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Ms Cuttle

Are 21st Century Skills Important? - 59 views

21st century skills

started by Ms Cuttle on 12 Sep 11
  • Ms Cuttle
    #1 Ms Cuttle on 12 Sep 11
     
    Do these skills differ at all from 20th century skills? Is this just a fad? Add your thoughts to the discussion.
  • eric truong
    #2 eric truong on 12 Sep 11
     
    Yes. I do believe that 21st century skills are relevant and differ from 20th century skills. According to one article that I read, "The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.". I agree with that statement, a key 21st century skill is adaptability, and in order to keep up with the constant changes we must keep adapting to the new innovations and the constantly changing world around us. Ms. Cuttle even stated that people may not even keep their jobs for more then 5 years or something, and if that is true, learning and relearning and adaptability is key.
  • Tiger Liu
    #3 Tiger Liu on 12 Sep 11
     
    Yes, as time goes by, and websites like twitter and youtube become the dominant source of information, it would be more important to write a 140 character paragraph instead of a 140 page essay
  • Alan Nguyen
    #4 Alan Nguyen on 12 Sep 11
     
    These skills are completely different from 20th century skills. The 21st century skills are much more fixated on technology. It is safe to say that learning skills change with the times. As technology advances, so too will the learning skills. The 21st century opens more room for creativity and own personal flair, these skills I'm sure weren't as relevant and focused on.
  • Kramay Patel
    #5 Kramay Patel on 12 Sep 11
     
    As time changes, as each generation passes by, and as the world grows older and more mature, a revolution becomes imminent. We have experienced this in the past and, although many of us don't really know, we are experiencing one right now. A revolution is a rapid change in the everyday lives of every individual in the world. The agricultural revolution transformed nomadic lifestyle into a more settled way of life. The industrial revolution transformed the agricultural and farming lifestyle into an industrial approach to every day items. People stopped doing everything for themselves and became more interdependent. We have experience that when a way of life becomes too monotonous, the world as an entire community, must experience a revolution. Today, we live in the information age, where we have an abundance of information. This is a drastic change from the industrial age, when information was scarce. This is why, it is extremely important to learn how to extract useful information in this age. It is no longer important to memorize historical facts, because they are only a click away on the web. In the information age, technology plays an extremely important part in the lives of individuals of every age. Therefore, this is another set of skill that needs to be taught to our youngsters in order to allow them to succeed in life. As the age of the factory comes to an end and the age of call centers and super computers takes over, it is important for us to adapt to this rapid change in our everyday lifestyle and learn what most call "21st century skills".
  • Chayanika Sonnadara
    #6 Chayanika Sonnadara on 12 Sep 11
     
    For the sake of this debate to be in fact a debate, I put the point that adaptation is an essential skill despite the century. To exist we as a race have adapted continuously, learning to exist in a technological world is simply the next adaptation we make as a race.
  • Misha Koralov
    #7 Misha Koralov on 12 Sep 11
     
    85% of the population uses the internet frequently. Students do almost all their research online and are already beginning to submit assignments on the web. The 20th century skills we learned can not keep up with the rapid advance in technology. With the 21st century already 11% over, 21st century skills are mandatory to succeed.
  • Suhaib Saqib
    #8 Suhaib Saqib on 12 Sep 11
     
    I believe that adaptability has always been a relevant skill in the workplace. Even though a larger majority of people need to be adaptable in today's workplace, adaptability has always been important for people in positions which require thinking and planning such as business management. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the majority of workers were employed in factories so adaptability was a necessary skill for few. The only thing that has changed in terms of adaptability in these centuries is that a larger amount of people need to apply it.
  • Kramay Patel
    #9 Kramay Patel on 12 Sep 11
     
    Adaptation is the key to survival for any species, this is why, adapting to the 21st century skills is also very important for our survival
  • Ms Cuttle
    #10 Ms Cuttle on 12 Sep 11
     
    Most of you seem to think 21st century skills are important. If we need to teach these skills how do we do it? Can we fit it in existing curriculum? Do we need new courses? different ways of teaching? different assessments (tests/assignments)?
  • eric truong
    #11 eric truong on 12 Sep 11
     
    In one article that I read, the one Suhaib posted, they show a image of what a 21st century class should look like. It looks like some gazebo in the middle of a forest. I feel as though that would not be as effective in teaching kids the 21st century skills because it would be too open and being outside would be too distracting from learning. I believe we should simply begin by integrating technology, such as social networking, into our curriculum, like we have in this class. It teaches students electronic literacy which is very relevant to our future lives
  • Kramay Patel
    #12 Kramay Patel on 12 Sep 11
     
    Classes need to change from the "teacher talks and students listen" format to a more discussion based approach to education. Another very important key to teaching the 21st century skills is making sure that our teachers know more, or atleast as much technology as the students do. Teachers can't really teach 21st century skills without knowing them themselves.
  • eric truong
    #14 eric truong on 12 Sep 11
     
    I agree with Kramay, I feel as though when teachers use new tools, such as smartboards, we are watching the teachers learn to use these tools, which is distracting.
  • Hafsa Saeed
    #15 Hafsa Saeed on 12 Sep 11
     
    I think many of the skills have changed since the 20th century and are important like research and creativity. These skills will be important even in the future. Many jobs may require you to find information to make reports. You may do research to find how to improve your company or research better marketing ways. Schools need to be teaching us how to surf the internet and find the right information and correct information. They should also be teaching us how to use the most basic software eg. Word, Excel, and Power Point. Even if these programs may not be used in 10 years it's still important to have some kind of basic knowledge. We will always be updating and improving that is a fact that we cannot escape. But that doesn't mean that we should not even bother to learn. Your creativity is what makes you unique and different form another company. It helps you promote yourself, allowing you to build a good financial base (through marketing). Being able to be creative means making plans that are inclusive to everyone. You want to be able to set yourself apart from your competition and a creative mind allows that.
  • Alan Nguyen
    #16 Alan Nguyen on 12 Sep 11
     
    It'll take time, but I'm sure we could blend in 21st century skills into the everyday curriculum that we are so used to. We don't have to just limit teaching to just "I write notes" and "you take them down into your notebook". Its not fitting the 21st century skills into the curriculum that is the problem, its the matter of replacing the old teaching methods with new ones.
  • Amy Chen
    #17 Amy Chen on 12 Sep 11
     
    I think that these skills differ from 20th century skills, because as science & technology become more advanced, we need to know these new skills in order to keep up with the world. Sure, people still need to master the skills from the 20th century, but they also need to know the "new" skills for those newer jobs that didn't exist in the past. For example, in the past, teachers used to teach students using those chalky blackboards, and old projectors. However, today's teachers are using technology ( i.e smartboards) to make their lessons more enjoyable and effective for students. But, right now, not all teachers are comfortable using those technologies. Therefore, knowing how to work a technology is actually considered a skill. According to one article, it says that " The public must acknowledge 21st century skills as essential to the education of today's learner."
  • Kevin Mao
    #18 Kevin Mao on 12 Sep 11
     
    21st century skills can be taught with the integration of technology. Changing the entire curriculum would be overly drastic, considering the integration of technology can be done without changing what we teach. Much like a textbook, technology is a teaching resource.
  • Misha Koralov
    #19 Misha Koralov on 12 Sep 11
     
    Schools are already beginning to incorporate the root of 21st century skills (technology) into the curriculum. Our school has various smart boards and even in this very course we are using technology to commence a discussion opposed to doing it verbally.

    I also second Kramay's point.
  • Eugene Shtygashev
    #20 Eugene Shtygashev on 12 Sep 11
     
    Yes they do, the main cause of difference is the advancement of the internet and other technology. Since most everyday tasks are done on the internet it is important to develop new skills that were not as important in the 20th century such as programming, browsing the web, and researching using the internet.
  • Guleed Omar
    #21 Guleed Omar on 12 Sep 11
     
    I feel that 21st century skills differ greatly from 20th century skills. Back then, a person was considered literate if they knew how to read, write and calculate, but now a person is expected to read critically, write persuasively and use logic in solving difficult problems. Also, technology in its present form did not exist in the 20th century, so computer skills were not a required skill for the majority of the population. Today, the inability to use technology is almost as much of an impediment to success as an inability to use language.
  • Denise H
    #22 Denise H on 12 Sep 11
     
    As technology changes at lightning-fast pace, we as the new generation must have the proper skills to thrive in this new environment. As countries get more culturally diverse, a key 21st century skill is the ability to embrace and interact with different cultures. Because the internet globally connects the whole world, it is a vast multicultural network.
  • Jeffrey Youn
    #23 Jeffrey Youn on 12 Sep 11
     
    As the vast majority of the population uses the internet we should learn to adapt, not only with the internet but with technology in general. Isn't is very frustrating to teach your parents how to do something on their iphone or even how to print something? In the end the process just frustrates the teacher and the student. I feel that's the way some teachers teach. Teachers use "old" ways of teaching to teach material to a "modernized" group of students so we just end up with a frustrating mess.
  • Christie Park
    #24 Christie Park on 12 Sep 11
     
    Although 21st century skills are fixated on technology, I think teachers can begin to incorporate the skills even without a computer in every classroom. Like Tiger said, as websites such as twitter become the dominant source of information it would be more important to learn how to write detailed and informative paragraphs in 140 words rather than writing a 4 page structured essay. And like Ms. Cuttle said, after we graduate we most likely will not have to write an essay ever again. Teachers should start transitioning into teaching 21st century skills by starting with these more basic skills.
  • Youn Hee Cho
    #25 Youn Hee Cho on 12 Sep 11
     
    I think that 21st century skills differ little from 20th century skills. In a way, they are sort of evolved versions of 20th century skills. In one article, it stated that at one point basic math, basic reading and writing were deemed appropriate, and that no more was required. Now, we learn more advanced math, and to read and write critically. Also, many of these "21st century skills" are skills that were known to be necessary since a long time ago. For example, professionalism isn't a new skill. Obviously you need to maintain a level of professionalism to impress employers and get a job. Critical thinking, problem solving, leadership, and creativity are just a few more examples of skills that aren't new and shouldn't be marketed as such. The only relevant 21st century skills are those relating to new technology, such as being computer savvy and knowing how to use tools on the internet.
  • anonymous
    #26 anonymous on 12 Sep 11
     
    Schools are trying to integrate learning with technology as they realize that 21st century students are consistently using technology in their lives. Technology has made students more advanced in the way that they are able to research basic information on a topic in seconds on the internet instead of having to go out and borrow a library book. Technology has allowed for one to access large amounts of data in a matter of minutes. Teachers are beginning to realize this and are trying to teach their students how to analyze and figure out what reliable sources are. They want students to realize that not all the facts on the internet are right and are trying to teach them to be careful on what they read online.
  • Jeffrey Youn
    #27 Jeffrey Youn on 12 Sep 11
     
    good point younhee :)
  • Youn Hee Cho
    #28 Youn Hee Cho on 12 Sep 11
     
    Thanks Jeffrey... :D
  • Sharice Molko
    #29 Sharice Molko on 12 Sep 11
     
    Answering second question:

    In order to incorporate these "21st century skills" into the current curriculum, teachers have to start having more interactive activities in class instead of the usual boring 'listen and note-taking' method. With these interactive activities, technology should definitely be incorporated. What's the point of memorizing facts when you probably won't even need to know that information in the future? Working as a group - collaboration - is a skill that is necessary for the work force (where hopefully, we are all headed). Interactive activities are the perfect way to discuss and work together as a group without having any sleeping children.
  • Vicky La
    #30 Vicky La on 12 Sep 11
     
    Most of you seem to think 21st century skills are important. If we need to teach these skills how do we do it? Can we fit it in existing curriculum? Do we need new courses? different ways of teaching? different assessments (tests/assignments)?


    To teach the 21st century skills, teachers should emphasize the importance of application of knowledge in the real world rather than just strictly memorizing content. For instance, in the careers course, we often learn about specific professions from the teacher whereas it would be more helpful for students to meet people from the actual professions and have the students experience the career life themselves. Instead of creating new courses, we can just improve on the existing curriculum because that is the essence of adaptation. The assessments should be based on the content learned and the improvement of the student so that the assessment is more individualized. All in all, these precautions should be met to ensure that we safely transition into the 21st century.

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