By Elma Mae Osana

21st Century Digital Learners and Teachers

ObjectivesTo identify the skills of the 21st Century Digital Learners

To discuss about the 21st Century Teacher

Digital Learners

The 21st Century dawned as the beginning of the Digital Age- a

time of unprecedented growth in technology and its subsequent information explosion. Never before have the tools for

information access and management made such an impact on the way we live, work, shop and play. New technologies and tools multiply the market daily and the new technologies of today are outdated almost as soon as the reach the market. Numerous studies and reports have emerged over the past

decades that seek to identify the life, career, and learning skills that define the skills needed for success in the 21st century

world. While there are some differences in how the skills are categorized or interpreted, there are also many commonalities.

Common skills across most of the studies include:

Creativity and InnovationUsing knowledge and understanding to create new ways of thinking in order to find solutions to new problems

To create new products and services

Think Creatively:

Use a wide range of idea creation techniques( brainstorming)

Create new and worthwhile ideas(both incremental and radical concepts)

Elaborate, refine, analyze and evaluate ideas in order to improve and maximize creative efforts

Demonstrate imagination and curiosity

Work Creatively with others

Develop, implement and communicate new ideas to others effectively

Be open and responsive to new and diverse perpectives; incorporate group input and feedback into the work

Demonstrate originality and inventiveness in work and understand the real worldlimits to adopting new ideas

View failure as an opportunity to learn; understand that creativity and innovation is a long-term, cyclical process of a small successes and frequent mistakes

Implementing Innovations

Act on creatuve ideas to make a tangible and useful contribution to the field in which the innovayion will occur

Critical Thinking and Problem SolvingApplying higher order thinking to new problems and issues, using appropriate reasoning as they effectively analyze the problem and make decisions anout the most effective ways to solve the problem.

Reason Effectively

Use various of reasoning (e.g inductve,deductive, etc) as appropriate to the situation

Make judgements and Decisions

Effectively analyze and evaluate evidence, arguments , claims and beliefs

Analyze the evaluate major alternative points of view

Synthesize and make connections between information and arguments

Interpret onformation and draw concluions based on the best the analysis

Reflect critically on learning experiences and processes

Solve Problems

Solve different kinds of non-familiar problems in both convetional and innovative ways

Identifyand ask significant questions that clarify various points of view and lead to better solutions

CommunicationCommunicting effectively in a wide variety of forms and contexts for a wide range of purposes and using multiple media and technologies

Communicate Clearly

Articulate thoughts and ideas effectively using oral, written and nonverbalcommunication skills in a variety of forms and contexts

Listen effectively to decipher meaning, including knowledge, values, attitude, and intentions

Use communication for a range of purpose (e.g to inform, instruct, innovate, and persuade and in diverse environments( including ,ulti-lingual)

Utilize multiple media and technologies , and know how to judge their effectiveness a priori as well as assess their impact

CollaborationWorking with others respectfully and effectively to create, use and share knowledge, solutions and innovations

Collaborate with Others

Demonstrate abilitity to work effectively and respectfully with diverse teams

Exercise flexibility and willingness to be helpful in making necessary compromises to accomplish a common goal

Assume shared responsiblity for collaborative work and value the individual contributions made by each team member

Information Management

Accessing, analyzing, synthesizing, creating

sharing information from multiple sources

Effective Use of Technology

Creating the capacity to identify and use technology efficiently, effectively and ethicalyy as a tool to access, organize, evaluate and share information

Career and Life Skills

Developing skills for becoming self-directed , indepent learners and workers who can adapt to change , manage projects, take responsibility for their work, lead others and produce results

Cultural Awareness

Developing cultural competence in working with others by recognizing and respecting cultural differences and work with others from a wide range of cultural and social backgrounds

Information, Media and

Technology Skills

INFORMATION LITERACYAccess and Evaluate Information

Access information efficiently (time and effectively (sources)

Evaluate informatkion critically and competently

Use and Manage Information

Use information accurately and creatively for the issue or problem at hand

Mangae flow of informatkon from a wide variety of sources

Apply a fundmental understanding of the ethical/legal issuse surounding the access and use of information

Media Literacy Analyze Media

Understand both how and why media messages rae constructed and for what purposes

Examine how individuals intepret messages differently, how values and points of vies are included or excluded , and how media can influence beliefs and behaviors

Apply fundamental understanding of the tehical/legal issus surrounding the accsess and use of media

Create Media Products

Understand and utilize the most appropriate medai creation tools, characteristics and convetions

Understand and effectively utilize the most appropriate expresisions and interpretations in diverse, multi-cultural environments

ICT LiteracyApply TEchnology Effectively

USe technology as a tool to research, organize, evaluate and communicate information

Use digitaltechnologies, communication/ networking tools and social networks appropriatelt to access, mange, integrate,evaluate and create information to seccessfully function in a knowledge economy

Apply a fundamental understanding of vthe ethuical/legal issues surrounding the access and use of information technologies

Integrating 21st Century Skills with ContentThese skills are about the thinking processes and behaviors students will use as they learn subject area content and work woth others to deepen their understanding of the content. All of the frameworks emphasize the need to ground 21st century skills in core content, an expecially in an interdisciplinary fashion. Organizing instruction around important concepts and “big ideas” helps students create conceptual structures for stiring,retrieving and using information in anew and unanticipated ways. As the 21st century skills are integrated into content, come key design principles include:

Connecting the content knowledge to real-world applications and problem situations

Emphasizing deep understanding of the learning

Help Students understand and monitor the thinking processes they are using

Using technology to help students access, analyze organize and share what ther are learning and allow students to independentky locate appropriate tools for th task

Providing opportunities to students to become “creators as well as consumers of published information”

Engaging students in solving complex problems that require higher orded thinking and application of content and that results in new perspectives and solutions to problems

Instruction that meets the needs of today's students will incorporate

A variety of learning ooportunities and activities

The use of appropriate technology tools to accomplish learning goals

Project-and problem-based learning

Cross-curricular connections

A focus on inquiry and the student-led investigations

Collaborative learning environments, both within beyond the classroom

The Characteristics of a 21st Century

Educator

There are essential skills for the Digital learners that should consider in giving

appropriate activities and assessments but what about the 21st Century Teacher, what

are the characteristics we would expect to see in them?

The Adaptor

Must be able to adapt the curriculum

Be able to adapt software and hardware

Be able to adapt to a dynamic teaching experience

Must understannd and apply different learning styles

The Visionary

Must see the potential in the emerging tools and web technologies, grasp and manipulate them

Can look at others ideas and envisage how would they use these in their class

Looks across the disciplines and through the curricula

Collaborator

Able to leverage these collaborative tools to enchance and captivate our learners

must be collaborators, sharing , contributing, adapting and inventing

Risk Taker

Must take risks and some times surrender yourself to the students knowledge

Have a vission of what you want and what technology can achieve, identify the goals facilitate learning

Use the strength of the digital natives to understand and navigate new products

Learner

We expect our students to be life-long learners

must continue to absorb new possibilities and experiences

must endeavor to stay current

The 21st Century Teacher or educator must learn and adapt

Communicator

Are fluent in tools and technologies that enable communication and collaboration

Know how to use different media in communication

Allows students to be able to express their insight and share their thoughts

Model

Must model the behaviours that are expected from their students

Educators are often the most consistent part of our student life

They model: Tolerance, Acceptance, a wider view than just their curricula areas, global awareness and reflection

Leader

Clear goals and objectives is crucial to the success or failure of any project