The 21st Century Digital Learner &

The 21st Century Teacher

The 21st Century Digital Learner

• The 21st century dawned as the beginning of the Digital Age – a time of unprecedented growth in technology and its subsequent information explosion.

• New technologies and tools multiply daily.• While there are some differences in how the skills are

categorized or interpreted, there are also many commonalities.

Common skills across most of the studies include:

• 1. Creativity and Innovation ♦ Using knowledge and understanding to create new ways of

thinking

a.) Think Creatively - Use a wide range of idea creation techniques - Create new and worthwhile ideas - Elaborate, refine, analyze and evaluate ideas

- Demonstrate imagination and curiosity

b.) Work Creatively With Others - Develop, implement and communicate new ideas to others effectively

- Be open and responsive to new and diverse perspectives - Demonstrate originality and inventiveness in work and understand the real world limits to adopting new ideas - View failure as an opportunity to learnc.) Implement Innovations - Act on creative and innovative ideas.

• 2. Critical Thinking and Problem Solving ♦ Applying higher order thinking to new problems and issues

a.) Reason Effectively - Use various types of reasoning in an appropriate situation

b.) Use Systems Thinking - Analyze how parts of a whole interact with each other to produce

overall outcomes in complex systems.

c.) Make Judgments and Decisions - Effectively analyze and evaluate evidence, arguments, claims and beliefs - Analyze and evaluate major alternative points of view - Synthesize and make connections between information and arguments - Interpret information and draw conclusions based on the best analysis - Reflect critically on learning experiences and processes d.) Solve Problems - Solve unfamiliar problems in both conventional and innovative ways - Indentify and ask significant questions that clarify various points of view and lead to better solutions

• 3. Communication ♦ Communicating effectively in a wide variety of forms and contexts for a

wide range of purposes and using multiple media and technologies.

a.) Communicate Clearly - Articulate thoughts and ideas effectively using oral, written, and

non-verbal communication skills in a variety of forms and contexts - Listen effectively to decipher meaning, including knowledge, values,

attitudes, and intentions - Use communication for a range of purposes and in diverse environments - Utilize multiple media and technologies, and know how to judge their effectiveness

• 4. Collaboration ♦Working with others respectfully and effectively to create, use and share knowledge, solutions and innovations.

a.) Collaborate with Others - Demonstrate ability to work effectively and respectfully with diverse

teams - Exercise flexibility and willingness to be helpful - Assume shared responsibility for collaborative work, and value the individual contributions made by each team member.

• 5. Information Management ♦ Accessing, analyzing, synthesizing, creating and sharing information from multiple sources.

• 6. Effective Use of Technology ♦ Creating the capacity to identify and use technology efficiently,

effectively and ethically as a tool to access, organize, evaluate, and share information

• 7. Career and Life Skills ♦ Developing skills for becoming self-directed, independent learners and workers who can adopt to change, manage projects, take responsibility for their work, lead others and produce results.

• 8. Cultural Awareness ♦ Developing cultural competence in working with others recognizing and respecting cultural differences and work with others from a wide range of cultural and social backgrounds.

Information, Media and Technology Skills• Information Literacy– Access and Evaluate Information

• Access information efficiently and effectively• Evaluate information critically and competently

– Use and Manage Information• Use information accurately and creatively for the issue or problem

at hand• Manage the flow of information from a wide variety of sources• Apply fundamental understanding of the ethical/legal issues

surrounding the access and views of information

• Media Literacy– Analyze Media• Understand both how and why media messages are

constructed and for what purposes• Examine how individuals interpret messages differently,

how values and points of view are included or excluded and how media can influence beliefs and behaviors.• Apply a fundamental understanding of the ethical/legal

issues surrounding the access and use of media

– Create Media Products• Understand and utilize the most appropriate media

creation tools, characteristics, and conventions• Understand and effectively utilize the most appropriate

expressions and interpretation and diverse, multi-cultural environments

ICT (INFORMATION, COMMUNICATIONS AND TECHNOLOGY) LITERACY

• Apply Technology Effectively– Use technology as a tool to research, organize, evaluate, and

communicate information.– Use digital technology, communication/networking tools, and

social networks appropriately to access, manage, integrate, evaluate, and create information to successfully function in a knowledge economy

– Apply fundamental understanding of the ethical/legal issues surrounding the access and use of information technologies.

Integrating 21st Century Skills with Content

These Skills are about the thinking processes and behaviors students will use as they learn subject area content and work with others to deepen their understanding of the content. As the 21st century skills are integrated into content, some key design principles include:

• Connecting the content knowledge to real-world applications and problems situations that enable students to see how they are learning connects with their lives and the world around them.

• Emphasizing deep understanding of the learning by focusing on projects and problems that require students to use the content knowledge in new ways and to extend their understanding through collaboration with others.

• Helping students understand and monitor the thinking processes they are using by including metacognitive activities that ask students to reflect on their use of thinking structures and the effectiveness of the thinking strategies they employed.

• Using technology to help students access, analyze, organize and share what they are learning and allow students to independently locate appropriate tools for the task.

• Providing opportunities for students to become “Creators as well as consumers of published information”.

• Engaging students in solving complex problems that require higher order thinking and application of content and that result in new perspectives and solution to problems.

• Providing opportunities for students to work collaborative as they gather information, solve problems, share ideas, and generate new ideas.

• Developing Life and career skills by creating opportunities for students to become self-directed learners.

• Helping students make connections between subjects, concepts and ideas and with others, including those outside of the classroom.

Instruction that meets the needs of today’s students will incorporate:

• A variety of learning opportunities and activities.• The use of appropriate technology tools to accomplish learning goals.• Project- and problem-based learning.• Cross-curricular connections• A focus on inquiry and the student-led investigations• Collaborative learning environments, both within and beyond the

classroom• High levels of visualization and the use of visuals to increase

understanding• Frequent, formative assessments including the use of self-assessment.

The 21st Century Teacher

There are essential skills for the Digital learners that teachers should consider in giving appropriate activities and assessments to the learners. We know they are students centric, holistic, they are teaching about how to learn as much as teaching about the subject area. We know too, That they must be 21st Century learners as well. To meet the demands of the Digital Education, the 21st Century Educator should acquire the following characteristics:

1. The Adaptor

The 21st century teacher is an adaptor. Harnessed as we are to an assessment focused education model the 21st century Educator must be able to adapt the curriculum and the requirements to teach to the curriculum in imaginative ways.

2. The Visionary

Imagination, a key component of adaptability, is a crucial component of the educator of today and tomorrow.

3. The Collaborator

♦ As an educator we must be able to leverage these collaborative tools to enhance an captivate our learners. Also we must be a collaborators; sharing, contributing, adapting and inventing.

4. The Risk Taker ♦ A 21st century educator must take risks and some times

surrender yourself to students knowledge.

5. The Learner

♦We expect our students to be life-long learners.

6. The Communicator

♦ The 21st century teachers are fluent in tools and technologies that enable communication and collaboration.

7. The Model

♦ The digital teachers must model the behaviors that are expected from their student.

8. The Leader

♦ Leadership, like clear goals and objectives is crucial to the success or failure of any project.