Well, that is the question - as we move into the age of instantaneous
position display on the panel...
Like you, I learned to plan a flight by practically wearing out an E6B
and laying waste to a small forest... Then the flight was made by
sweating my way from one check point to another at a flaming 96 mph at
1500 feet agl, in my nordo T-Craft...

Does that particular skill mean anything today? - Well, I guess if
every electronic navigation aid was shut down I could, push comes to
shove, pull out the old E6B and plan a flight from the Canadian border
down to Florida, the old way... Actually I'm not looking forward to
it, though...
The planning for the most recent flight over that route was done
mostly by watching the Weather Channel for a couple of days prior to
leaving... Getting a current weather briefing and TFR notices over
the route about 5 minutes before launching... On the way out the door
glancing at the wall map of the USA and deciding that Chattanoga
looked like a good spot to refuel... Climbed in the plane, dialed up
the GPS moving map and told it, "take me to KCHA", cruise climbed to
10,500 and away we went...
Yes, I did keep a Howie Keefe nav chart open on my lap and a VOR
somewhere up ahead tuned in on the radio in case the GPS started
leaking magic smoke... And some visual navigation was done, mostly of
the , "see there, that's the runways at Dayton" variety, for the
passengers amusement...

It's a new world and while learning how to plot a track on a nav chart
and visually navigate there will be part of early cross country
training, immediately after the student demonstrates he can do it one
time, the CFI will turn his remaining teaching to the vastly more
important issues of managing the glass cockpit...

Chatting with a group of newer pilots at an airport in Indiana the
topic of NDB approaches came up... Turns out, of 4 IFR pilots in the
group, none had ever done an NDB approach... So, on the flight back
home I used the NDB receiver as I always do, tuned in the ball game
and followed the expressway home - staying to the right, of course...

denny