21st Century Learning and Teaching

Education may be the passport to the future, but for all the good teaching out there, it would seem that schools are failing to impart some of the most important life skills, according to one educational expert.

Dr. Tony Wagner, co-director of Harvard's Change Leadership Group, argues that today’s school children are facing a “global achievement gap”, which is the gap between what even the best schools are teaching and the skills young people need to learn.

This has been exacerbated by two colliding trends: firstly, the global shift from an industrial economy to a knowledge economy, and secondly, the way in which today’s school children – brought up with the internet – are motivated to learn.

In his book The Global Achievement Gap, Wagner identifies seven core competencies every child needs in order to survive in the coming world of work.

1. Critical thinking and problem-solving

Collaborative Inquiry in Ontario
What We Have Learned and Where We Are Now
“Our education system will be characterized by high expectations and success
for all. It will be responsive, high quality, accessible and integrated from early
learning and child care to adult education.”
– Achieving Excellence: A Renewed Vision for Education in Ontario, 2014
The commitment to excellence and equity in Ontario education is about the success and
well-being of every learner. How will the province go about realizing this ambitious
commitment? Substantial evidence from research conducted in Ontario and internationally
suggests that collaborative inquiry (CI) – a practice of engaging educators as
researchers – holds great promise as a provincial approach. It has been shown to be
an effective means to both professional learning and to enhanced student learning
(Comber, 2013; Hannay, Wideman & Seller, 2010; Timperley, & Lee, 2008).
Through CI, educators work together to improve their understanding of what learning
is (or could be), generate evidence of what’s working (and what’s not), make decisions
about next steps and take action to introduce improvements and innovations.
And then they start again on emerging new issues and challenges. Notably, CI sees
educators as key participants in understanding how to achieve excellence and equity
in education.

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http://www.scoop.it/t/21st-century-learning-and-teaching/?&tag=Inquiry+Learning

http://www.scoop.it/t/21st-century-learning-and-teaching/?&tag=Collaboration

Efficiency is very often confused with effectiveness. In general, efficiency is a measurable concept, quantitatively determined by the ratio of useful output to total input. Effectiveness is the simpler concept of being able to achieve a desired result, which can be expressed quantitatively but doesn't usually require more complicated mathematics than addition.

Efficiency can often be expressed as a percentage of the result that could ideally be expected, for example if no energy were lost due to friction or other causes, in which case 100% of fuel or other input would be used to produce the desired result. This does not always apply, not even in all cases in which efficiency can be assigned a numerical value, e.g. not for specific impulse.

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http://www.scoop.it/t/21st-century-learning-and-teaching/?&tag=efficient+competitive+intelligence

Questioning existing hierarchies is necessary to create the wirearchies of the future where there is shared power and authority based on mutual trust. The dominant model needs to shift on the continuum, away from hierarchy, toward networks. Reverting to old, and simple, hierarchies removes us from our obligation as citizens to build a networked organizational model for society. It must be one in which tribes (families), institutions, and markets co-exist under the dominant umbrella of networks. Giving up our influence in networks by trusting institutional or market hierarchies is an abrogation of our democratic responsibilities. In the network era, we are the media and we are the experts, whether we like it or not.

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http://www.scoop.it/t/21st-century-learning-and-teaching/?tag=Hierarchy

There is a new platform for immersive learning games that’s taking classrooms across the world by storm. Based on the same principles as interactive Escape The Room digital games — which challenge players to use their surroundings to escape a prison-like scenario — Breakout EDU is a collaborative learning experience that enhances critical thinking and creativity while fostering a growth mindset in students.

There are two types of games available for teachers to run in their classrooms: the physical games (which are the main games) use the Breakout EDU box (or any box with a hasp that can be locked) with a set of locks, and the digital games which only need internet-connected devices.

Gameplay revolves around a Breakout EDU box that has been locked with multiple and different locks including directional locks, word locks, and number locks. After listening to a game scenario read by the teacher, students must work together to find and use clues to solve puzzles that reveal the various lock combinations before time expires (usually 45 minutes). Teachers can either purchase the Breakout EDU kit, which includes a plastic or wooden box and a set of locks, or the individual pieces of the kit can be ordered from Amazon directly. Either way, it takes about $100 to get started with the physical games; the digital games are free.

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http://www.scoop.it/t/21st-century-learning-and-teaching/?tag=Gamification

I believe in the potential power of blogging. I believe it can be harnessed to be a powerful pedagogical tool in the 21st Century.

4 Benefits of Integrating Blogging into Pedagogy

1. Blogs promote participation and collaboration of knowledge and skills. There are a myriad of resources available on the internet that can help students become creators, and not merely consumers of different texts and bodies of knowledge.

2. Blogs promote global communication and collaboration. Teachers can facilitate interactions with diverse cultures, ethnicities, and religions, and social contexts. Students can be helped to challenging their thinking by considering other viewpoints.

3. Blogs promote the critical analysis of pedagogy and literacies.

4. Blogs create the potential for interactive spaces for authentic exchanges. Strategies including reading logs, book reviews, parental communication, encouraging reading and writing and responding around a particular theme or focus.

If we can harness this power, we have a strong pedagogical tool on our hands. As with other areas in education, we can begin to harness this power by asking ourselves the right kinds of questions that can bring about the results we want to see.

Learn more / En savoir plus / Mehr erfahren:

https://gustmees.wordpress.com/2016/06/06/blogging-is-it-difficult-i-guess-not-a-all-follow-my-advice/

https://gustmees.wordpress.com/2013/03/25/practice/

https://gustmees.wordpress.com/2013/10/14/practice-using-blogs-for-home-work-to-get-ict-skills-and-creativity/

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https://gustmees.wordpress.com/?s=creativity

http://www.scoop.it/t/21st-century-learning-and-teaching/?tag=Creativity

http://www.scoop.it/t/21st-century-learning-and-teaching/?tag=ePortfolios

https://gustmees.wordpress.com/?s=digital+citizenship

https://gustmees.wordpress.com/2014/07/10/education-collaboration-and-coaching-the-future/

http://www.scoop.it/t/21st-century-learning-and-teaching/?tag=Growth+Mindset

At some point in our lives, we’ve all practiced some counterproductive learning habits. We’ve sabotaged ourselves without realizing it, and found ourselves stuck. There have been failures we believe have defined our potential. We’ve obsessed over perfect solutions and singular pathways. In frustrated moments we’ve refused help from others, thinking acceptance means weakness. We’ve done this as teachers, students, friends, and parents.

These are not crimes; they’re part of what makes us human. Our counterproductive learning habits usually come from what we observe and hear. We pick things up as children from well-intentioned adults in our lives. In addition, the experiences of others constantly unfold right in front of us. We observe actively, and we remember.

Eventually we come to believe that what we see is how things are, and that it never changes. We know now that this doesn’t have to be the case. We know now that we can create our own experiences. Let’s make them good ones when it comes to learning.

Leartn more / En savoir plus / Mehr erfahren:

https://gustmees.wordpress.com/2015/07/19/learning-path-for-professional-21st-century-learning-by-ict-practice/

Will classes in curiosity, problem-solving and creative thinking soon be on the curriculum? Our latest report thinks it should.

Learn more / En savoir plus :

https://gustmees.wordpress.com/2014/10/03/design-the-learning-of-your-learners-students-ideas/

https://gustmees.wordpress.com/2016/02/18/the-new-possibilities-to-learn-and-teach-with-ict/

https://gustmees.wordpress.com/2015/12/27/what-are-the-best-ways-of-teaching-and-learning-ideas-and-reflections/

https://gustmees.wordpress.com/2015/12/18/let-us-talk-about-eskills-what-is-it/

This online project will start in September 2017 and finish in April 2018. The project is open to high school students and teachers from all over the world who believe in the power of global connections.Your students need to have communicative competence in English as all the assignments and communication will be conducted in English only.

Objectives

The objective of this project is for high school students and teachers to make international connections with peers and experts from all over the world and to improve their problem solving skills. As we all encounter problems every single day, it is important to know how to solve both easy and  complex problems. In this project, we aim to show our students how to define problems, how to generate evaluate, select and implement solutions. We believe that this skill will be one of the most important ones in the future workplaces.

Upon completion of this project, students will:

• develop an understanding of problem solving

• identify the skills to participate in problem solving

• better understand the SDG ( Sustainable Development Goals) and the challenges in achieving it

• improve their writing, speaking and ICT skills

• meet international students and become a part of a global community

• participate in thought provoking Skype conversations and self –reflection activities that challenge students to investigate global problems

• become competent users of ICT tools in education

• gain a factual knowledge on global problems

• learn to express themselves online

• be challenged to share the information they learn

Upon completion of this project, teachers will be able to:

• connect with educators in other schools
• build their knowledge to feel more confident to teach global content in their classrooms
• design a global learning experience
• develop activities around the SDGs
• improve their ICT skills

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https://gustmees.wordpress.com/2015/07/19/learning-path-for-professional-21st-century-learning-by-ict-practice/

Professor John Hattie gave a keynote presentation on “Collaborative Impact” in front of school leaders and principals at Cognition Education’s “Collaborative Impact: Research & Practice Conference 2017”. Watch the video to get some important updates on the Visible Learning story. 

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http://www.scoop.it/t/21st-century-learning-and-teaching/?&tag=John+HATTIE

http://www.scoop.it/t/21st-century-learning-and-teaching/?&tag=modern-education

Are You Open to Feedback?

Some people avoid feedback like the plague. They think that if they don’t know their flaws, they don’t have any. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that these folks make the same mistakes over and over again. Other people evade constructive feedback by surrounding themselves with yes people. They’d rather receive confirmation of their own ideas than be challenged by opposing views. While that might do wonders for their ego, it does little to advance their cause. The fact is, surrounding yourself with yes people is like talking to yourself.

Feedback should be welcomed rather than feared.

In fact, we should thank folks who make the effort to nurture us with their valuable input –– even if it hurts at times. How do you expect to become a better person if you don’t know where to begin? The truth is, practice doesn’t make perfect if you’re doing it wrong. Feedback enables us to learn about our shortcomings and take corrective action. Don’t bury your head…nourish it. That’s how excellence is born.

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http://www.scoop.it/t/21st-century-learning-and-teaching/?tag=feedback

http://www.scoop.it/t/21st-century-learning-and-teaching/?tag=Coaching

https://gustmees.wordpress.com/2014/01/04/practice-better-ways-to-say-i-dont-know-in-the-classroom/

http://www.scoop.it/t/21st-century-learning-and-teaching/?tag=Criticism

USC Viterbi School of Engineering researchers believe that some of the most complex technologies of our times, such as robotics or cognitive computing, can learn a thing or two from swarms of ants, pigeons and bacteria.

For starters, let’s look at ants. Drop some sugar on the floor and wait. Sooner or later, one or two straggling ants scoping the area will stumble upon it. What happens next is perhaps one of the most elaborate orchestrations of organized teamwork in nature.

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http://www.scoop.it/t/21st-century-learning-and-teaching/?tag=collective+intelligence

that it’s important for young people to become economically independent and self-sufficient. But to do that, he argues, they shouldn’t all learn the same thing. Instead, they should be learning to be adaptable, to be innovative, to flow with change, to collaborate and other globalized skills that will apply to whatever area of work they are passionate about pursuing. An education can help expose students to different life paths and support them in finding their passions, while giving them the transferable skills to attack any problem.

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http://www.scoop.it/t/21st-century-learning-and-teaching/?tag=Sir-Ken-Robinson

When a new push to reframe educator professional development occurs, teachers often ask:

How does the PD help with specific curriculum requirements and standards?
How does it trigger additional professional learning opportunities?
How does it help the students in our classrooms and community?
How does it contribute to connections with other educators?
A collaborative platform that facilitates resource discovery and best practices gives teachers ownership of their own professional development. As personal learning networks expand, teachers achieve more recognition in their school communities and beyond.

Teachers organically organize collaborative environments, often finding one another through one or a number of the hundreds of Twitter chats that occur in any given week, or in locally organized EdCamps that are taking place throughout the globe. Blogs, webinars and conferences are also fruitful environments where educators can share ideas with one another.

Educators are also already taking advantage of the flexibility of online and interactive professional development to interact with peers and design programs based on their own interests. So why not build upon inquiry already taking place through blogs, Twitter chats, digital badges, Slack channels and interactive platforms?

Ultimately, it’s about empowerment and self-discovery through the expansion of personal learning networks, and the ability to blend in voices, concepts and tools from all over the world.

Learn more / En savoir plus / Mehr erfahren:

https://gustmees.wordpress.com/2015/03/15/professional-development-why-educators-and-teachers-cant-catch-up-that-quickly-and-how-to-change-it/

https://gustmees.wordpress.com/2015/03/28/learning-to-learn-for-my-professional-development-i-did-it-my-way/

https://gustmees.wordpress.com/2014/07/10/education-collaboration-and-coaching-the-future/

Current teacher professional development strategies and how they can be leveraged to create a global PD plan.

Learn more / En savoir plus / Mehr erfahren:

https://gustmees.wordpress.com/2016/05/19/a-holistic-view-of-what-will-influence-education-in-the-future/

https://gustmees.wordpress.com/2015/03/15/professional-development-why-educators-and-teachers-cant-catch-up-that-quickly-and-how-to-change-it/

https://gustmees.wordpress.com/2015/03/28/learning-to-learn-for-my-professional-development-i-did-it-my-way/

https://gustmees.wordpress.com/2014/07/10/education-collaboration-and-coaching-the-future/

Our Big List of 21st Century Skills
The Global Digital Citizen Foundation has given hundreds of presentations to educators and administrators in several countries over the years. Each time we’ve spoken, we have asked them what they feel are the most important 21st century skills students need above all others.
The answers that we’ve recieved most often are narrowed down below. This list comes from our book Literacy is Not Enough (Crockett, Lee et. al.; 2011). You’ll be able to see that these points correlate rather well with both the New Zealand’s capabilities list and the IB Learner Profile. They certainly cover the Common Core’s bases, too. It’s good to know we’re all on the same page, isn’t it? That’s great news for our students!
So, according to the folks we’ve asked, the consensus is that students need to acquire transparency-level skills in the following areas:

Problem solving
Creativity
Analytic thinking
Collaboration
Communication
Ethics, action, and accountabillty

Learn more / En savoir plus / Mehr erfahren:

https://gustmees.wordpress.com/2015/05/26/what-are-the-skills-needed-from-students-in-the-future/

https://gustmees.wordpress.com/2016/02/18/the-new-possibilities-to-learn-and-teach-with-ict/

https://gustmees.wordpress.com/2015/07/19/learning-path-for-professional-21st-century-learning-by-ict-practice/

Cornell professor Kathleen O’Connor, who coaches teams on effective collaboration, says that when psychological safety is absent from the workplace, teams lose the individual knowledge and expertise each member brings to the table and begin to experience what is known as the Common Knowledge Effect.

When this effect is at play, says O’Connor, “teams tend to focus on shared information”, and as a result they have “trouble capitalizing on the diversity of knowledge and expertise in the team”. The very same knowledge and expertise those people were recruited for to begin with. This often leads to poor performance, poor decision-making and missed opportunities for innovation.

I have a greater appreciation for the value of cross-sections of teams working on projects together.

Innovation isn't rocket science. It just takes TIME.

If we're inviting people to take risks, we must be disciplined in leaving open space for failure.

One team from FedEx Day documented their collaborative process. You will not be surprised to learn that it involved post-it notes, markers, and...