“For teachers, and schools, and classroom learning, there’s an incredibly important role to play which is about giving kids access across the board to a baseline of standards, literacies, expectations, about what they need to participate in contemporary society…to be reflective, and to also take opportunity of the fact that you really have kids and adults in a shared space that’s safe, that’s sanctioned, that gives an opportunity to reflect in every day life….What we’re saying by valuing informal learning is not that we should abandon formal learning, but that we should get those working together in a much more coordinated way.” – Mimi Ito, Associate Researcher, UC Irvine
The 21st century skills are a set of abilities that students need to develop in order to succeed in the ever changing information age. And acquiring those skills will not happen from a particular task but in the process of daily happenings, learning and other activities that we are a part of.
Here is a list of various key resources that you must check to learn about 21st century skills in education.
Blogs to Follow
P21 is the leading education advocacy organization working with others to fuse 3 R’s & 4 C’s. The P21 Blogazine puts light on the demand of 21st century skills required by those dealing in education community. There are numerous categories from where reader can chose the topic they want to read about.
This community develops K-12 resources that help students and learners succeed. This blog features articles 21st century skills and social-emotional learning and other things that play a key role in 21st century education. Insights come from the teachers, writers, and developers at Thoughtful Learning, who have been creating top-notch instructional materials.
This blog by Jonathan Martin will give you resources on education related stories. Martin is the principal of his educational consulting practice. His mission is to “support educators, schools, districts, and associations in the work of strengthening 21st century teaching, learning, and assessing and in becoming ‘schools of the future.”
4. Global Digital Citizen Foundation
The Global Digital Citizen Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to cultivating responsible, ethical, global citizens for a digital world with a focus on teaching and learning! Follow their blog and learn more about the digital education world of 21st century.
Great blog to keep yourself aware of all the important aspects of 21st century education. Learn from anything to everything from this blog. Emerging technologies, educational reforms, disrupting education, BYOD, flipped classrooms and a lot more!
Categorized into education, k-12, learning and teaching; this is a fresh read by DavidBIE. He is the senior director at the Buck Institution for Education.
7. 21st century educational technology and learning
This is a blog devoted to educators’ intent on infusing technology and 21st century education into the classroom. One of the most reputed blog and has been awarded with 2015 Must Read K-12 IT Blog, Top 50 Education Innovator Award and a lot more.
Infographics
1. Developing 21st Century Critical Thinkers
Critical thinking plays a key role when we talk about dealing and leading in 21st century in every aspect of life. The info graphic is a great representation of how this skill can be achieved and what all comprise under this one skill.
2. Morphing into a 21st Century Educator
A great representation of that talks of teaching not only in terms of using technology but adding even more to it.
3. Top 10 skills for 21st Century Worker
This infographic by University of Phoenix details the Top 10 skills needed to succeed in the 21st Century workplace, as well as some insight on how best to acquire them. Take a look and see if your coursework, extra-curricular activities, internships and volunteer assignments are helping you develop these must-have skills.
4. Media Competencies for Teachers
Social Networking is the game changer in the coming time. Use of social media is much more beneficial than just staying in touch. Various social media platforms are helping individuals grow in their professional circles. They get to connect, explore and grow via social media. This infographic talks about top 10 social media competencies for the teachers of 21st century.
5. How Digital Learning Contribute to Deeper Learning
This is a fantastic infographic that shows hoe students are taking on new roles that are pushing traditional boundaries of learning and how digitization can help them excel at it.
Articles
This post asks us to explore the concept of intelligence more broadly, especially given the importance that intelligence has on life outcomes. The author emphasizes the importance of creative problem solving, or flexible thinking, and the ability to teach this skill in the classroom. Note that Mindprint does assess flexible thinking, but that the research is inconclusive on to what extent this skill, like all cognitive skills, can be taught.
2. Inquiry learning v/s standardized content: can they coexist?
This article provides excellent “food for thought” about how education needs to evolve in the digital age and provides suggestions for educators to begin to make that leap.
This 14-point list from Teach Thought is prefaced by explaining that although every child learns differently, most have the same basic needs to be successful. The article stresses on the fact that every child learns differently and hence we need to adopt different ways of teaching to make efficient learning happen.
4. 15 Characteristics of a 21st Century Educator
A great read that will help you understand the role and characteristics of an educator in a better way to lead in 21st century and make learning for students better, effective and efficient.
5. 13 Essential 21st Century Skills for Today’s Students
The article talks how only integrating technology doesn’t satisfy the requirements of 21st century teaching-learning needs and the skills. Other critical skills for success mentioned include leadership, social responsibility and ethics, information literacy and more.
6. Why We Need to Teach 21st Century Skills—And How to Do It
Keeping in mind the current scenario and the presence of web in kid’s lives; Information, media literacy, and communication skills add to the most important skills that need to be addressed in the 21st century. The article focuses on: Thinking and problem solving, Interpersonal, collaborative, and self-direction skills, Global awareness, Economic and business literacy, including entrepreneurial skills and Civic literacy.
7. How do you define 21st Century Skills?
This article will give you the viewpoint of a range of education experts who define 21st-century learning from their own perspectives.
8. ONE SIZE DOES NOT FIT ALL: The need of variety in learning
This article highlights how students need different approaches to learning for two primary reasons. The first is that “one size does not fit all” and children learn better from different approaches. The second is highlighted by a metaphor: just as we best maintain physical health through a variety of foods and exercises, we need a variety of learning opportunities and subjects to optimize learning.
Reports & Videos on the next page..
