“Students today depend on paper too much. They don’t know how to write on a slate without getting chalk dust all over themselves. They can’t clean a slate properly. What will they do when they run out of paper?” –Principal’s Association, 1815 1, 2
“Students today depend upon store bought ink. They don’t know how to make their own. When they run out of ink they will be unable to write words or ciphers until their next trip to the settlement. This is a sad commentary on modern education.” –The Rural American Teacher 1928 1,2
by Chris Wondra, WTWL Editor
The problem with blind spots is that you don’t know you’ve got them. I mean, it’s obvious to us today that students weren’t going to need a slate or homemade ink in order to be successful.
But imagine living in that time. There was no way those people could have foreseen the changes that make us snicker at those statements today. Might we also be clinging to faulty beliefs about what will make our students successful? If so, how do we identify them? How do we differentiate between the beliefs that are no longer relevant and need to go, and the ones that are and we need to keep? What skills and content are we teaching that will be irrelevant in five years? What tools are we still using that are already outdated?
And how can we possibly determine that?
Out with the old, in with the new
As a quick exercise, take a part of your curriculum, any part, and imagine for a moment that it’s totally irrelevant to our students’ realities in the 21st century. Then make a bold and crazy statement–or two. I’m an English teacher. Let me start.
- The traditional research paper in English classrooms is dead.
- So is the traditional works cited or bibliography–you know, that MLA or APA formatted way of documenting your sources.
In some districts, those two statements would probably be grounds for my dismissal. But we’re all friends here. So let’s just play around with this for a while.
The research paper: A closer look
Why do we have students write research papers in the first place? Why include a works cited? Well, we assign the paper to instruct and assess skills and knowledge related to researching, organizing, analyzing, and synthesizing information. We have students include a works cited to show that they’re not just making stuff up as they go along. But works cited and bibliographies also serve two other important purposes:
- They give credit for ideas, and
- they point us in the direction of those ideas–so that interested readers can follow up and learn more.
Organizing, analyzing, synthesizing, writing, and attributing ideas are valuable skills. So what could possibly be wrong with the research paper?
The problem is two fold:
- If we want to read some of the sources, we have to do more work. We have to order a book, go to a library, find a specific journal, magazine, or article. This takes effort. But perhaps, more importantly . . .
- This takes time.
What would happen instead, if we assigned students a research blog or asked them to collaborate on a research wiki? Like this.
Couldn’t they then simply link to the actual source that they used, and/or help the reader along by linking to a definition for potentially confusing terms or concepts (as I did above)? Doing so simplifies the whole process by attributing, defining, and also actually supplying the source of the ideas referenced.
Yes, I know. Sometimes that’s not entirely possible. One can’t always link to an entire book or periodical. Alas, not everything is on-line and free. But we can still link to a listing of the book on Amazon.com, an author page, or biography. So we can get pretty close–much closer than a properly formatted APA citation.
So, in comparing this approach to the traditional research paper: What skills are we missing? Nothing. We’ve enhanced it. We’ve taken the research paper and made it better, faster and stronger.
But that’s not all . . .
Perhaps the most glaring weakness with the traditional research paper is who has access to it. If the topic and writing is truly relevant, aren’t they also potentially valuable to greater audiences? And isn’t that audience’s feedback also valuable?
Today’s tools make all this possible in ways we couldn’t imagine as recently as five years ago.
So is the traditional research paper, in fact, going the way of the slate and homemade ink? I’m pretty sure it is.
And if that’s the case, and we’re still attached to the research paper (and we are), to what else might we teachers be clinging?
And how can we possibly know?
We can’t. But I think we can shine a little light in this darkness by asking ourselves two basic questions:
- What will the future look like? and,
- How do I prepare my students for that?
The engine of change revs to exponential speeds
If Karl Fisch and Scott McLeod are right:
- there are five times as many words in the English language than when Shakespeare lived, and
- the amount of technical information we have available to us is now doubling every 72 hours.
We think we’re supposed to know what our students need to thrive in the 21st century? C’mon. Let’s get real.
These kids are going to have fourteen jobs, many of which don’t even exist today, before 
they turn thirty-four. How do you prepare students for jobs that don’t yet exist, using technologies that haven’t been invented, to solve problems that we don’t even know are problems yet? How can we–how can they–possibly plan for that?
We can’t. They can’t.
The bottom line (and perhaps most important reality to consider) is that the rate of change is accelerating exponentially. We can’t possibly keep up. Ergo we can’t plan. Apple or PC? Explorer or Firefox? Google or Yahoo? Photoshop or Fireworks? A blog or a wiki? Ford or Chevy? It doesn’t matter. Today’s standards will not survive the night. Tomorrow will be completely different. By the time these kids hit the job market, we’ll be snickering at questions like these.
In fact, somebody somewhere is probably snickering already. The cost to communicate has fallen through the floor and the speed to do so has gone through the roof. This creates a whole new world. A flat one. Ideas, collaboration and creativity no longer have borders. Technology is removing the traditional constraints that used to slow progress. Today, our students can collaborate in real time, with information and people half way around the world, to solve problems, create solutions and to change everything.
We don’t know what, and we don’t know when. All we can be assured of is that, eventually, everything will change—again. And again. And again. It’s time to face the music. We can’t possibly plan for that. That’s the bad news. Welcome to the 21st century.
The Good News
The good news is that we can coordinate like never before.
Let me explain.
Remember what it was like a few years ago, before we all had cell phones, when you had to pick someone up at the airport? Remember what had to take place in order for that to happen? Lots of planning. You had to consider where the baggage was. You had to get there early to park the car. You had to meet at a prearranged time and place. And hope the plane was on time.
You don’t have to do any of that now. Just check the flight schedules on-line, and have your party call you when they land. If the flight’s late, run a few errands. If it’s early, just pick them up outside. Figure it out on the fly. No planning. Just coordination.
Now, with cell phones, it makes more sense to just wing it. Flight schedules change, baggage takes time to pickup, stuff happens. But now we can adjust on the fly. It’s easy to just roll with it.
Preparing our students for their futures is a bit like using our cell phones to coordinate an airport pick-up.
Successfully navigating the chaos of the pace of 21st century change will not require our students to know how to use today’s technology. It will not require them to plan very far ahead. It will, however, require them to connect to people and information and be able to create and collaborate in real time–on the fly.
It will require that they be able to “roll with it.” To “wing it.” To improvise.
Think of life in the 21st century as improvising in a jazz quartet. You never know exactly what’s coming, so you can’t plan too far ahead. Still, it’s not chaos. You are connected to the other players through the structure of the music. The notes of the piece flow from a combination of that structure and the harmony of your collaboration and creativity.
Our job as teachers is to show students what is possible within the structure of our time and space, an how to coordinate information and people in ways that create music with our lives . . .
. . .and then to dance.
Your Turn
Reflect on your beliefs and add your thoughts in the comment section below:
- What skills and concepts are you teaching that will help students be successful in the fast paced changes of the 21st century?
- If the “Research Paper” is going the way of the Cuckoo, what are some other instructional techniques/strategies/tools that might soon be outdated, or look very different in the near future?
- Sometimes the more things change, the more things stay the same. So what essential understanding are you teaching today that won’t change in the 21st century. What do you believe will stay the same?
Source of quotes:
1. Thornburg, David. Edutrends 2010: Restructuring, Technology, and the Future of Education. Starsong Publications, 1992. (link)
2. To see additional statements read and scroll to the bottom of this article .
Related posts:
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- The Library of Congress is Using Flickr: Shouldn’t Teachers?
- Best practice: new standards for teaching and learning in America’s schools.
- The Future of Productivity
- Online literacy and new literacy
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36 Comments
The skills and concepts that I try to teach to my elementary learners is how to think. I believe that instead of telling them what to learn and what they should study we need to teach them the basics of how to think and make good choices in life. There are many changes coming in the world and we need to be ready and flexible to always keep learning.
Other tools that will be outdated shortly are teaching from a basil. Many verteran teachers are stuck to teaching from the basil which does not let them or their students branch off to any creativity. In our district right now they are already cutting social studies and science curriculums to make more time for reading and writing. Without social studies we will have no common knowledge on our important past and with out science we will miss out on how to explore and experience hands on learning.
I believe that students will always need to read and write. They are going to have to pick up a book and be tested on fluency and comprehension. They will need to know how to write the basic essentials of a story in the elementary level.
• What skills and concepts are you teaching that will help students be successful in the fast paced changes of the 21st century?
The skills/concepts that I am using are limited when dealing with technology of computers (power point and word documents only). When it comes to web 2.0 or communicating on the web I have not included this in my classes at this time.
• If the “Research Paper” is going the way of the Cuckoo, what are some other instructional techniques/strategies/tools that might soon be outdated, or look very different in the near future?
I feel that books in general will be out of date in the near future. Libraries will soon be all virtual and there may be no library to check books out any longer. Videos will be the same way of a download.
• Sometimes the more things change, the more things stay the same. So what essential understanding are you teaching today that won’t change in the 21st century. What do you believe will stay the same?
I feel that fitness will be something that changes, but will for the most part be the same when it comes to staying active is some way to keep a healthy heart and body.
In Physics, I teach my students about the basic principles of how these different technologies currently work and about how future technologies might work. Topics like Electricity and Magnetism can produce a lot more interest from students when they think about the future and relate it to the fast paced changes brought on by the 20th century. I think that by helping students realize the existence of change and the accompanying cultural change, students are better prepared for the future.
In Physics, I sometimes wonder if basic calculations will be gone completely and replaced by computer or calculator in the future. We spend a lot of time doing problem solving including the use of basic equations and units. I wonder if this will disappear soon and be replaced by online or software calculation forms.
Reading and writing are extremely important. Any new technology is going to require the ability to participate in writing activities or a discussion. Vocabulary and media will definitely change, though, as time goes by. The skills should remain largely the same.
Many of the skills that I teach in my special education classroom are applicable to real life. We of course work on reading, writing and math, but we also work on life skills such as cooking, working money, social skills as well as job skills. I try to make the things that we do as close to real-life as possible. The students that I teach are very literal and need work on real life situations.
As far as tools that will be outdated, are the paper and pencil rut of life. I see so many teachers that have to have pencil and paper work. Will cursive stick around or will keyboarding classes become the norm of grades 3-5. Yes, penmanship will still exist, but to what degree?
I believe that teaching creativity and self-confidence will be the foundation of our future. We need to continue to teach science and social students as well as other subject areas too. If we can get these kids to believe in themselves along with the basic skills (reading, math and writing) we can create a future where learning will be initated by the students instead of the teachers.
What skills and concepts are you teaching that will help students be successful in the fast paced changes of the 21st century?
A recent poll of fortune 500 companies done in Fortune Magazine listed the most vital skills for todays youth in our world of tomorrow. They are the ability to collaborate, work as a team member, understand and respect for culture, versitile language ability, and organization and technology skills. I do my best to focus on these skills in my classroom. Students my work in groups to solve complex problems, they need to understand how culture shapes our world and how they can contribute positively to it.
If the “Research Paper” is going the way of the Cuckoo, what are some other instructional techniques/strategies/tools that might soon be outdated, or look very different in the near future?
Worksheets and memorization work will fall be the way side. Students instead need to be pointed to valid resouces to gather information if and when they need it. They also need a variety of mediums (software, technology, etc. to present info other than a “research paper”.
Sometimes the more things change, the more things stay the same. So what essential understanding are you teaching today that won’t change in the 21st century. What do you believe will stay the same?
I believe the ability to adapt and solve problems, as well as work with others in a global society will not change. I believe those to be vital skills throughout the 21st Century.
• What skills and concepts are you teaching that will help students be successful in the fast paced changes of the 21st century?
I am trying to incorporate these very ideas into my teaching. So far we have done things like saving in more than one place (i.e. on a server, to a flash drive, or via email to ourselves) but now I realize there are even more possibilities. Showing the students multiple ways to do something will help them become flexible learners who can adapt as technology changes.
• If the “Research Paper” is going the way of the Cuckoo, what are some other instructional techniques/strategies/tools that might soon be outdated, or look very different in the near future?
Using Wikis to show research could be a very real possibility. Once students put their initial thoughts and research online, the world-wide community can come and participate in adding to their research. In addition, the way students research has already changed; online data bases, resources, blogs, and videos are more and more popular in gathering information.
• Sometimes the more things change, the more things stay the same. So what essential understanding are you teaching today that won’t change in the 21st century. What do you believe will stay the same?
Students will aways need to read, write and do arithmetic to survive. However, the way they do this learning and show this learning is what will change. Just as the opening quotes showed us, education–and the tools we use for learning–are always changing!
My students are exposed to a variety of technologies in my classroom. From smartboards to blogs and wikis I try and include digital assignments as much as possible. In addition, my focus on world cultures has helped my students gain insight into a global society and realize that as the information age grows the world shrinks. While the “research paper” may be going Cuckoo, “Research” is far from flying way. Students will find new and innovative ways to synthisize information through various technologies to gather info and reach conclusions. In today’s world information is everywhere so it still is vary important to site sources and test them for validity prior to use. I believe that the 21st century will have a few common themes, first, students will continue to communicate on a global level which puts greater emphasis on language and culture. In addition, students will still need to collaborate and work with others to be successful so whether it’s technology communication or face to face, our young people need communication skills.
The methods I use in my classroom seem terribly outdated and I’m not sure I’m teaching the skills that I want my kids to learn before they leave high school. I dabble with the smartboard allow the students to play around with technology, but the nexus to developing lifelong skills is sorely lacking. Much like the research paper, I think the tradtional library may become extinct in the near future. Think of the number of kids who turn to reference books to gather information vs. utilizing online tools available to them. I’m not so sure most kidseven realize an encylopedia exists in paper form. The essential things that I’m teaching today that I think will remain the same is humans tell their own history, and that history can be written and described from many viewpoints. Much like the Web 2.0 technologies, the key is to collect and analyse all the small pieces of the puzzle and construct your own version of the truth.
I think the biggest thing try to teach my students to prepare them for the next phase of our society is to think and to problem solve. If you don’t know the answer to something, what resources are available to you? Where can you go to collaborate or ask questions? What examples exist for you to model yourself and/or your problem after? what questions haven’t you addressed that may help you look at your situation or problem in a different way? These questions are the backbone in my classroom. I always tell kids, “ask three before me.” This encourages them to seek out answers and challenge their own ways of thinking instead of taking the easy way out. I think this skill set, coupled with organization, is key to success as a student and as an adult; especially in an ever changing world.
For me, the traditional forms of education are on their way out. Meaning, a teacher preaching to their students simply isn’t a successful form of education. I think kids today are so incredible visual and body-kinesthetic that taking a traditional approach to presenting material in the classroom simply doesn’t work for the majority of students and it can make classroom management challenging.
I think on aspect of what we teach students today that will never change is the social aspect of our world. In other-words, their will always be a natural social “rules” we will have to follow; things like being prompt, being responsible, meeting deadlines, etc. No matter what form or face our business and economic and educational world may take, these pillars won’t shift; and if they do, it won’t be by much. In addition to this, I think the basics of our educational subjects isn’t likely to change for quite sometime. I think our core contents will continue to be seen as the most valuable aspects of our educational system and our standardized testing.
It honestly scares me to think about the skills and experiences my students will need to have in order to be successful as they enter the work force; the very skills and experiences they should have started receiving yesterday but won’t be introduced to for months or even years from now. As teachers, it is our ultimate goal to prepare our students for life in the real world, whether it be in a postsecondary institution or in a job out of high school. With technology changing faster than we can keep up with, teachers need to be advocating for our students so they can benefit from as many experiences as possible with technology, as often as possible, and as early in their education as possible. Although students will always have to read, write, and do math, and schools will always teach the skills and concepts of these areas, I think it’s just as important to introduce our students to the global experiences they need. For example, we must expose them to various world languages, such as Mandarin Chinese. Teachers need to provide students with learning opportunities where they can communicate, collaborate, debate, and solve real-life problems with their peers inside, and out, of their own classroom walls. We need our students to be flexible and innovative thinkers who are willing to take risks, think outside the box, and embrace new technology. Doing so will help to prepare our students for our ever-changing global world that depends on effectively and efficiently utilizing technology.
What skills and concepts are you teaching that will help students be successful in the fast paced changes of the 21st century?
I truely believe that the most important skills that are needed to be successful are going to be in the same as they are now, Im not talking technology or computers (both very important tools for being successful) but we need to be teach people how to be good people, how to work as a team (like Lancer stated). We need the basic understanding of how to live a healthy life. Teaching students how to live healthy and be active is what I focus on and I hope to include technology as part of this learning in the near future.
If the “Research Paper” is going the way of the Cuckoo, what are some other instructional techniques/strategies/tools that might soon be outdated, or look very different in the near future?
Im not sure how to answer this question because I don’t do many research papers in class or for myself. The one thing that I do see changing is the library system. People are not drawn to go to the library and get their information, the first thing people do is research on line and then if they cant find it go other places. So in my opinion we will see a major change in the way libraries look.
Sometimes the more things change, the more things stay the same. So what essential understanding are you teaching today that won’t change in the 21st century. What do you believe will stay the same?
Like I said in my opening remarks, we need to make sure we are developing “good people” you cant always get the personal interaction with technology or the web. So I guess Im teaching people how to live healthy, active lives. The basics of this wont change but I believe that the way I teach it will change to better my students understanding of the human body and how it truly works.
• What skills and concepts are you teaching that will help students be successful in the fast paced changes of the 21st century?
In my Technology Education courses, I try to teach the students the skills that they need to acomplish anything. Who really needs to know how to build a rocket? Who needs to know how to make a wooden car that goes 40+ mph? The point of the activities that I do is not to teach them what is on the face of the project, but what is inside. In the process they learn how to do technical reading and writing, they problem solve, the do math, they have to. I think that the basic skills that are being taught could be applied to anything in the future.
• If the “Research Paper” is going the way of the Cuckoo, what are some other instructional techniques/strategies/tools that might soon be outdated, or look very different in the near future?
The overhead is gone, Know anyone who needs 90 boat anchors? I have only been a teacher for 3 years but I have already seen my share of changes. As society and students change, we need to change with them. Kids get bored with old technology so we bring in new tech. to peak their interests. Smart boards replace the overhead, e-mail and networks replace mid-terms. With podcasts and other video sharing, how long is it before teaching a subject is obsolete? I have been asked to record all of my lessons to be used with podcasts, but then why would I be needed?
• Sometimes the more things change, the more things stay the same. So what essential understanding are you teaching today that won’t change in the 21st century. What do you believe will stay the same?
People will always need to know how to solve problems. No matter what it is that comes along, a problem will always come up, it will need to be solved, and that is what I try to focus on in my classroom.
• What skills and concepts are you teaching that will help students be successful in the fast paced changes of the 21st century?
I want my students to come out of my classes with mathematical “habits of mind” instead of only content knowledge. It’s something I continue to work on. For the majority of students, it’s much more beneficial and relevant to learn effective problem solving skills . These skills would include: formulating/addressing problems, retrieving data, filtering and prioritizing data, planning, rewording, implementing strategies, verifying results, etc. Most students will forget how to factor a trinomial. But while factoring won’t be relevant to most people, thinking and problem solving will be.
• If the “Research Paper” is going the way of the Cuckoo, what are some other instructional techniques/strategies/tools that might soon be outdated, or look very different in the near future?
Like others have said, rote memorization and regurgitation of content should start to minimize. As a math teacher there are many problems that computers do a much better job at than humans: arithmetic, solving a quadratic, finding a derivative or integral, or finding a confidence interval. Should students not be required to perform these tasks? Probably not, but the curriculum will need to continue shifting its focus.
• Sometimes the more things change, the more things stay the same. So what essential understanding are you teaching today that won’t change in the 21st century. What do you believe will stay the same?
- Higher-order thinking skills. (Something we’re better at than computers)
- Working with and collaborating with others. (Since we are increasingly being connected to the world)
- Organizing, filtering, analyzing, and verifying data. (Google indexes more than a trillion urls, all available at anyone’s fingertips.)
What skills and concepts are you teaching that will help students be successful in the fast paced changes of the 21st century?
I try to create an environment in my classroom where students have to collaborate and communicate effectively to solve problems. No matter what new gadget is available to get those things done, I believe those skills will always be vital to be a successful member of society. I use a concept based approach to teaching chemistry, so that students aren’t just plugging numbers into a formula. I want my students to be able to think through problems and understand why they are solving them.
If the “Research Paper” is going the way of the Cuckoo, what are some other instructional techniques/strategies/tools that might soon be outdated, or look very different in the near future?
I agree that books will definitely be obsolete, therefore libraries will have to change the way they do business. Eventually I think we will live in a virtually paperless society where everything is sent through e-mail, texts, etc. And without question rote memorization is definitely a skill of the past with the endless amount of information available at our fingertips.
Sometimes the more things change, the more things stay the same. So what essential understanding are you teaching today that won’t change in the 21st century. What do you believe will stay the same?
As mentioned above I believe that critical thinking, problem solving, communicating and collaborating with others are skills that will never change. Also being organized and responsible are lifelong qualities that are important whether in your personal life or being able to sift through all of the knowledge available on-line in your professional life.
As I read this article again, I find myself asking this question: Are these 21st Century skills something that we DO need to assess in some fashion (Heidi brought up standards at one point in class today). I’ve always had the frame of mind that these Web 2.0 technologies and collaborative/social networking communities were tools that could lead to new ways of assessing the objectives we already have, but after reading some of your reflections tonight, I’m left pondering all over again. Any ideas? Any comments? Feel free to share in addition to the prompts Chris has asked for us to contemplate – and thanks for your contributions!
What skills and concepts are you teaching that will help students be successful in the fast paced changes of the 21st century?
I sort of dislike this question because it makes me feel that what I am teaching is useless. I know it isn’t but I can’t help but wonder….why am I teaching a certain way and what are my students really getting out of it? My students always ask me “When will I ever use this?” I know I have to teach to my curriculum because of the standards and benchmarks I need to meet for AYP and so on but I do feel like i am doing a disservice to these students. I would love to implement more technology such as wiki pages or podcasts but first I need to learn it myself and second I would need the resources to do it and currently my school doesn’t have it. I love learning about these new ideas and I think ” This is amazing I can’t wait to try this” but How? A lot of my students do not have the resources either and therefore I wouldn’t be able to implement the technology I would like to. How do I get past this? Perhaps just becoming more aware of what is out there and collaborating with colleagues could help spread the word and get the resources more assessable to us.
Going back to the beginning of the question before I went off on a tangent….I do believe that students still need some of the basics (especially in math, my area) before you can start to branch off and start to use wiki pages and such. I need to make sure that I am teaching to my students for the test scores still but at the same time make it relevant and right now relevant means using technology that they are familiar with. I am hoping I will be more comfortable with it so I educate others in a new way that is useful in the 21st century.
-My students are tech savvy. They can text behind their back, fix a computer melt-down, hack around the school firewall, and “game” (is that the term?) with kids across the country. My students may just be the poster children for the new up-and-coming “stuff” of the 21st century, but many students are not prepared for it.
Despite how “connected” they may be or how “up-to-date” their new toys are, they are missing the big picture. As a geography teacher, I have started to see a trend, students think inside a bubble, one which is often outlined by town limits or the Canadian and Mexican border. To be successful in the 21st century my students are going to have to start thinking outside the bubble and see the global future.
Change in the 21st century is going to be rampant because the world is now interconnected as never before, there will be connections between people, communities, countries, and cultures. These connections will inevitably shape our future. I try to challenge my students to start thinking globally, to recognize their responsibility and role within the global community, and to see the possibilities of what a global future might mean for themselves, their community, and the world at large.
I think more and more schools will start going paperless. The use of online-learning and assessments will take the place of the traditional paper/pencil approach. The overhead, VHS players, and that little box that could project your computer to a T.V. (whatever that’s called) will be harder and harder to find. I think those small hand-held white boards will be replaced by Audience Response Systems.
Essential understandings that will stay the same….how to learn, how to problem solve, how to be independent thinkers and how to make wise thought-out decisions, how to be responsible and engaged citizens in their local and global community.
* What skills and concepts are you teaching that will help students be successful in the fast paced changes of the 21st century?
I have been working at teaching students critical thinking skills. I try to get students to look at information, process/analyze/synthesize it, and eventually create meaning and original thought. I want students to formulate opinion but have it based on credible information. In the past, some of this is done through the mentioned research paper. I see tremendous value in staying that course. I feel the web 2.0 technologies will be a great asset in teaching these skills. One of the greatest strengths of web 2.0 is its relevance. It is the world they are operating in. Now lets get them to look at that world and all of the information in it in a more academic way.
* If the “Research Paper” is going the way of the Cuckoo, what are some other instructional techniques/strategies/tools that might soon be outdated, or look very different in the near future?
Maybe I will be outdated! I would hate for this to be the case, but it seems education is losing that human contact. To a point it is, but it still takes that facilitating body to guide the learning process. I think this is a good thing as teachers, textbooks, and tradition take a back seat and allow student discovery and learning to thrive.
When I started teaching I was the marvel of my school as I was one of a very few who could put together a power point presentation. I feel that sort of instruction will leave. Lecture and other teacher-centered approaches will need to step aside. Again, there is a place for it, but in this new dynamic information age we are kidding ourselves if we think we are the source of all relevant information.
* Sometimes the more things change, the more things stay the same. So what essential understanding are you teaching today that won’t change in the 21st century. What do you believe will stay the same?
Responsibility – you have a task and you need to follow through and complete it.
Critical Thinking – the more information that is out there and the more people that have access to publish information, we need to be able to filter, analyze, and evaluate.
Communication – although the way we communicate to others is changing from year to year, the skills on proper communication, and etiquette will always be valued. Whether it is public speaking (who would ever find value in that?) or writing, or power point, or blogging, or tweeting, or morse code, whatever… there is a need to gain the skill set in the various avenues. This skill is valuable to all students.
I think the standards do need to be adjusted. If the research is clear that students need these skills as adults, they should be included in our standards. I’m not sure what technology standards are already in existence, but they no doubt need to be updated.
I think it would be tough to assess these skills because they are always changing. For example, we couldn’t say “Students will be able to create a wiki” because in a few months, wikis may be outdated. Keeping standards more general “Students will be knowledgable about creating online content” is very subjective and doesn’t really help guide teachers. As individual teachers we can set goals for ourselves and our classes that match what we are trying to accomplish in class; this way we won’t be doing technology just to do it, but that it will be used in a real-life way for students.
Jeff,
Some teachers grade research skills. Some teachers grade typing. Some teachers grade students on how they hold a pencil. Web 2.0 is a tool much like the tools I mentioned earlier. There seems to be a skill set that students need to function in the web 2.0 environment. They should probably be assessed. In order for students to learn the lesson objectives and content, they need the skills. Sometimes we take it for granted that students will fall in line and easily operate in this new environment. It would be good to categorize students who struggle in this environment and meet the need as we see it.
Students love technology & in physical education the tools that we do use are heart rate monitors, pedometers, and fitness equipment that has heart rate monitor capability. The down side to this technology is that it is expensive to purchase and expensive to maintain. As is true in most cases in our schools, the number of students outnumber the technology and resources available due to budget limitations.
In response to Mr. Ayer’s comment
As a Tech. Ed. teacher, I initially found it hard to justify what I was teaching to my students. Like I said in my previous post, “Who really needs to know how to build a rocket?…” My coworkers still spend most of their time teaching the details of how to use specific technologies that will probably be obsolete in a few years. In discussions, they tell me that “We are technology teachers so this is what we should teach.” In one way, I can agree because it is so much easier to assess if they know how to use a particular piece of a program. On the other hand, what are we preparing them for? In my first three years, I slowly made a shift from teaching the technology to teaching an understanding of concepts behind the technology and how to teach it to themselves The problem that I have now is accountability. It is very difficult to assess whether or not a student can solve complex problems and conuct the needed research to figure it out… in eight days of class especially.
Grading how a student uses a tool is much more difficult than grading a final project. In my woodshop, I know that the students can use the traditional tools, but I need to grade based upon final outcomes and imply the understanding of and use of the tools through that. How can we set up standards of technology use when they are so difficult to assess directly?
Matt,
I am not a math teacher – so I may be in left field here. You mention that computers do a lot of work for us and that much of the math curriculum could go. Doesn’t math build on itself. I fear that higher order math, critical thinking, and problem solving would be compromised if we don’t build a solid foundation. Help me understand. I am only teach social studies.
Lacy,
After reading your comment to the article it makes me realize that we need to prepare quickly for our students’ futures. As teachers we need to be taking classes each year to keep up with the new technology and how to excel our students for today’s world. As their future jobs are not even created yet we still need to be teaching them the everyday essentials on how to make it through life such as: wisdom, responsibility, respect, time management and other important roles like these. I do believe though that we need to be advocating for our students and pushing ourselves to be learning these new concepts as well.
I think that because our society places such emphasis on standards and testing, we might as well add technology skills to our standards for assessment. In doing so, I believe that more people (non-educators) will see the value in having students become technologically savvy and be more willing so support more technology programs in schools.
Lancer, you really had a thoughtful answer to things that will be staying the same in our global society. I wish you would have gone into greater detail with your answer, but would love to have a discussion with you about these possibly staying the same or changing slightly. When it comes to the research papers, I am interested to hear your thoughts on what we can or will use instead of the paper style. Will it be via blogs, video, songs, or other type of memorable virtual presentations? I feel this is very interesting and a man with your knowledge may be able to give me greater insight on these topics!
Response to assessment and 21st century skills:
If web2.0 and 21st century skills is the future it makes sense to assess students on those skills, to an extent. I think this will become more and more important as higher education institutuions/businesses start implementing these types of technologies and our goal as educators is to prepare our students for the next “leg” of their journey. However, the focus still needs to be on the learning not the technology.
Justin,
Today’s youth are truly blessed to have you in thier lives. Your dedication to our profession is inspiring to PE/Health teachers everywhere. I am interested to see how your backward design volleyball unit turns out and if you put it on your Wiki. Will you have an overhand serve target test? Anyway, I agree with your insight as it relates to Web 2.0 Technologies and can only hope that our paths cross again in the future. Maybe I will get lucky and we can chat on a blog!
C U in Cyberspace
I agree with Lacy when it comes to being scared for our students as they enter the work force. As a parent, I am fearful of my own child(ren) as they enter school. I will need to learn more and more to keep my students and chidren up to date with the latest technological advances. What will the future be asked to do? What will they be asked to know? It is a constantly changing world where we need to be researching and learning the latest skill. Thinking “outside the box” will be the expectation of our students.
Cara, I was reading your comments and I realised that I agree with you fully, our students need to be able to problem solve by themselves, our students feel like when a problem arises that someone/something will fix it, and they dont try to solve the problem themselves. Our students today have so much more then we ever did but he lack of motivation and desire to work hard is lacking. As far as collaboration, their is no replacement for human interaction. We just have to adapt our teaching to allow for the “gadgets” to be tools for student success.
Brooke,
I completely agree that as Special Education teachers, we have to focus on the enduring understanding and most critical content to cover with our students for the sake of time. We continually think long-term about the skills and strategies that our students with disabilities will need to have in place as they enter the real world. We work on developing self-determination and self-advocacy skills so that our students have the confidence to apply the knowledge they are learning in school, whether it be reading, writing, math, social skills, cooking, cleaning, etc. The best way we can teach these skills effectively to our students so that they will understand and eventually apply their knowledge in real life is to simulate real life problems and experiences throughout the learning and assessment process across all content areas. I think utilizing technology plays an incredible role in how we can be teaching our students these skills because they are intrigued by it and have a desire to want to participate in it. It can offer endless possibilities for accommodating the needs of our students (typing is often faster, neater, and more accurate than handwriting a paper and following along with auditory text online allows the student to raise comprehension more so than trying to read grade level text on their own). Our students typically shy away from learning experiences due to a lack of confidence, but technology has the potential to open the doors for more comfortable and successful learning experiences in school for students who have disabilities.
Critical thinking and problem solving seems to be a reaccuring theme throughout these posts. And, I mentioned it as well. When we think about how educaion evolves and where we want education to head, I trully feel it needs to be centered around giving our students the necessary skills to think on their own, to respond to both current and future problems, to reason, and to innovate. And I think a huge part of this will stem from our ability to incorporate technology into the classroom.
As far as assessing web 2.0 skills, I think that it won’t be necessary. For most students, just using these technologies will be a huge motivation factor. If a student doesn’t know how to edit a wiki page, they will quickly figure it out by asking the teacher or classmate and fix the problem. Therefore I think it will be very easy for a teacher to informally assess these 2.0 skills.
The only thing that the teacher will need to monitor is proper digital etiquette. Digital citizenship will be something that needs to be talked about and modeled on a continual basis. As far as a grade of some sort, students merely participating in a blog discussion “properly” could count for some sort of participation grade.
William,
You are right, the beautiful thing about math is that it builds on itself. I didn’t mean to say much of the math curriculum could be thrown out. What I am saying is this mathematical “structure” can be built higher and become more elaborate. However, assessing some of the mathematical skills can be minimized or eliminated.
For example, if calculators were never invented, then it would be important for teachers to assess students making accurate pencil/paper calculations. A lot of time would need to be spent practicing these skills. Now, we don’t need to spend as much time on these topics. We want students to understand the concept of addition/multiplication and be able to “do” these calculations but the calculator can handle the majority of the nitty/gritty calculations. Then we can build on these skills more rapidly and build a bigger and higher “structure” which lead to these higher order thinking skills. I hope that made sense.
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