Group items tagged

There is no blinking the fact  that the type of students we teach today are completely different from last century's. We , definitely, need to look at some of the skills we, as teachers, need to equip ourselves with to better live up to the challenge. Among all the challenges we would have in education, there is not as daunting a challenge as catching students focus and getting them engaged in the learning process. For this particular reason, and in addition to the skills I initially mentioned in 21st Century Teaching Skills article, I would like to provide you  with another list of  some equally important digital skills that you, as a teacher, need to seriously consider if you want to pave the way for the 21st century teaching. I have added a list of web tools under each skill for teachers to better exploit it.

The Assessment and Teaching of 21st-Century Skills (ATC21S) is a research project that proposes ways of assessing 21st-century skills and encourages teaching and adopting those skills in the classroom

CyberSmart! fosters 21st century skills to increase student engagement and prepare students to achieve in today's digital society. CyberSmart! Online Workshops, facilitated professional development, give educators a hands-on experience in 21st century skills-the new basic skills-to meet the learning needs of today's students. Educators engage hands-on in the same kinds of learning they are expected to facilitate in the classroom. Two free resources support daily teaching. The free CyberSmart! Student Curriculum empowers students to use the Internet safely, responsibly, and effectively. The free CyberSmart! Educator Toolbar puts 21st century skills into practice every day, with just-in-time 24/7 access to annotated essential resources to support student learning.

The results of the report suggest that public school districts need to start training their teachers to teach digital media skills to K12 students, according to Hargittai and Don Knezek, chief executive officer of the International Society for Technology in Education. "In a case that an administrator says it's [knowing digital media skills] not important, that administrator is not looking at the world today and how youths [do research]", says Knezek, who calls the skills "new century literacies." The study is "an excellent indicator for pre-K12 education and a reality check for higher ed and postsecondary training.

The Partnership created a Mile Guide Online Assessment to help educators and administrators gauge their school's effectiveness in integrating 21st century skills into the learning process. The 23 question assessment will help you measure the progress of your school or district in defining, teaching and assessing 21st century skills. As a result of the Online Assessment, you can initiate discussions with staff, administrators, technology directors, school board members and community leaders about improving your school's plans for 21st century skills.

In order to determine the most essential computer skills for today's job market, we polled a group of professionals from leading Silicon Valley corporations like Genentech, Hewlett Packard, Cisco, and Oracle. By choosing people from a wide variety of careers, we expected to get a wide variety of answers. Instead, the group was almost unanimous in recommending the following group of skills.

The Teacher Challenge is made up of free 30 day professional development challenges where participants are stepped through weekly tasks that increase their skills while working together as part of a global community. The Challenge is open to anyone who wants to increase their skills - blogs will be used for reflecting your progress while learning and connecting with each other. We've observed success of any use of online technology is strongly related to the teacher's abilities. The greater we support and increase a teacher's skills, the better they are able to support their students use of web 2.0 technologies.

TRAILS is a knowledge assessment with multiple-choice questions targeting a variety of information literacy skills based on sixth and ninth grade standards. This Web-based system was developed to provide an easily accessible and flexible tool for library media specialists and teachers to identify strengths and weaknesses in the information-seeking skills of their students.

Communication skills are critical for today's students. Reading, writing and the ability to tell a story set the stage for success. The Hub, a new TV destination dedicated to bringing kids and families together, is partnering with Discovery Education to support teachers in this important endeavor. Here you'll find inspiration to engage and inspire your budding writers. Meet the artists, editors and writers that bring good stories to life-and watch your students' communication skills soar!

The Reflection Tool presents questions that are designed to help you reflect on your skills in technology integration and to identify areas for growth. These questions are based on the Technology Standards for School Administrators developed by the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) and the Skills Framework developed by the Consortium for School Networking (COSN).

This website is designed for educators who wish to extend the concepts of the math curriculum beyond the pages of the text. Google Earth is the dynamic tool that will be used to accomplish this. Google Earth provides startling clear satellite views of the globe in an interactive 3D environment. Beyond the visual, users can add placemarks, annotations, photos, and models, as well as measure distances and draw paths. Within this site you will find lesson ideas, examples, and downloads for mathematics that embrace active learning, constructivism, and project-based learning while remaining true to the standards. The initial focus will be for grades 5 and up, but teachers of younger students may be able to find some uses or inspiration from the site. Higher level thinking skills, such as analysis, synthesis, and creativity are encouraged as well as technology skills and social learning. The scope of this site is mathematics, but many lessons lend themselves to interdisciplinary activities also.

Welcome to the River City Project. With funding from the National Science Foundation, we have developed an interactive computer simulation for middle grades science students to learn scientific inquiry and 21st century skills. River City has the look and feel of a videogame but contains content developed from National Science Education Standards, National Educational Technology Standards, and 21st Century Skills.

4Kids is teaming with Arcademic Skill Builders, who develop online games that offer a fun approach to learning math, language arts, vocabulary and thinking skills. Ready for a challenge? Check out the all new Matrix Learning games that help students learn middle school level math.

The Partnership for 21st Century Skills is pleased to offer Route 21, a one-stop-shop for 21st century skills-related information, resources and community tools.

ProfilerPRO allows for the evaluation of knowledge, attitude, and skill based on simple surveys implemented via the World Wide Web. Group members can share knowledge and promote collaboration based on responses to skills-based survey items. Use ProfilerPRO to strengthen your school's, district's, or other educational group's ability to share expertise and grow as an organization.

Here's another poster to help get you thinking about how you can apply Bloom's higher-order thinking skills in your classroom. This poster shows the segments of an orange with each segment relating to a thinking skill and some helpful verbs to serve as prompts.

The purpose of this course is to provide "Just in Time" training through an online interface for K-12 educators based on the National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers (NETS-T). These standards are the basic technology skills every educator should possess. In the process, educators will develop their own skills and discover what students need in order to meet the NETS for Students, as well as the new MMC Online Experience requirement.  Participants who fulfill all of the requirements have the opportunity to earn SBCEU's. To learn more about the session, look under the tab "The 21 Things". We hope you take advantage of this unique opportunity. 

Milestones for Learning & Improving Education - Self-guided "quiz" to see where your district stands with 21st Century Skills education.

"Defined STEM is Defined Learning's solution for providing real world relevance to students. Defined STEM is a web-based application designed to promote effective and relevant connections between 21st century learning skills and how those skills are used across all subjects and curriculum. "

Welcome to the Microsoft Digital Literacy Curriculum. The goal of Digital Literacy is to teach and assess the basic concepts and skills needed to use a computer. Computer technology can help you in your everyday life to develop new social and economic opportunities for yourself, your family and your community. Whether you are entirely new to computing or have some experience, this curriculum will help you understand computers better. From using the Internet, to sending e-mail, to creating a CV, the Digital Literacy Curriculum helps you develop the essential skills you need to begin computing with confidence.