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Jeff Weaver, the dynamic superintendent of the Upper Arlington City School District in Ohio, was planning to unveil the district’s vision for 21st century learners … at the first district leadership meeting of the year. So he had the vision statement printed on adhesive-backed vinyl, purchased a hundred inexpensive dinner plates, and affixed a copy of the vision to each of the plates. At that first district meeting, Weaver asked for the plates to be passed out to the district’s leaders, then stood at the lectern and said something like this: “The last few years, whenever I talk to you about 21st century skills — about the importance of creativity, collaboration, critical thought, and all the other proficiencies that phrase implies — you remind me how much we’re already trying to accomplish. You tell me, ‘I would grapple with this,  and make it work — but there is so little time, and there is already so much on our plate.’ You ask me, ‘How can we make room for this on our plate?’ . . . And so, I am letting you know you today that, moving forward, this is the plate. . .“

Connections to Future Learning: Does the app’s content build users’ literacy or numeracy skills so they are more prepared to engage future content area learning and are on track to become “college and career” ready?

It requires us to continually reinvent ourselves, to stay on top of where research and practice meet and to balance the desire for easy and structured with messy and self-directed.

are people confusing talking to people online with deep, connected learning?

Personal Learning Networks are one of the three prongs necessary to be a do it yourself learner in today’s world.

The upshot of this neglect, the report goes on to say, is to leave students unsuited for a work environment in which knowing core subject content can be secondary to being able to use technology to demonstrate the so- called 21st century skills that employers now demand:

increasingly value people who can use their knowledge to communicate, collaborate, analyze, create, innovate, and solve problems."

it's also about turning information into knowledge through Web searching and vetting. It's about developing effective multimedia presentations. It's about seamlessly using digital tools to collaborate and problem-solve.

A few months ago, I discovered MentorMob (MM), which allows any user to create “Learning Playlists” to share or open up to other fellow learners who might want to add or edit the content in the playlist. The end product is the ultimate learning tool for students, especially when the playlist is populated with high-quality content, including visual, audio and interactive elements

Clearly, iPads and Chromebooks each have their own appeal -- but when paired together, the resulting hybrid model can provide quite the package to an innovative and multi-level school. Integrating both devices into classrooms allows for flexibility of teaching and learning, and exposes students to various ways of accessing information and creating content. Students also develop much-needed 21st Century Skills, with collaboration, critical thinking, and digital literacy coming into play as they explore new ways to integrate devices into their learning.