13 Necessary Skills for All Learners

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In 1995, the Iowa Association of Business and Industry (ABI) identified 13 characteristics that all learners should possess. These are "real life applications" that are critical skills needed beyond the 3 "R’s."
They were adopted by the ABI Board in February 1996, but they still hold true today.

All learners should know and be able to:

Communicate and understand ideas and information

  • Listed to and understand work-related messages
  • Write work-related messages

Collect, analyze, and organize information

Identify and solve problems

Apply mathematical reasoning to work-related problems

Use technology

Initiate and complete entire activity

Act professionally

Interact with others

Learn and teach on an on-going basis

Take responsibility for career and life choices

Read and understand work-related materials

Participate in teamwork

Keyboard Shortcuts

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As a former mainframe programmer, I was always using keyboard shortcuts (we had no mouse!). So, I continue to discover and use keyboard shortcuts for my work. I have heard that using keyboard shortcuts will enhance your computer prouductivity by 40%! Here are some of my favorites for Windows and Windows Applications:

Cut, Copy, Paste – Ctrl-X, Ctrl-C, Ctrl-V – highlight item you want to cut or copy first

Ctrl-A – Select everything

Shift-arrow keys – Highlight specific text

Windows Key-D – Look at your desktop

Windows Key-M – Minimize all windows

Windows Key-L – Lock your computer so it needs to have your password — reboot bypasses this

Windows Key - E – displays Windows Explorer

Alt-Tab – quickly switch Windows applications

Alt-F4 – Closes an application — used to close Windows, but doesn’t with XP anymore.

Shift-Del – delete, but don’t send to the Recycle Bin

F1 – Help

Visual Basic.NET
Ctrl-Space — type a few letters in of a variable then press Ctrl-Space; it will give you a list to choose from. Alt-rightarrow does the same thing. Press the Tab key to make a selection.

This is it — at last!

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I have finally decided that this is it! I am sticking to this to keep track of all my thoughts and insights. It might be a tad eclectic, but you have to admit that it is fun! I have chosen WordPress as my tool. It promised a 5-minute install — and that is all it took! I have been playing with it over on another site. I am also excited that it had a podcasing plug in and interfaces with Qumana.