The 21st Century Reality-what makes the difference?

The partnership for 21st century skills is an organization consisting of select business community persons and educators whose main aim is to close the gap, the 'disconnect' between the knowledge and skills to be taught at school as a prep for the digital work place.

And what is wrong with that? Nothing. Nothing at all. Upon perusing the pdf report document, 'Learning for the 21st Century', I found a common play field upon which leaders in the business community can dialogue with educators about ideas that addresses the kind of skills that young persons need to have in order to exist as 21st century employees or employers. The fact that such a group exists is a plus for the United States as she seeks to prepare her young people to exist in their globalized reality.

The overall structural layout of the site is quite easy to navigate and is eye-catching. How much easier that makes the reading of the content, is up to the individual critical reader, but the provisions of specific subheadings with concise data in snippet form allows for easy reading and understanding. The content is familiar and is congruent with most information that details the impact of technology on education, work and society.

It addresses curriculum design, assessment and how it should be done for the 21st century, modifications of instructional strategies to facilitate the learning of the 21st century skills in core subject areas of Maths, English, Foreign languages and government, civics, History and Geography. The reality of today's "flat world" (Friedman, 2007) demands an adjustment not only in the work place, but also with the national curricula. The fact that today's workers must be able to multitask, share and collaborate with others, and make informed decisions after critically evaluating facts or data are just a few of the skills that are expected to be developed from interfacing with the present and emerging technologies of the 21st century that schools and teachers are expected to become savvy with or at. The Partnership for 21st Century Skills is therefore emphasizing and advocating for change in the way in which things are now being done in education so that as the years progress and technology becomes more sophisticated and central to the operation of everything, the US as a major world power is not left behind.

These are therefore challenging times to be a modern-day educator. It calls for renewed self-direction and a higher sense of social responsibility towards future generations. It sets up a challenge, that as educators, we must be educated in the use of the tools to facilitate the learning of these 21st century skills. The comforting news lies in the fact that the report provides the platform for continued collaboration between the business world and the world of academia. The very tool and skills that are being encouraged to be developed in the youth are also the very tools and skills that are facilitating the planning, the training and the operation of this 2002 project. Every educator needs to get on board this technological train of progress; its aim and purpose appears to have the children, the country's future, at heart. In the same manner in which it takes one drop of water to start a waterfall, so it will take the collaboration, support and effort of all educators to provide the quality education to fit our students for the 21st century.


Reference

Partnership for 21st century skills. (n.d). A report and mile guide for 21st century skills. Washington, DC: Author. Retrieved from http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/images/stories/otherdocs/p21up_Report.pdf

To blog or not to blog - will it enhance learning?

Weblogs, or blogs as they are commonly known, are being created two every second on such sites as Facebook.com and MySpace.com (Richardson, 2009). The ease with which adolescents and other young adults create blogs as avenues for social networking raises the question of their use and possible effectiveness in the world of academia.

Such a question, however, has already been answered in the many stories and testimonies of pioneer educators who have long applied the use of blogs in their teaching practice (Richardson, 2009). They have laid the foundation upon which future educators, like myself, can build their practice. As a result of the careful efforts of these pioneer edu-bloggers to leave behind evidence of their work with using digital technologies to enhance learning, many examples of their use have been identified and recorded as good ways of accomplishing given class goals that are standards-based.

How then can I synthesize what is out there to create a learning package that will not only engage my students (Reeves, 2001), but will facilitate the development of higher order thinking skills? What can a blog do different, that which has never been possible before?(Laureate Education, 2008)

According to Richardson (2009), 'blogs are easily created, easily up-dateable websites that allows an author or authors (my students) to publish instantly to the Internet from an Internet connection.' Take note, the idea of my students being 'authors' is a 'new' concept, in the real-life sense of the word, and this is something different that I would like to develop in my classes. As authors, then, they will 'take more responsibility in managing their work, in turn, adding value to the world' (November, 2008). Again, take note, they will 'add value to the world'. Previously, the only addition would have been to the class wall designated to display students' work, however, the audience would now expand to the World Wide Web (Richardson, 2009).The plethora of evidence from educational blog users predicts an improvement in their critical thinking skills, their analytical skills, and their basic word processing abilities (Laureate Education, 2008). Consequently, the experience will not only motivate the students to learn, but it would lead to the development of a generation that is digitally savvy and ready to make their productive mark in society, advancing the knowledge already known in ways not yet considered or realized.

My desire, therefore, is to use a blog in my grade 11 English Language group as a class portal. It will not only provide basic information on assignments, syllabus, rubrics and handouts, but I would like it to be used as a means to encourage quality informed discussions amongst them. The blog would address content, yes, but it will be structured in such a way that their responses should include and incorporate their present societal realities, so as to develop one of the required writing skills they would need to be good at, which is persuasive writing, in time for their terminal exams in the next two years.

The creation of a class blog at this stage of their learning will provide pioneering data for the school at large, but more so for my successive grades to which I teach English Language and Literature. I envision an increase in reading amongst my students and an improvement in presentation, organization and coherency of their thoughts in their writing (Laureate Education, 2008).

References:

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2008). Program Two. Evolution of technology and pedagogy.[Motion Picture]. Understanding the impact of technology on education, work and society. Baltimore:Author

Laureate Education, Inc.(Executive Producer). (2008). Program Six. Spotlight on technology:blogging in the classroom.[Motion Picture]. Understanding the impact of technology on education, work and society. Baltimore:Author

Reeves, D.B.(2001). What do all [engaging] scenarios have in common? In Making standards work:How to implement standard-based assessments in the classroom, schools and district (3rd., pp. 113-116). Denver, CO: Advanced Learning Press.

Richardson, W. (2009). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms.(2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks: Corwin Press

FAMOUS QUOTES ON EDUCATION

Education is not the filling of a pail,

but the lighting of a fire.
Wiliam Butler Yeats

Tell me and I'll forget. Show me, and I may not remember. Involve me, and I'll understand.
Native American Saying

What we learn with pleasure we never forget.
Alfred Mercier

Education is simply the soul of a society as it passes from one generation to another.
G. K. Chesterson

Instruction ends in the school-room, but education ends only with life.
Frederick W.Robertson

It is in fact a part of the function of education to help us escape, not from our own time -- for we are bound by that -- but from the intellectual and emotional limitations of our time.
T.S. Eliot

Whatever is good to know is difficult to learn.
Greek Proverb