How do teachers problem solve in their technology-rich learning environment?

Colleagues,

I hope you have heard of the international assessment of adult basic skills, known as PIAAC, that along with literacy and numeracy assesses something called "Problem Solving in Technology-Rich Environments (PST-RE)." You may wonder, as I did, what that means, and how it differs from computer literacy or digital literacy skills that adult education teachers and librarians have been teaching for some time. It's a little more complicated, but basically PST-RE skills means problem-solving that happens to be situated in an environment where digital technology is available and where one is expected to use digital tools in solving work, family and/or community problems.

Today I read one of my favorite tech bloggers, Jacqui Murray, and thought about a new context for PST-RE skills, the problem of how teachers can efficiently learn how to use new software applications, the "yet another new tool to learn, but no time to learn it" problem teachers know so well.  Jacquie Murray offers her own solutions to this problem in the blog article, "How do I teach a program I don't know how to use?" at http://askatechteacher.com/2014/06/25/dear-otto-how-do-i-teach-a-program-i-dont-know-how-to-use/

If her question intrigues you, I would love to hear from you here with your answers to either or both of these questions:

1. What do you like/not like about Jacquie Murray's approach to problem solving in a technology-rich learning environment?

2.. What learning strategies do you use (and also possibly teach others to use) when you have to learn a new digital application or tool, and when you don't have a lot of time?

I hope we can have a rich discussion here about this.

David J. Rosen

djrosen123@gmail.com