The Times They Are A-Changin'

Think about what you learned in high school. Think way, way back. Dig deep. What skills did you learn that have helped you be successful in your career? In life?

I learned how to manage my time using my school agenda. I learned that you have to wait for WhiteOut® to dry before writing on top of it. I learned that to be successful working in a group, I must have everyone’s home phone number and a bus ticket to get to their house on Sunday night.

Boy, the times they are a-changin'!

Students today are going to need a whole new set of skills to be successful in their careers—no matter what career path they choose to take.  They are going to need to know how to work collaboratively with a variety of people and be able to communicate effectively. Students are going to have to have superior critical thinking skills to be able to filter the vast amount of information available to everyone via the internet.  They are going to have to be creative. To think outside the box. 

21st Century Learning Skills
The Partnership for 21st Century Learning Skills has identified 4 key Student Outcomes that students will need to develop to multi-dimensional abilities that will be required of them in the 21st century ("Framework for 21st," 2004).



How Can Web 2.0 Tools Help?


Let's look at the Learning and Innovation Skills...

Critical Thinking:
There is a massive amount of information available to students on the Internet. Students must develop critical thinking skills to assess the validity of the information. Take a moment and check out the following site:

Save the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus 

               

Would you donate money to save the tree octopus? I certainly hope not. As educators, we need to teach students the skills required to question what they see, read and hear about on the Internet.

Communication:
Blogging is quickly becoming a fantastic way for students to comminicate what they have learned with you; their peers and the global community. When students realize that their work will be published, they are typically motivated to produce better work.

The best part? Blog posts are sorted chronologically, so students and teachers can see a progression of learning all in a convenient digital format.



Check out a few of these classroom friendly blog sites:

EduBlogs
KidBlog
Blogger (Google)

Collaboration:
As part of the Growing Success document, a key component to the learning cycle is assessment as learning. As always, teachers have been expected to provide ongoing feedback to students to guide instruction. As the nature of our students change, and the skills required for success in the 21st century change, there has been a shift in emphasis to student self-assessment and peer-assessment, placing the primary responsibility for learning with the students ("Growing success: assessment,," 2010).

Google Docs provides a free online document service that allows students to ‘share’ documents with each other and the teacher; work simultaneously on the same document and provide feedback through the comment function. Teachers and students are also able to see the document revision history to make students accountable for their work.






Creativity:
Gone are the days when the only option to submit your work is a handwritten essay. Students learn in a variety of different ways—therefore classroom instruction should be differentiated and meaningful to all students in the room. Does that mean teachers have to prepare 30 different lessons each day? No!
Teachers can differentiate product, not content. In order for all students to obtain a meaningful learning experience, students should have choices that support their specific way of learning.


There are hundreds of Web 2.0 tools to support creativity and individuality in the classroom.


For example, a teacher may assign the following to his/her SBI 4UI class: Explain the concept of protein synthesis using a Web 2.o tool of your choice.

Students may choose from a wide variety of Web 2.0 tools to get their message across such as:

YouTube
Google Sites
Xtranormal
Bitstrips
Comic Life
Movie Maker
Photostory
Blog
Podcast--Audacity
Pencil Animation
Flipbook
Animator





Looking for more resources?

Check out Free Technology 4 Teachers




Resources:

Framework for 21st century learning.. (2004). Retrieved from http://www.p21.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=254&Itemid=119


Ontario Ministry of Eduction, (2010). Growing success: assessment, evaluation, and reporting in ontario schools. Toronto, ON: Government Printing Office.