they used to, businesses don't always feel they have the time or resources to allow workers to grow into the positions. That's a whole different post!
Obviously, problem solving isn't completely out the door as those people who create the META for others to use have put in the trial and error themselves. It's pretty clear that number is getting smaller and smaller. As I said before, AI is only going to make it worse.
Is the world just harder, or are people just lazier? Of course many like to point their finger at the education system, and while yes, there are some bad apples in the bunch (there always are), I think it's more a piece of the problem, not the source.
I can appreciate that small business owners frustration, but I honestly think it is misplaced. Maybe I am taking it too personally, but after using Microsoft products for years, I was pretty easily able to switch almost exclusively to using Google Workspace. Shouldn't it pretty easily work both ways?
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young people don't have the problem solving skills they used to in the past.
I totally agree with that I see it with my grandkids and there friends
and AI is a pet peeve of mine, I do see it as having benefits, but I feel it makes things to easy and takes away for the need to think things through oneself instead of having it solved, and then people get into real life situations and dont know how to cope as they havent really learnt any problem solving skills
!pimp
Yeah, I have seen it too in my line of work. It's hard to teach troubleshooting and problem solving too. Especially after years of easy answers have become so ingrained.
Sadly I think it will only get worse and become a major issue, and then things will change, but maybe i am just being a grumpy old man LOL
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My maths teacher always said: "It's not about calculating the space under a curve in real life, it's about learning how to solve problems with the tools you have and know."
Which is pretty much it. Before we were allowed to use a calculator, we had to master math in the head. They taught us different approaches on how to calculate even more complex calculations quickly, by breaking up the numbers. I use that until now, and rarely use a calculator.
Same goes for LLM/AI. I know how to use it to make my work quicker - not to replace the work itself. I could do it by myself, and the moment I couldn't, I'd be worried. But underfunded as most schools are, it's kind of hard to teach everything that was on the schedule before, plus all the new tech part, and make children understand that they have to comprehend before they can use tech.
Or is that a waste of time and energy? Businesses will adapt to the new "workforce", they'll have to. And as long as the problem gets solved, who cares how it was solved? If it really gets solved, considering the amount of wrong answers that LLM/AI give.
yeah, I agree with that. Knowing how to solve something is often paramount to really understanding it. Even now I have issues where I need someone to help me and I often ask them to explain why or how they did it versus just fixing it.
Me, too, and I learned a great deal. I do my own electrics now, plumbing and other fixes - up to a certain point. There are things I don't understand yet. My dream is to team up with a good friend of mine who buys renovates very old dirt & wood houses, and spend a few months working on that, to learn it all. Or at least as much as I can.
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Kids want everything spoon fed to them, the curiosity and working things out for yourself and becoming a thing of the past.
I love google hehe I was brought up with microsoft products, and infact other products well 123 before Excel and Wordperfect before Word. The chromebook was an awesome cheap way to get a laptop type product. I like that META acronym!
Lotus was so classic! I used that myself!
oh yes Lotus 123 that was it!
This is quite an appealing issue I understand that discussion is not only related to whether to use Microsoft or Google but the capability of problem-solving. As technology is always changing, however students can adapt to any given tool once they learn how to adjust and work out the solutions.
You would hope they can, but I am not sure that is the case anymore these days.
Yes youths of this generation don’t have problem skills bcos the internet brouhaha doesnt allow to think through….. only solving the problem for them
That's definitely a concern.
I really don't get the argument for Word vs basically anything else. It should never be about the specific tool, it should be about feeling comfortable using them because you understand the problem at hand, and then find the best tool available (META) to get the job done. And yes, AI will greatly disrupt this, and societies aren't prepared for that. This lady who used the internet to lookup how to do things she was supposed to do in MS office had it just right
Yeah, I have never really been on that side of thing. I think you should teach them skills not a specific piece of software. It's a much better method.
Passion and curiosity remain the key factors for acquiring skills.
We cannot deny that this has diminished significantly in our current era, and artificial intelligence has encouraged laziness. However, a person's own beliefs play a significant role. Some people are inherently lazy, and technology has only reinforced that laziness. Conversely, there are those who are passionate about learning, and technology has also reinforced that.
These things remain relative.
I'd like to think I fall somewhere in the middle. It's that I want to be lazy, but there are times I just don't have the bandwidth to handle something new. It's usually shortlived.
An interesting blog. I think it would be helpful in finding good candidates for a job if applicants were told problem solving skills were important. This includes being flexible in the use of office software.
Years ago (1982!) I was a thirty-five-year-old mom raising two children, one of them an avid fan of computers. I decided I wouldn't be a dinosaur so I took an independent study course (credit-bearing) in computer programming at a local college. I was pretty bad at it :)) However, I earned a B because the teacher said my solutions to programming problems were unconventional😄, but they worked. That one course became the basis of my computer skills, which are very limited, in the years that followed.
The whole point of the course for me was not only computer literacy, but being able to problem solve.
It sounds like you had the right goals in mind! It's sad that basic skills are being neglected.
I feel it's a parallel issue. The word is getting easier and because of that people are becoming lazier.
In my online work they use the Google workplace and I had no issues switching from Microsoft to Google either.
Yeah, I feel the same way. I really don't think there is too much difference, but it takes the ability to adapt and that is sadly going away.
Part of my problem solving skills is knowing how to look for answers, but anyone can do that really. Before easy web search I had to think my way through every problem unless I could find someone to ask or a reference book. The 'AI' stuff does change the game, but then it can get things very wrong whilst looking smart. The next generation needs to learn how best to use the available tools.
I don't know... I still think being able to ask Google a question in the right way to give you the right answer is an art. It's something people still struggle to do. I think any computer tech will tell you knowing how to craft a Google search is probably the most important skill they have!
We did a little test with our 8 year old and asked her to do a sign of someone taking a photo. Our age group would form a rectangle box with our hands and do a little click with our index finger . She did the sign like she was holding a small object and she press a button on the device . In her mind it was a phone. I reckon by the time she hits college , the idea of a spreadsheet will be no more and AI will go everything through voice command. "Make 3 columns and 5 rows" . I transferred you over some vouchers from Splinterlands as I am out completely . Can't see the game succeeding anymore.
Thanks, I appreciate it about the vouchers. I have a pile stacked up that I am not sure what to do with. I thought about spending them on the special cards, but who knows. That's too funny about the camera thing, but it make sense since that is what they are used to.
Adapting to change has always been a recurring problem in the world. But to refuse to adapt is to make ourselves obsolete, and this is even more true in the computer field. Personally, as a matter of taste I do not like Chromebooks, however, more than a matter of being able to handle them or not, it is a matter of habit. Personally, I like laptops more for power, storage, and other factors.
That makes sense as an adult, but for most of the stuff these kids are doing, they don't need a full i5 laptop. In fact, I had a more powerful Chromebook at one point and the biggest downfall was the battery life. You couldn't use it more than a couple hours without charging it. These devices we have now can go days if not weeks. It's not even that people aren't willing to adapt, they don't even know where to start when it comes to problem solving.
I notice that in my kids. When they get a new Switch game, they immediately load up YouTube and look for tutorials. Crazy. I always tell them the fun of the game is exploring it, but they tell me I'm outdated.
But then again, when we were kids there was Nintendo Power and the playground network, where we all shared the game tutorials directly. Not quite the same as now, but similar enough I suppose.
I'd guess humans have always been looking for the easy/lazy way since the beginning.
Yes, that is a good point. I remember I got the Final Fantasy guide through Nintendo Power (still have it too) before I even touched the game. I read that thing front to back several times and I knew exactly the path I was going to take. The fun part was trying different variations after I ran the "META", but I don't think people do that these days.
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I am also able to switch between Google products and Microsoft products pretty easily, but then I also switch between Chat GPT, Google AI and MS Copilot at work just as easily.
If you embrace and understand technology then with a little intelligence and effort you can easily learn new things in technology.
Sadly that is a skill that is not as present as it used to be!