Why 21st Century Skills?
REASONS TO ENRICH YOUR CLASSROOM
WHO WE ARE_
Amber Brown, Edward Cuff and Katelyn Maroney are Undergraduate Adolescent Education English Students at SUNY Cortland.
Our contributions are unique because we are in a stage between students and pre-service teachers; therefore, we have most recently experienced the need of technology as well as its effectiveness within the classroom. Current educators may be far removed from their days as students whereas our opinions and experiences may be valued because we are in this intermediary stage. While introducing our ideas to you visitors we also pledge to use new media within our classroom with the knowledge of it's positive effects on education.
SIX REASONS WHY TO INCORPORATE NEW MEDIA INTO YOUR CLASSROOM_
Increased Engagement and Comfort of Students
Technology-based Occupations
Expansion of Time and Place for Learning
Authentic Learning and Ownership Over Work
Emphasis on Collaboration and Continued Learning
The Reduction of the Teacher's Role from Authority to Facilitator
21st Century Skills: How do we get there?
Social Media Reading List for School Leaders
National Summit Intro
Rethinking Education: The Public School Story
Technology in Education: Entertaining Video
RESOURCES:
21st Century Education
Media Literacy
Promoting Technology Use in Schools
SARS Project
21st Century Skills: Learning for Life in Our Times
Flat Classroom Project
• What is 21st century learning?
Twenty-first century learning involves students having a basis of knowledge in both academic and technology based situations. Education must engage new technologies, equip students with rigorous academic coursework and demand innovation and creativity.
• What are 21st century skills?
Twenty-first-century skills are the special abilities children need to develop so that they can be prepared for the challenges of work and life in the 21st century. As defined by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills Framework, these skills are grouped into three major categories: Learning and Innovation Skills, which include creativity, critical thinking, communication, and collaboration; Information, Media, and Technology Skills, which involve effectively using, managing, and evaluating information from digital technology and communication tools; and Life and Career Skills, which include flexibility and adaptability, self-direction, teamwork, appreciation of diversity, accountability, and leadership. While a 21st century education still involves mastering the content of core academic subjects, it is proposed that the teaching of the skills identified above, be infused throughout the curriculum.
• Why do students need 21st century skills?
Every student needs 21st century skills and knowledge to be a successful individual in the work fields. One must have concrete knowledge and skills to collaborate through the use of technology and be able to face any career challenges that he or she may face.
• Is 21st century learning all about technology?
Twenty first century learning is not all about technology and digital media. Yes, living in a world that is all digital based expects that society learns and uses tools that have become essential to life and work. However, the effective use of technology is only one element of 21st century learning. A 21st century education still requires that students master core academic subjects and be able to critically think and innovate.
• How can teachers learn how to incorporate
21st century skills in the classroom?
There are numerous amounts of research in the world that encourage and teach administrators to use 21st century skills within the classroom. One may attend seminars to get a clear understanding or simply research the Internet, books and articles.
WHERE WE ARE_
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Engagement & Comfort for Students
Engagement
Students using new media provided by the Internet are more apt to becoming engaged in their learning through the interaction they have with the material. By using tools such as Secondlife, Webquests, Visual Storytelling, Social Networks, Youtube, Blogs and Podcasts. Above are examples of Multimodal texts. These media texts are multimodal meaning that they incorporate not only written words but also video and sound, allowing for interaction between the reader and the text. Now a student can respond to what they are viewing in a hands-on way without ever leaving the classroom. Through a webquest for example, a student will watch clips of videos, examine outside sources, and synthesize their knowledge based on a given topic. The outcome is a more engaged student who interacts with information to form his or her own perspective on a given topic. HERE is an example of a webquest done for the novel FEED by M.T. Anderson.
Comfort
Students growing up in the 21st century are surrounded by digital media and are becoming more and more comfortable using these tools offered by this media as a means of creation. These Digital Natives have grown up with Internet at hand and are already exploring new media applications before they begin their education. If students are already proficiently using new media why should we separate learning from these online experiences?
Digital Natives are already accustomed to speed, creativity, multitasking, and collaboration; all of which are benefits of their online lifestyles. These skills can be harnessed by educators and incorporated into their classrooms for a more effective learning experience. These Digital Natives feel at ease accessing these sites and can transfer their online navigations skills to educational social networks such as a Spruz or Ning to connect with their classmates and teachers in a comfortable interactive forum.
Further Resources:
http://21stcenturyliteracies2010.pbworks.com/f/Reaching%2BDigital%2BNatives.pdf
http://www.digitalnative.org/#home
As we move into the Information/Knowledge Age it is important to consider the effects this will have on the job market of the future. As corporations continue to globalize it has becoming increasingly important for students to understand and implement 21st century skills. Trilling and Fadel cite The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics of 2008 report that students in school can expect to have more than eleven different jobs between the ages of eighteen and forty-two. This shift in the job market will require these students to have the crucial skills that are needed in this changing environment.
In 21st Century Skills: Learning for Life in our Times, Trilling and Fadel list these two vital skill sets for the future job market:
1.The ability to quickly acquire and apply new knowledge
2.The know-how to apply essential 21st century skills- problem solving, communication, teamwork, technology use, innovation, etc. to each and every project
As the need for higher skilled workers increases due to outsourcing there needs to be a shift in educating these future workers to be well prepared for this job market.
As Chuck House mentions in this video, 3 out of 4 professionals worked with someone out of the country and 1 out of 5 never met their boss face to face. What does this mean? There is a greater need for workers who understand the technologies used to create these interactions and be able to collaborate in a global market.
According to the U.S. Department of Labor 5 of the fastest growing jobs require 21st century skills. They include: Network Systems, Data Communications Analyst, Medical Assistants, Physician Assistant, Computer Software Engineers (applications), and Computer Software Engineers (systems software). Increased technological advancements are influencing these growing jobs; therefore employees must understand the 21st century skills (problem solving, communication, teamwork, technology use, and innovation) that are attributed to these occupations in order to be successful.
Further Resources and Articles:
http://www7.nationalacademies.org/bose/ICT%20Fluency_Ed_Leadership_Article.pdf
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20284970/
Expansion of Time and Place
We as educators want our students to be continuously learning throughout the day. Unfortunately, we are limited in time that we have our students within our classroom therefore we must strive to find ways that students are able to learn OUTSIDE of the classroom. 21st century skills does just that! These skills allow students to become participants of a classroom without actually be present within the classroom. Social networking websites like: Ning, Wiki and Spruz allow teachers and students to continue their classroom discussions through the Internet. Since students spend hours upon hours on the Internet, why not give them an educational purpose to be on it? Social networking sites allow for students to go above and beyond what is taught in the classroom and further their education. These websites allow students to post questions they may have and obtain feedback instantly. It also allows those shy students to open up and partake in discussion that they may not feel comfortable doing in a classroom.
As a student and future educator, I have used the websites Ning and Wiki in several of my courses. Through these sites I have become truly involved, motivated and engaged. As a class we took turns being the facilitator as our teachers and professors acted as a contributor. Here is an example of our Young Adult Literature Ning site (http://21centuryliteracies2010.ning.com/profiles/profile/show?id=KatelynMaroney&).
21st century skills allows teachers to have their students be constantly learning and participating. The more discussions and participation there is within a class, the more educated students will become!
Social Networking Sites That Can Be Used As Online Classrooms:
www.ning.com
www.wiki.com
www.spruz.om
www.classroom20.com
www.theschoolsunited.com/community/
Authentic Learning and Ownership over Work
In most cases, when we assign our students to write paper after paper pertaining to a book or topic students do not put in the effort that they should. The main reason that they do not put in the proper effort is because they know the only person reading and correcting their paper is the teacher. Through 21st century skills, students are doing meaningful projects in which are produced for millions of people through the Internet. For example, if a student is asked to create a website or write a blog entry, this could be viewed by anyone in the world. Having an audience to produce for pushes students to construct the best work that they are capable of.
As well as having ownership over work and an audience to produce materials for, 21st century learning is authentic learning. 21st century learning is authentic learning because it incorporates learning with the real world. Students do not want to just learn formulas to math problems but instead they want to learn to use these math problems in real life situations. Students should not just learn to replicate answers on an exam but instead learn to become successful, educated citizens in the world and through 21st century skills they will be!
A vital skill in the new age of technology is an ability to work collaboratively with others who are not physically close. Modern computer tools that assist this ability are the web, email, instant messaging, and cell phones. At any time and place throughout the day, students can work cooperatively on assignments. Geography has become a nonissue, saving time and money.
While many educators may still consider this cheating, the skill can be formalized and taught. University projects are conducted by teams around the world. Students need to be prepared for this. Meetings and conversations in the business world are also more frequently conducted from different locations.
Learning is also continued and can be accessed at any time: educational Ning/blog conversations can be continued for months, or stopped and accessed later. New ideas and experiences can be shared and brought into the conversation as they happen.
Facilitator vs. Classroom Authority
Using technology transforms the teacher from authority expert to facilitator. The teacher can become more of a participant in the learning process than authority expert when the students use technology to discover information online. Instead of teaching or pushing this information in a classroom, students can be assigned work that requires them to learn the information themselves, without the presence of teachers. Learning suddenly becomes far more interesting, challenging, and authentic for students.
Using technology also reduces the workload on the teacher. Technology as a tool enhances, and replaces, text, paper and pencil because students can use technology for both reference and presentation.
NEWS_
05/14/10
SUNY Cortland's 21st-Century Leadership Forum
8:30-2:30
CONTACT__
Website:
21centuryliteracies.ning.com
Email:
amber.brown_cortland.edu
edward.cuff_cortland.edu
katelyn.maroney_cortland.edu
