Graduates Require Higher-Order Skills Many business and education professionals agree that today's work places greater emphasis on higher-level skills, such as critical thinking and problem solving, as well as the ability to function in collaborative teams where workers may be required to develop plans, broker consensus, seek and accept criticism, give credit to others, and solicit help. Many educators have long emphasized these skills in their schools and classrooms; however, today educators find support for developing these skills through a variety of technologies. Did You Know? The growth of information technology and expansion of electronic commerce have created new types of jobs and started to eliminate others. Many services and industries feel the impact of advancements in technology. For example, both the travel and real estate industries see large numbers of consumers moving to Web-based services that eliminate the need for extensive sales forces. As these movements continue, most students entering the workforce will need technology skills simply to earn a living wage. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics lists 54 jobs with the highest growth potential between now and 2005. Of those, only eight do not require technological fluency. None of the eight currently pays more than twice the minimum wage. 2 It is estimated that 60 percent of the jobs available at the beginning of this new century require skills currently held by only 20 percent of the workforce. 3 The demand for workers to fill higher-skilled information technology jobs is likely to grow from 874,000 to 1.8 million in the ten years spanning 1996 to 2006. 4