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The future. What do our students really need to know and be able to do to succeed in future education and careers?

Lots of schools are talking about the importance of preparing their students for an increasingly inter-connected, Web-centric world. Here are some districts that are "doing" it. Some of their advice may be able to help the reader avoid mistakes, etc.

Digital Information Fluency (DIF) is the ability to find, evaluate and use digital information effectively, efficiently and ethically. DIF involves Internet search skills that start with understanding how digital information is different from print information, knowing how to use specialized tools for finding digital information and strengthening the dispositions needed in the digital information environment. As teachers and librarians develop these skills and teach them to students, students will become better equipped to achieve their information needs.

Tools Focused > Instruction Focused > Learner Focused

Life in the 21st century provides a whole new world of opportunities for self-directed, passion-driven, personalized learning. Educators who are ready to move on from teaching the way they were taught, and have administrators who will let them, can begin supporting students using tools and strategies available to the 21st century learner. 

Used wisely, technology empowers students to take responsibility for their own learning. In Leonardo's Laptop, Ben Shneiderman provides teachers with a powerful framework, Collect-Relate-Create-Donate (CRCD), for designing student-centered learning opportunities using computers. In particular, Shneiderman's CRCD framework emphasizes the importance of the social aspects of learning in generating creative work. In CRCD projects, students research information, work collaboratively to create a meaningful product that demonstrates their learning, and contribute that project to a larger learning community. Shneiderman designed the Collect-Relate-Create-Donate framework as a vehicle for preparing young people for a 21st century world where innovation, creativity, and collaboration will be more highly prized than retention and repetition.