EDLT 610 Group 1 Presentation august 30 2010

21 st Century LearningDiscussion Group 1 : 

21 st Century LearningDiscussion Group 1 Gwendolyn Perea-Warniment Jesse Longhurst Samah Gamar

Introduction : 

Introduction Section One Driving Questions What aspects characterize the Knowledge Age? What objectives has education attempted to meet throughout history? What new roles should education and learning be playing during this early stage of the Knowledge Age? What are the forces converging on education today? What are the current change resisting forces? What type of learning meets the challenges of the 21st century and the current Knowledge Age?

Section One Summary (1) : 

Section One Summary (1) Chapter 1: Learning Past and Future 1991 marked the instigation of a Knowledge Age economy. This era is characterized by: record expenditures on the making, manipulation, management, and movement of information a shift from a manufacturing economy to one based on data, information, knowledge and expertise a highly interlinked global financial and economic ecosystem increasing disparity between the privileged and the less privileged increased consumption of natural resources leading to an environment threatened by global warming and depleting life-support systems

Section One Summary (2) : 

Section One Summary (2) Chapter 1: Learning Past and Future Students graduating from secondary schools are not proficient in the following essential 21st Century skills: Oral and written communications Critical thinking and problem solving Professionalism and work ethic Teamwork and collaboration Working in diverse teams Applying technology Leadership and project management This skills gap is costly for nations who strive to establish and maintain competitive economies. Associated problems include: shortage of highly skilled employees capable of creative thinking and problem-solving because highly trained workers are scarce $$$ spent training underskilled workers

Section One Summary (3) : 

Section One Summary (3) Chapter 1: Learning Past and Future Four purposes of education exist throughout our changing times: Education: empowers us to contribute to work and society exercise and develop personal talents fulfill civic responsibilities; and carry our traditions and values forward Each era shapes its educational system such that its students learn skills essential to earn a living and support their communities; e.g. farming skills during the Agrarian Age, uniformity and engineering skills during the Industrial Age.

Section One Summary (4) : 

Section One Summary (4) Chapter 1: Learning Past and Future What aims should the four pillars strive for in the Knowledge Age?

Section One Summary (5) Chapter 2: The Perfect Learning Storm : 

Section One Summary (5) Chapter 2: The Perfect Learning Storm Four forces are converging and leading us toward new ways of learning for the 21st century

Section One Summary (6) The Four Converging Forces : 

Section One Summary (6) The Four Converging Forces Knowledge Work Largely completed collaboratively in teams that may be spread across the globe. Purpose of knowledge work is largely to create and innovate new products and services that solve real problems. Specific demand for well-trained workers in the areas of STEM Increased investment from multinational and high-tech corporations in education. Thinking Tools Technology and digital devices and services that fill a knowledge worker’s toolkit. Mushrooming capacity to process, store, and transmit bits and bytes of information, rapidly gaining fluid access to world’s info. Mental tasks of accessing, searching, analyzing, storing, managing, creating, and communicating info and knowledge are becoming easier Possible Negatives: quantity vs. quality, unreliable material, managing deluge of info.

Section One Summary (7) The Four Converging Forces : 

Section One Summary (7) The Four Converging Forces Digital Lifestyles First generation to grow up surrounded by digital media. The list of innovations since 1975 is shocking: i.e. cable TV, email, cell phones, internet, laptops, memory sticks, etc. School dynamics in flux – students switch roles and become digital mentors to their elders. The resultant changes in expectations affect education by challenging us to make learning interactive, personalized, collaborative, creative, and innovative. Learning Research

Section One Summary (8) The Forces of Resistance : 

Section One Summary (8) The Forces of Resistance Inherited Industrial Age policies designed to deliver mass education efficiently Accountability and Standardized testing systems that primarily measure basic skills The sheer momentum of decades of teaching practices based on direct instruction Weight of the educational publishing industry The preference of parents for their children to be taught in the same traditional manner as they were The fear that rigorous content will be undermined by a new focus on 21st Century skills

Section One Summary (9)Towards a New Balance : 

Section One Summary (9)Towards a New Balance

Activity & Discussion #1 : 

Activity & Discussion #1 The following 9-minute video summarizes the what, where, and how of 21st century skills http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2L2XwWq4_BY. After reading the first section of Trilling & Fadel (2009) and viewing the video, post your thoughts on the following: The authors identify four universal roles for education: empowers us to contribute to work and society exercise and develop personal talents fulfill civic responsibilities carry our traditions and values forward Our current education system has remnants of policies and pedagogies created in the Agrarian and Industrial Ages to prepare students to achieve these four objectives. What recent changes, if any, have you observed at the state, municipal, or institutional level indicating a shift towards teaching 21st Century competencies? How have these changes met or fallen short of preparing students to fulfill the four pillars above?

Activity & Discussion #2 : 

Activity & Discussion #2 (a) How is technology currently used in your school? Is it emancipatory or is it maintaining inequitable power structures? In your estimation, has this technology helped learners contribute to work and society, fulfill personal talents, fulfill civic responsibilities, and carry forward traditions and values as Trilling and Fadel champion? (b) Provide evidence of the ideological, ontological, axiological and epistemological paradigms implicit in Trilling and Fadel’s vision for education in the 21st Century. What implications do their understanding have for social justice in education? Is there a hidden curriculum at work?

Resources : 

Resources Journal of Interest NMSU library has full text of the journal Technology, Pedagogy and Education https://catalog2.nmsu.edu:2104/ehost/detail?vid=2&hid=112&sid=c3ee71ac-0df0-4e4f-87d2-2b0ba8e24259%40sessionmgr104&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#db=ehh&jid=131K#db=ehh&jid=131K Articles of Interest  Gorski, P. C. (2007). Insisting on digital equity:Reframing the dominant discourse on multicultural education and technology. Thesis, Hamline University, St. Paul, MN. Retrieved August 24, 2010, from http://www.edchange.org/publications/digital-equity.pdf Monahan, T. (2008). Picturing technological change: the materiality of information infrastructures in public education [Electronic version]. Technology, Pedagogy and Education, 17(2), 89-101. doi:10.1080/14759390802098581https://catalog2.nmsu.edu:2104/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=2&hid=112&sid=ab947cb3-c6d3-4151-a92a-6ccaff4faa%40sessionmgr112 Swain, P., & Edyburn, D. (2007). Social justice: Choice or necessity? Learning & Leading with Technology, 34(6), 14-18. Retrieved August 26, 2010, from ERIC. http://www.eric.ed.gov/PDFS/EJ779828.pdf Villano, M. (2008). Which side are you on? In the debate over how to best prepare students for the global economy, some favor teaching practical technology know-how; others argue for abstract cognitive skills. The answer [Electronic version]. T H E Journal (Technological Horizons In Education), 35(6), 52-57. https://catalog2.nmsu.edu:2066/gtx/infomark.do?prodId=EAIM&userGroupName=nm_a_nmlascr&version=1.0&type=retrieve&docId=A180348287&searchType=AdvancedSearchForm