What's being taught here, VFR cross country nav skills or the basics of IFR navigation?
I think there's too much emphasis on the use of technology and not enough on the basic VFR nav skills.
I don't think it's a good idea to teach the use of nav aids before VFR cross country solo flights. Students will spend time using the nav aids rather than honing the VFR DR nav skills.
There are too many accidents where pilots have allowed the GPS to give them the confidence to do stuff they shouldn't have been doing. I'm talking about PPL's here not students, but you have to wonder that if their basic VFR nav skills were better they wouldn't be relying on the GPS and may not have ended up coming to grief.
On a slight tangent I think there's too much eyes inside rather than eyes outside when pilots are flying VFR these days. It's a well recognised fact that students spend far too much time gazing at their C172's G1000 screens in the circuit rather than looking outside.
There's too many distractions inside the cockpit, multiple hand help GPS's, iPads etc, no wonder some end up in cloud inadvertently.
On the subject of flying into cloud the use of nav aids wont stop this. Proper instruction on judging whether or not you're above or below the base of an approaching cloud bank and assessing what the weather conditions are in your general vicinity and what your actions will be if the weather goes below your personal minimums (assuming you have some) would be much more use.
As one instructor told me the fast closing weather usually closes in at about 110 knots, i.e. the speed of your average light aircraft. In other words the weather very rarely changes that fast, you fly into the weather.
I'd be interested to know how many pilots actually use DR and mechanical flight computers once their training is completed?
I'd hope everyone does. Even with the use of technology you need to keep those skills practiced for the day the technology stops working. While I don't fly VFR very often these days I still enjoy doing the DR calcs during the flight. It's a good way to pass the time and keep you in the loop and it's helps guard against the old garbage in garbage out problem you face with modern technology.