In this unit, you and your students will examine how today's powerful computers and the Internet affect both day-to-day life and society as a whole. The world that existed when our grandparents left school is long since gone. Today's world is very different, and at the rate things are changing, the world your students face as adults will undoubtedly be very different than ours.
A Historical Perspective
Throughout history, people have developed tools to supplement their physical capabilities. To enhance human muscle power, early people developed simple stone tools. During the Industrial Revolution, people designed more complex tools. In our modern world, the computer is a tool that extends and enhances the human mind, and networking is a tool that enhances human communication. These electronic-based tools are having a significant impact on our society.
Other inventions have caused significant social change, as well. Looking backward to the invention of the printing press by Gutenberg, it is possible to identify ways this device has affected society.
Prior to the development of the printing press, relatively few people could afford to own books. Making handwritten books required many hours of human labor, making books scarce and expensive. Using a printing press to mass produce books changed this situation. Books became more affordable and more readily available. Learning to read became a valuable and widespread skill. This widespread literacy eventually led to major political and religious changes throughout the world.
Two hundred and fifty years ago, there were no trains (and, of course, no cars or airplanes). It took the development of steam power to bring such inventions into existence. Steam, used in a controlled way, was the fuel that drove the Industrial Revolution. A single steam-driven machine could replace the muscle power of many people. Steam-operated machines provided new approaches to manufacturing. Steam-fueled machines provided transportation of goods and people in an increasingly efficient and flexible manner.
Just 150 years ago, long-distance communications could only function at the speed of the available transportation systems—Pony Express or steam-driven engines. But curious minds were busy studying many things. As people began to understand the natural occurrence of electrical energy, new ideas for communicating emerged. With the development of the electric telegraph, communication speed immediately increased. Since only the message had to be moved, communication no longer depended on the speed of transportation systems. This made it possible to communicate over long distances almost instantaneously.
Changes in Jobs
In the late 1940s and early 1950s, more than half the labor force in the United States was working in industrial and manufacturing jobs. For the most part, these assembly line jobs required only a modest education. Many workers who lacked a high school diploma earned relatively high wages and enjoyed a good standard of living.
This situation has changed slowly but steadily. The average level of education required to qualify for many jobs has risen. At the same time, there has been a steady decline in the number of jobs requiring minimal education and technical skills, particularly in the industrial and manufacturing sector. Many of these changes can be traced to computers and information technologies.
Computer technology eliminated many traditional jobs, but it also created new jobs. People are needed to design and fabricate computer components. People are needed to design and develop computer software. People are needed to maintain and repair equipment. People are needed to train others to use computer technology.
Computer and information technology has made other changes in the job market. For your students, knowledge and skill in using computer hardware and software are important job skills. Few of them will find employment that does not involve computer technology in some form.
Changes in the job market have changed the kinds of skills that employers want and need from their workers. A steadily increasing number of jobs require employees to have the following characteristics:
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- Good communication skills. The communication may be face-to-face, over a telephone or video phone, via email, or in writing.
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- Good group process skills. Increasingly, workers must interact with others, both within their own workplace and at a distance, to fulfill the requirements of their jobs.
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- Good learning skills. Constant change in technology and frequent change of jobs are factors that require workers to be able to learn new skills.
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