What skills do our students need?

What is the technology skill set that the graduate of a High School will need to complete their college work? To enter the work force? What tasks will be second nature for them that we are not thinking about today?

In order to compete in the 21st century global economy, students need to learn how to harness the power of technology to communicate in our increasingly flat world.

If students are to learn these skills, they may need to get very different kinds of assignments. Here's a traditional assignment: "Read the following descriptions of sites in Metropolis and, referring to the specifications, determine which site would be the best for a park." A corresponding assignment that would teach 21st-century skills might be this: "Using GPS equipment, work with students from two other schools in this city to determine the best site for a park, collaborate on a multimedia presentation, and arrange to make that presentation to the city council." In the latter assignment, students use various forms of technology (Internet, Email, GPS equipment, perhaps digital cameras, PowerPoint™), solve real-life problems, and work together to produce the desired result.

Note that the technology alone is insufficient. Good pedagogy is still good pedagogy, and that means engaging students, challenging them, encouraging them, and trusting them to do well. The trick—the goal—is incorporating technology into that pedagogy.

-The Journal/21st century Skills

Good pedagogy is still good pedagogy. This year at Educon 2.0 five guiding principals were outlined in a discussion about our schools.

1. Our schools must be inquiry-driven, thoughtful and empowering for all members.
2. Our schools must be about co-creating — together with our students — the 21st Century Citizen
3. Technology must serve pedagogy, not the other way around.
4. Technology must enable students to research, create, communicate and collaborate
5. Learning can — and must — be networked

We also need to consider the three essential questions from Dan Pink's, A Whole New Mind:







As teachers we need to make sure that our lessons are surrounding these questions/statements. If our students are going to be competing in a global economy then we need to take a serious look at the essential learnings and pedagogy in our classrooms. In order for change to occur we need to continue to look at 21st Century literacy skills.

Schools 2017

When thinking about classrooms of the future I think about what Marc Prensky said in his presentations at BLC07. Marc Prensky is the author of two books, the first being Don't Bother Me Mom--I'm Learning! and the second Digital Game-Based Learning. Marc was the first person to use the terms "Digital Natives" and "Digital immigrants. Marc has also written numerous articles on classrooms of the future.

Walls are a thing of the past. Schools of the future will have much fewer walls. Learning will become much more collaborative and cross curricular. Students will be working at meeting tables collaborating on projects influenced by the "real world". Closed book memorization tests are going to be a thing of the past. In today's digital world who cares if they memorize all the capitals of the world when they can have an answer on their cell phone in under a minute by texting Google. We need to connect kids to their communities and to their world.

Dan Pink and his book A Whole New Mind tell us that schools of the future should foster skills such as creativity, empathy, contextual thinking and big picture thinking. “The greatest opportunity for change is currently found in after-school programs and informal learning communities" – MacArthur White Paper, 2007

I like the metaphor that Prensky uses in his presentations. Kids used to grow up in the dark. Schools and education were showing them the light. Digital natives with technology are growing up in the light and schools are turning off the lights. We need to bring the students back into the light. How do we do this?

I don't think anyone has the clear cut answer, bet we need to engage them more. Kids are bored with our classrooms. I do think that technology and connecting kids to the real world will with out a doubt play a huge role in engaging them.