So just what is a 21st Century Skill?
Summary: We hear a lot about 21st Century Skills lately; I'm certainly guilty of using the phrase. There's a whole website devoted to building them (actually, there are thousands, but this one has the domain name www.
We hear a lot about 21st Century Skills lately; I'm certainly guilty of using the phrase. There's a whole website devoted to building them (actually, there are thousands, but this one has the domain name www.21stcenturyskills.org). We also know that a lot of our kids don't have them and a lot of their international counterparts are gaining them.
So what are they? My superintendent sent me a brochure on a state initiative to build 21st Century Skills and Classrooms. It was pretty vague, but I definitely got the impression I should be doing something.
Here's my take. 21st Century Skills (I'm officially coining the acronym 21CS) are the broad set of tools, knowledge, and capabilities that allow students to step into a technology-driven global economy and be successful. It doesn't mean that every kid needs to learn Ruby on Rails or have 10,000 followers on Twitter.
Rather, 21CS means getting people working together, generally with some technology making it all happen. We don't need to be in the same office, prairie-dogging over our cubicles anymore and we darn-well better have an understanding of Asian culture, global economics, and telecommunications.
Our students need to know what asynchronous communication is and how that affects collaboration. They need to know how to accept and give criticism, communicate clearly and concisely across cultural boundaries, and use a variety of technology interfaces.
21CS is so bloody broad that it's almost meaningless. Yet when a student can turn social media into a business tool and use them to produce a deliverable with contributors in 5 countries, they've certainly put those 21CS into play.
Help us focus in on 21CS. What does it mean to you and how do you incorporate them into your curricula? Talk back below.
Kick off your day with ZDNet's daily email newsletter. It's the freshest tech news and opinion, served hot. Get it.
Talkback
What a crock of bull
Agreed.
+1 here. NT
Reply to agreed
It is not about the technology, it is about the student and their needs. What do we need to do as teachers to ensure that our students become responsible citizens in the 21st century? I think technology will play a big role in what the future will look like for students entering the ducation system.
Not just that
better still, develop a love life long learning - instead of
just going to university and never upskill from there.
Want to know why there is rising unemployment? because
idiots did university - and that is where their development
stopped. No more education, no more personal
development. Everything came to a crashing halt the
moment they got that degree.
The next generation need to be flexible enough to be
continually learning and upskilling, flexibility to change
when required, and more importantly, the ability to
actually analyse, critique and formulate original ideas
rather than just regurgitating a mish mash of different
ideas from other people (as demonstrated by the lack of
original development in products these days - they're more
about stealing other ideas and mashing them together in
different combinations).
I think you just nailed
Chris
agreed...and....
How do you plan to evaluate that?
Oh evaluation is EASY
Can they spell their own name correctly on an employment app?
Can they look at the change in their hand and tell you how much more they need to equal a dollar?
Do they understsnd that the President does not make laws and is not the ruler of the US?
The ones I liked . . .
Good point. I would add to that list that they have to be able to at least tell you two things that happened 20 years ago (And why they happened) . . .
no duh <EOM>
well yes and no
When I went to school and especially when
Reply to what a crock of bull
It doesn't mean anything.
Does ANYONE think allowing calculators in grade school
Gee, now we need puters for kidergarden kids...
NO WAY!
It's not the calculator...
Having a calculator did not hurt me.
It is not the tool that determines the quality of the education, it is how the tool is used that matters.
An exercise can always be constructed in a way that requires thinking beyond the easy functions of any tool.
Regardless, the biggest factor in the quality of education is the teacher. The teacher who proactively finds the learning difficulties that students are actually having, will be far better prepared to effective teach them. The student must have the desire to learn, but the teachers must also be well aware of the state of that progress. Without good teaches it all falls back to student interest and every student fending for themselves.
In high school fine, but not lower grades
When I was a kid, we had to memorize the multiplication table to 24 x 24. Today, naw, what for, a caluclator can do it for me.
You have a point there
Although, a computer could be used to teach a kid 3rd grade math but the student should be required to do the math manually. In that case the computer is not augmenting the students ability to do their school work, it is augmenting the teachers ability to instruct the student.
Not all school technology needs to be for the student, some should be for the teacher because the teachers we have now need a lot of help.
Well, maybe but you have to admit
Ok, that's over dramatic but I swear when I see employment apps come across my desk I just shake my head and wonder what the heck is going on.
A poster above ranted about the evils of standardized testing and all I hear is, "I can't meet the standard so they are wrong". Come on, the written word, 2+2=4 is in fact pretty standard and anyone having completed 13 years of schooling should be able to pull it off. As I said, everyone in my generation that attended school managed it. Maybe we were just a lot smarter???