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What Necessary Adult Skills Were You Never Taught Growing Up? Eric Ravenscraft, LifeHacker, 2015/03/02 Doug Belshaw flags this article in LifeHacker asking people to comment on the life skills they never learned growing up. As one commenter says, "I just realized, this entire article boils down to 'give Lifehacker ideas for future articles'." But hey, why not? In any case, the comments section is filled with ideas for good life lessons. Here's a sampling: basic hygiene habits like flossing/brushing teeth, taking showers, shaving, cosmetics, and hairstyling. education on how to have constructive relationships basic finance. My parents handled everything and didn't teach me about budgeting at all how to exercise or be physically fit emotional intelligence. Being able to communicate exactly how I feel instead of sticking my head in the sand knowing a little bit about car repairs and maintenance how to wear makeup how to handle repeated failure. How to be content with doing "alright", not "outstanding" in life how to cook Sensing a theme?

This is a terrific article on NASA's use of virtual reality to train astronauts. A lot of the focus of VR is on skills training, but the article makes it clear that one of it's key roles is to give the astronauts a feeling of familiarity with the environment and to help them develop the right intuitions for working in a weightless environment. "There's a great advantage in just feeling as though the environment isn't entirely new. 'It means everything. It's not hard to realize that just beyond that thin little visor is instantaneous death. It's oblivion,' Wheelock said." E-learning (including VR) can prepare us far better than traditional instruction for such situations (indeed, the idea of teaching it in a classroom is laughable). So - to answer the traditional objection to e-learning - I wouldn't want to employ an astronaut (or a pilot, or a brain surgeon) who didn't use e-learning.--oldaily

Icon There are three distinct phases to this article: first, the author describes the development of creative technologies (Wordpress, Lulu, Garage Band) is enabling us all to create and distribute images, objects, sound and text. However, second, as these technologies become more complex, they require teams of people to produce quality materials. "Lone instructors rarely have the time, incentives, budgets, or skill sets required to fully realize the potential of the digital format." This leads to the final phase, whereby "the academic may be perceived as being 'deskilled'; that is, one of the core functions of the occupation is taken away from the academic and done elsewhere." Image (and useful slide show): Chrissi Nerantzi.oldailt