With the digitization of every sphere of human activity, certain technology skills will be considered so basic—and I mean really basic—that no employer will offer training to teach them. Coworkers might offer a little help by rolling their eyes, and anyone who doesn’t know how to perform the task will look like they don’t have the “right profile” to be there.

It is also unlikely that, in the near future, there will be employees in companies whose sole job is to operate technology for others—the “IT” employee who turns computers and projectors on and off, or who prepares presentations for others. Furthermore, with entrepreneurship on the rise, anyone starting a business certainly won’t be able to rely on assistants to handle everything a company does through technology—from creating a website to managing and updating financial spreadsheets.

Let's take a look at some of the skills that will very soon be considered as commonplace as reading, writing, doing simple mental math, or typing (and let's face it, many of us know people who used to write by hand and then ask someone else to type it up):

• share screens during a video conference;
• edit files collaboratively, remotely;           
• share videos via the cloud;
• create digital surveys;
• insert formulas or create charts in spreadsheets;
• connect the computer to the projector or to a TV via cable or signal;
• create websites;
• participate in online trade shows;
• enable email on your cell phone;
• look up information you don't know—on any subject;
• figure out how a new app works—any app;
• view charts showing traffic to your social media accounts;
• behave appropriately on social media, fully aware that everything you do there is public;
• and much more—that we don't even know about yet.

What does school have to do with this?

If the use of technology is increasingly seen as natural—or even essential—in all aspects of social life and the workplace, schools need to help their students develop these skills naturally.

How do you teach people to use technology naturally?

There's no point in teaching people how to use software X or Y, since by the time today's children and young people enter the workforce, those programs will have disappeared or will work completely differently.

What we need to do is provide access to many different technologies and encourage students to explore technological products, allowing them to discover for themselves how technology works. Only then will they develop the ability to quickly identify what a technology—any technology—is used for and how it works. It’s also worth encouraging students to explore the advanced features of the apps they use freely, perhaps through challenges.

How do I include all of this on my resume?

Once again, there’s no point in setting aside a weekly class period to “break down technologies.” “Learning how software works” isn’t very relevant either. What makes sense is simply allowing students to use technology as part of their school routines. (And to think that so many schools, municipalities, states, and countries were proud—until recently—of banning cell phone use in schools!)

The history teacher can ask students to record a video and share it via the cloud; the Portuguese teacher can ask them to write a collaborative short story in a single file and submit it digitally—and can provide feedback using revision marks that students may or may not accept; a math teacher can organize a video conference with someone who uses advanced mathematical knowledge in their daily life, even if that person lives in another country. If the guest speaker doesn’t speak Portuguese, it’s worth testing machine translation tools and evaluating their usefulness.

The school may also require that assignments be submitted digitally on a routine basis and may set specific formatting requirements for documents—such as the use of spell-checkers and other tools—to encourage students to develop some basic technological skills.

What should be done about schools and students who lack technological resources?

Unfortunately, the pandemic has shown us that a lack of access to technological resources and a lack of knowledge about how to use them lead to a level of social exclusion that seemed unimaginable back in 2019. Therefore, if we want to promote equity and at least somewhat equal opportunities in the job market for all students, they will need sufficient access to technology during their schooling so that they don’t enter the job market looking like they “don’t fit the profile.” Also, unfortunately, we know that those who “don’t fit the profile” don’t get the job or the promotion, but that story comes after the years spent in school...

In short, regular access to technological resources must be considered a basic need, one that not only prevents exclusion but also promotes the inclusion of all citizens.

Who is responsible for making sure all of this happens at school?

The administrator. For a long time, we believed that the problem of underutilization of technology in schools was due to “teacher resistance.” However, the pandemic showed us that, once faced with the need to use technology, teachers very quickly learned what they needed to do to cope with the emergency. Therefore, it is the administrator’s role to set aside resources to invest in technology. It is the administrator’s role to encourage teachers to use these technologies regularly. It is the administrator’s role to make it clear that activities other than traditional lectures also count as “class.” It is the administrator’s role to encourage teachers to make their own discoveries as well. And it is the administrator’s role to take pride in their students’ work and autonomy.

If all of this is difficult to achieve—whether because teachers are overworked and have to learn too much at once, or because they don’t have enough time set aside for professional development, or because the school doesn’t provide any opportunities for collaborative work among teachers to solve problems and innovate—it is also the administrator’s role to provide support for teachers, identify those with technological skills among the faculty, and schedule meetings and opportunities for sharing experiences. All of this can be done with proper organization and planning.

What we cannot do is continue to educate people as if we were still in the 19th century—in the middle of the 21st century—and then be surprised by tremendous inequality 20 years later.

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