Graded 21st Century

As Christopher Dede notes from his perspective at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, "You can't just sprinkle 21st century skills on the 20th century doughnut. It requires a fundamental reconception of what we're doing."

Then comes another car. And it's going 10 miles per hour. That's the public education system. Schools are supposed to be preparing kids for the business world of tomorrow, to take jobs, to make our economy functional. The schools are changing, if anything, at 10 miles per hour. So, how do you match an economy that requires 100 miles per hour with an institution like public education? A system that changes, if at all, at 10 miles per hour?

I meet teachers who are good and well intentioned and smart, but they can't try new things, because there are too many rules.

You need to find out what each student loves.

moderated significantly with much more emphasis on demonstrations of learning, tangible “output” that can be collected and in each student’s lifelong digital portfolio. It makes one wonder what assessments for the 21st century might look like in general.

character (self-discipline, empathy, integrity, resilience, and courage);creativity and entrepreneurial spirit;real-world problem-solving (filtering, analysis, and synthesis);public speaking/communications;teaming; andleadership.

I hope never to read a vision statement that promises to maintain rather than improve,

First, he or she is up to date with technology, not only in the educational arena, but across the board.

Second, your knowledge broker must be able to have the interest in finding resources for any class content.

Third, and perhaps most important, the knowledge broker must be able to transfer his/her knowledge to a teacher - who is most likely not all that excited about technology or at best a bit skeptical - in a calm, jargon-free style.

we find that ownership of a mobile phone and participation in a variety of internet activities are associated with larger and more diverse core discussion networks. (Discussion networks are a key measure of people’s most important social ties.)

having discussion networks that are more likely to contain people from different backgrounds.

For instance, frequent internet users, and those who maintain a blog are much more likely to confide in someone who is of another race.