This article discusses research that has been done regarding the needs of people to obtain media and information literacy skills in order to better many of their experiences in 21st century society. The article states that "knowing how to search for, analyze, and interpret information is a skill that will be used for more than just writing a good research paper: People use media literacy skills for applying for jobs online, getting relevant health information, and sifting through online educational opportunities, for example." Ten recommendations for developing stronger media and information literacy skills are given in the article. Legislative efforts from the federal government to provide funding in support of programs that help to develop these 21st century skills are also discussed.
This article suggests how to use Web 2.0 tools to assess students in the digital age. The article has many useful links. I wish that the examples of the actual rubrics were larger. Overall, I found the article to quite helpful.
How do we assess students' learning in these in Web 2.0 environments? We want to go beyond assessing the mere mechanics of using these tools; unfortunately, most current rubrics for Web 2.0 learning devote only a minuscule amount (usually 16% or less) to actual student academic learning.
This article is about standards-based learning and 21st century skills. How to improve student learning through teacher's decisions and technology. He has a excellent list of rubrics Web 2.0 tools. Some examples "rubrics" are......Wiki/Blog, Images/Photo/Flickr, Video/YouTube,Podcast, Social Bookmarking, Twitter, Videoconferencing, General Assessment: Prensky's 21st century skills, General Assessment: enGauge's 21st century skills, General Assessment: Partnership for 21st century skills. I really liked the links and rubrics and found them very helpful. However the rubrics were small and a little hard to read.
Author -Dan Ponterfract proposes a new Model for education in which student collaboration is the "default behavior". Learning is done " at any point in time, through any medium, and at any location", and curriculum focuses on the "community of learning". This article presents educators with the ABCs necessary to transform our system into a 21st century learning environment.
I found this video on Twitter tonight thanks to David Walker (@drdjwalker) who re-tweeted the video from The Partnership of 21st Century Skills. The video is called "Above and Beyond: the story of the 4Cs". Enjoy "In an increasingly complex, demanding and competitive 21st century, students need to learn more than the 3R's they are tested on in school.
Although the 3R's are the foundation of learning (most especially reading), students must be prepared to Think Creatively and have Intellectual Curiosity in order to excel in the 21st century.
Oh, what fun! This video is a great tool to share with students. It's simplicity is a delight. The notion is that we all have different talents and skills we can bring to collaborative projects. We need to encourage students to take the time to share their creative ideas together; plan, explore, negotiate, compromise and problem solve together. My fifth and sixth graders will enjoy this video.
This video is fun, interesting and great for students to see. It stresses the collaborative nature of projects and how much more we can do together rather than alone. It reminds me of Odyssey of the Mind type projects, and I will definitely show this to my Advisory. I think they will find it interesting and funny, but more than that it can jump start a discussion about the creative power of collaboration. It also makes me think that it will demonstrate to students that diversity of ideas is powerful.
This truly is a great summary of 21st century direction. Teaching and learning will consist of digital delivery, it will be interest driven, and Web 2.0 skills will be the focus. I believe that this trend is very accurate and that this shift will, ultimately, improve the motivation for learning of our students. I think the drawback is the teachers who do not wish or are not willing to make the shift. I believe the future of education is exhilarating!
Blog post by Ken Kay of EdLeader21 outlining strategies for administrators to assist teachers in implementing 21st century skills (critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity) into classroom practices .
As we are creating new opportunities for students to develop their 21st century skills, it is important to stay current wit rigorous and relevant assessments for real world work. This blog speaks to this issue
This article examines why media/digital literacy must be added to the common core standards to better prepare students for life in the 21st century. "While they (young people) may be media-savvy, we maintain that they are not necessarily media- or digital-literate.
In order to be successful in the 21st century, students need to be both Information and Media Literate. In order to encourage schools to implement Information and Media Literacy in the curriculum, media/digital literacy should be added to common core standards. Assessments should be devised in which students are assessed using digital formats.
This article discusses a report published by the North Central Regional Educational Laboratory and the Meteiri Group entitled "enGauge 21st Century Skills: Literacy in the Digital Age" . The brief outlines the skills needed to be successful in the 21st century, but also reinforces the fact that Digital Age literacy is grounded in the traditional 3R's.
Sir Ken Robinson really has his finger on the pulse of what needs to happen within educational systems to bring education into the 21st Century for all students. We cannot pay lip service to Bloom's Taxonomy or students' different learning styles, if - as Sir Ken says - we keep trying to do it, using educational models from the past.
This is a great and empowering resource to listen to - for the benefit of our students.
Preparing students for a 21st Century education in a global society. This website and its documents explore the 4 Cs' of education: Creativity, Collaboration, Critical Thinking, Communication.
What a great resource filled with so much information about 21st Century Educational Technology and Learning! There is so much information on this wiki about Web 2.0 collaboration tools. What a gold mine!
"Advice and First Steps for Educational Leaders to Lead by Example
Please provide Advice, First Steps, or Next Steps to Educational Leaders (superintendents and principals and other key leaders) on what he or she must do to lead by example to further 21st century learning for students and staff."
This article discusses the success of setting up class blogs involving high school juniors. The author points out that 'students value an authentic audience for their writing'. A great starting read for any teacher that has had thoughts about working with blogs in their classroom.
Effective 21st century assessment reaches beyond traditional testing to look at the broader accomplishments of learners. Assembling an e-portfolio, or electronic portfolio, is an excellent method for assessing students' progress toward school, state, or national academic standards, as well as 21st century skills. An electronic portfolio is a purposefully limited collection of student selected work over time that documents progress toward meeting the standards.
This article talks about e-portfolios and how they "are the wave of the future". This type of digital assessment shows student progression and can be a tool teachers can use for the year or can even be passes on to the next grade. The article states "E-portfolios reflect more in-depth, more comprehensive, and better thought-out evidence of student learning than on-demand tests". Students can review their work over the course of the year to see their progression, which I think is empowering.
This is an informative article that provides a detailed overview of e-portfolios. It provides reasons that e-portfolios are a good method of assessment, and it explores some drawbacks of e-portfolios. The article is a great starting place for those unfamiliar with this type of assessment.
Eporfolios would be great for the current teacher to view the strengths and weaknesses of their students. I can find the grade my students received last year but since each teacher grades so differently it really does not give much information.