-Alvin Toffler, sociologist, futurist, and author.
Contemporary society has changed drastically in the past 20 years. The most significant of these changes, as it applies to the craft of teaching, are the technological developments that have affected the way that we communicate, collaborate, and do business.
In response to these changes, the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, an American group consisting of corporations and educators, has developed a mission statement outlining the needs of 21st-century learners.
But who are these 21st-century learners? What are some of their attributes? They are students who are natural technology users and whose lives outside of school are saturated with technology. They are comfortable with multitasking, they communicate across various forms of digital media, they are often curious, and they see the need to be ongoing learners.
The report by the Partnership of 21st Century Skills, as well as other reports by different organizations, approaches the issue of the education of the 21st-century learner from multiple dimensions. It emphasizes the importance of teaching the core subjects, but proposes that they be integrated within a 21st-century context (like writing for an online readership) and using 21st-century skills and tools (for example, by using Web 2.0 applications). Furthermore, students need to learn new 21st-century content, espeically as it relates to increasing global awareness in our increasingly interconnected world.
As educators, we have to remember that while our students are 'primed' for 21st-century learning as a result of their social milieu, we do need to help them develop and perfect these skills. Furthermore, we have to be on guard against any potential downsides of 21st-century tools, such as informational overload, distraction, and issues with attention. Ultimately, our mission is to ensure that our students can successfully navigate the still-stormy waters of an uncertain tomorrow, whose only certainty is that it will be different from anything that we can imagine today.
I like the themes that you draw out in your discussion. It can be really difficult to answer the question "what is a 21st century learner?" because 21st century learners are extremely diverse.
ReplyDeleteI really like the videos you included, especially the first one. In my undergrad I took a "Music in the Movies" course, and as part of that course we watched an interview with director Norman Jewison. One thing that he stressed in the interview was that making fairly high quality movies has become something that anyone can do fairly cheaply and easily. As such, he believes that creativity and motivation will play a much larger role in determining who ends up being successful in this field in the next generation then money, education or circumstance. This idea extends to many other fields as well.
The point that I take from this is that, as you mention, we need to help our students learn to use the 21st century skills and tools that they already have in beneficial ways, and help them to avoid the potential dangers.
The other thing that is interesting to me is the idea that learners in the 21st century have unique learning needs and attributes. Certainly 21st century learning tools are different from anything we've seen before, but it seems that using these tools has created a whole new type of learner. This is really quite an intriguing notion. It seems the tools we use to learn determine who we will be as learners. I know from my own experience that the way I learn has changed a lot since I discovered the power of the internet.
ReplyDeleteWe also need to ask ourselves whether we need new assessment tools and strategies to meet the needs of these 21st century learners. Perhaps vector marking? Who knows?