Thursday, October 7, 2010

21st Century Skills Site

In preparing for teaching my class on Tech & Topics tonight, I was looking at the 21st century skills and the overview put together by the organization who is really spearheading the 21st century skills initiative. The overview site is here:

http://p21.org/route21/

I think they have somethings right, and some things are related to historical learning. My question for the class is whether my students think that these 21st century skills are a fad that will fade away like movements such as whole language.

Please reply, let me know.

38 comments:

  1. I think that most of the skills that have proven to be essential in the past and will most likely be necessary in the future.

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  2. I feel like this "episode" isnt going to fizzle out like the past new technologies. I say this because of how the use and development of this technology is worldwide.

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  3. I do not think that these 21st Century skills are just a fad. I believe that these skills will just be a base for whats to come in the world of technology. For example.. the skills we learned when we were younger, such as typing, and basic computer skills have transferred into skills we need now to be technologically savvy. Because I have typing skills, I am able to text well. This is just one example of how I have built on my previous skills. Who knows what 21st century skills we are learning now will be a building block and a necessity for skills we will learn in the future.

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  4. I believe the 21st Century Skills initiative will only have relevance and longevity if it is accepted by the mass of educators - newer and older among us. The pessimist in me says it will be carried only by those few of us who wholeheartedly accept the task and challenge. The optimist in me says we can excite enough educators (and students) that the wave ignites and something wonderful does come of the initiative.

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  5. In schools today, whole language is still taught but not as much as it used to be; example sight words. Phonics is the "new" way to teach reading these days. With 21st century skills, I do not believe that they will fade. Technology is such a part of our culture and how students learn today, that I believe that these skills will only become stronger. I think there will be more of a push for these skills to be taught and mastered by students in schools today.

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  6. I don't think that 21st Century Skills is a fad because computers and the internet are not fads. Technology is continuing to advance and leaving many people behind in the process since they are not being taught to utilize the new technology as it becomes available. This is what has brought the idea of 21st Century Skills to light. The idea that the technology is there and advancing but we are not really producing students who know how to utilize them for a work setting. Students are keeping up with technology on their own for entertainment and social networking mostly, but not the technological skills that they will find necessary in todays careers.

    On a side note, as a future English teacher, educators also must be certain to maintain the teaching of traditional skills in addition to the 21st Century Skills. With the increase in texting we have come to see a "text language" that reduces "are" to "r" and "you" to "u" and students should still be taught to spell, speak and write properly.

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  7. I believe that alot of the skills we have learned about today will be very relevant in the future. They are skills that have been brought about by changes in technology and society, and therefore will continue to be useful in the future. People will also build on these skills as technology continues to change.

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  8. I think 21st century skills are going to become a necessity for success and will not be just a fad that will fade away. The economy will become increasingly competitive and centralized around technology which will force students to become literate in information technology.

    This will especially be important in the global aspect where communication skills will be essential, especially through technology.

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  9. I definitely do not think that 21st century skills are a fad. As we have seen in the past quarter century, technologies and the related skills have grown substantially, requiring consumers to become more adept at utilizing these skills. As a result, 21st century skills have developed. These skills do not stand alone- they are the result of the past's technological skills building on top of each other. Thus, it would be extremely difficult to "unravel" the collective skills, starting with those of the 21st century, and backtrack. I believe 21st century skills will grow in size and importance as time passes, thus creating an intricately linked web of "skills" that continues to be crucial for the education of students throughout the world.

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  10. I think that the concept of 21st century skills is such a broad concept that they are always going to be important skills to learn and know. Right now we are talking about learning everything from typing on a computer to searching for information on the internet to being able to decipher that information and knowing whether it is important/factual/helpful or not. In a few years we may need to facilitate our students in taking these skills further; to really extending the classroom beyond the school day.

    So, no I do not think these skills are a fad, they are always going to be needed.(Unless there is a nuclear apocalypse and technology as we know it is destroyed)

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  11. 21st century skills will remain in place thanks to their influence on today's youth. Younger generations today use 21st century skills on a daily basis and grow more competent in their use quickly. They serve as the driving force that continue to push further developments in technology as they make up the consumers and developers of tomorrow. Thanks to them we see the creation of Skype, Tweets, and many more media networks. 21st century skills will not fall like other fads, but instead continue to grow alongside the generations that use these skills every day.

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  12. The need for a technologically educated youth will not turn out as a fad. The real question is how long will the push for "21st century skills" last? I would almost guarantee that the technology in 2090 will be different from the technology we are using we are using today in 2010. The "21st century skills" that this website preaches about may become outdated and obsolete within the 21st century. Therefore, the push for "21st century skills" is currently a fad. However, the core principles of life and career skills, learning and innovation skills, and skills based on the technology of the era in which the skills are being taught will always be important within American culture.

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  13. 21st century skills aren't just an educational movement, like whole language. Computers, the internet, and technology are all elements that are pervasive in our culture, so there is a necessity for 21st century skills. Historical learning will always be the center of our education system, but students today are becoming emmersed in technology. Teachers need to be able to teach those skills because they will soon be vital in the workforce.

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  14. I think teaching the application of 21st century skills to the global community is our responsibility as teachers to show our students their universality and potential. The ability to skype, blog, email, text, twitter, etc,etc,etc, are teachable skills. most of our students already know how to use them. But for us to plug them into the global network and for them to experience firsthand the instantaneous characteristic will cement these skills and hopefully they will further push the envelope. Collaborating on a worldwide scale can send creative juices flowing and the real-time gratification can only speak to our teenagers developmental period.

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  15. Honestly, I think that these skills are just going to hit a point of no return and eventually, be as ancient as the tamagotchi or the nano pet. But for right now and a while after, the 21st century skills are needed to keep the pace of the global economy. I get frustrated with my own lack of new-age tech knowledge and find myself feeling out of the loop. I can't imagine how my parents or grandparents must feel considering all of the changes since their time periods. It is even a little scary to think about what my children and grandchildren will be able to do with technology. I wouldn't be surprised if their cell phones are tiny chips implanted into their bodies and that money does reach the point of scannable tattooes or microchips much like the ID tags we commonly implant into our pets. I know it sounds a little too "1984" or "Matrix" for what we are currently used too. But think about it- What is the next step? After we can launch missiles via text, control our enitre financial state with a plastic card, or turn off the light we left on from a computer at our favorite vacation spot, what we will link up next?

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  16. The 21st century skills that are being taught in today's classrooms will not fade out of sight (as the ridiculous sounding whole language movement did). 21st century skills will allow students to condense the world and collaborate/learn with and from people all over the globe. This ability to communicate and gather information at the snap of a finger is something that will stay around for a long while (until the next advancement in technology). It will ultimately depend on the teachers abilities to understand those skills themselves to be able to pass the information on to the students. Teacher's have to be able to evolve along with their students as technology does. Overall the technology is here to stay so the 21st century skills will be something that needs to be taught in the classroom.

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  17. I don't think the skills are a fad, but there are some problems with how those skills will be delivered and by whom. One of the problems that we encounter in school today is lack of continued education by educators. Although some districts maintain that you take some credit hours in some sort of yearly increment, they don't monitor the courses taken. I think that if we're to get the most from our children in any century we must first have educators that are truly Highly Qualified and able to teach.

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  18. Every new powerful and successful technology was a "21st Century" technology which required "21st century" skills, and each was eventually supplanted by an even more powerful and successful technology. A specific technology's short life span isn't enough to make it faddish. Even a short-lived technology can have a substantial cultural influence.

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  19. Many of the skills supported by the bridge of core subjects/21st century themes are already part of our education paradigm. Since technology has changed so quickly in the past decades (and it will keep on changing), the life and career skills realm will become increasingly relevant: as technology keeps bringing humans closer and closer together, there will be the need to understand others to communicate and collaborate effectively.

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  20. I think the 21st century skills movement will serve to temper the content-based emphasis brought about by NCLB. So, although I don't think schools will revolutionize curriculum in keeping with the 21st century concept, I do think it will encourage the teaching and learning of SKILLS as opposed to the teaching and learning of CONTENT.

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  21. I think that the trend towards 21st Century Learning is not a fad and will set the standard for learning in years to come. eventually this technology will be outdated and replaced by something even more collaborative.

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  22. I think these 21st century skills will be around for a long time, but these skills will be ever changing and we will need to adapt to those changes

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  24. As long as it doesn't replace academics, but is simply a way to expand understanding and application of curriculum (such as physic, science, etc) I don't think it has to be a fad. What makes something a fad is when is is used as a blanket fix for all students and subjects without using common sense.

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  25. I think there is some relevence in the 21st century skills. The technology will always be there, and the students need to feel comfortable with it at some level. Most of these skills I believe is already there, some just decided to put a name to it. The project based learning is a great way to learn and through the past decade it is becoming more of a norm. I beleive the "fad" of collabration will continue since it is needed in this global economy, but they name itself will go by the wayside and it will just be "life as we know it".

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  26. I think that the 21st century skills approach is one that will evolve rather than fizzle out as a 'fad'. It seems to be a flexible mentality that will absorb changes in technology, students and teachers over time. It may look different in ten years but the foundation of creativity, collaboration, communication and critical thinking will last.

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  27. I think alot of the ideas of the 21st century skills idea is a good idea. Especially when it comes to special education, I think it's a great alternative to listening to a lecture. I think using this idea would definately increase the amount of learning in the classroom and increase the child's interest in coming to school.

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  28. I think that the concept of 21st century learning is probably here to stay in one way or another. From a SpecEd point of view, the idea of project driven teaching is a great way to find each students learning style. Learning to work as a team is an invaluable skill in todays world and exposure to available technology is important.

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  29. I believe that 21st Century Learning will be here to stay! I think that the ideas & theory of 21st Century Learning & Teaching will continue to develop as technology and collaboration continue to grown in our society. As our global world has become more easily accessible, a emphasize on 21st century skills will continue to thrive and develop.

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  30. Will 21st centruy skills be a fad? I think this ultimately depends on our global society as a whole. If the world, education world, business world, and global world accepts this new approach I think it can be a fantastic alternative for some students. As educators we need to remember that not all students learn the exact same way. This could be one way to reach a particular group of students.

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  31. For the most part I think that this could be a strong mode of education. At my highschool in Maryland, they had a similar system and most students that were not a part of the "21st century skills" type programs within the school wanted to be apart of it and those who were apart of it seemed to excell in their otehr classes. To me it adds another dimention to learning where students who learn different than what is taught from the usual curriculum based education could have another way to learn that may be the way of the future.
    Overall I value maintaining the usual curriculum way of learning and do not think that introducing the 21st way would be a problem as long as the core curriculum are still addressed.

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  32. I think 21st Century Learning is a valid and lasting teaching method because the world is moving toward a global existence where today's kids will have to work and collaborate with people from all over the world. Students in the US need to learn how to work with people from all over the world, how other people think, how to be creative and innovative in order to succeed in the world. The world is not going to get smaller in the future, so there is no going back.

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  33. The skills listed as 21st century skills seems to be skills that are already present in education and learning. I come from a science background and my peers are constantly working to be creative and come up with new ideas based on experiences and data. I think the idea of using technology to enhance these skills is new but will not be a fad. It seems that the fad is the focus put on these skills but not the use of them. I feel that these skills will continue to enhance education and learning.

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  34. I think that today's students need to learn how to live in the 21st century and that it is the parents' and the educators' jobs to prepare them. I don't think that 21st century skills is a fad. There are important elements like creativity, collaboration, and technology that should be incorporated into the classroom in order to better prepare students for the future.

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  35. 21st century skills cannot be a fad as the students today are very comfortable with the new technology. The educators need to not ignore the fundamentals, but to be able to apply it in the "real" world is key. This idea of global collaboration and working as team needs to be encouraged. So with the 21st learning the educator becomes guides the learning.

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  36. I think it has to be the way of the future because technology is changing everything about the world. In order for world unity, there must be world collaboration which should be introduced at a young age.Instead of individual competition with each other,students need to learn to collaborate and think together. I would hope it doesn't end up as just a fad.

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  37. I think that 21st Century learning is something that all educators will eventually have to accept. I don't think this teaching method is going anywhere. Technology is so much a part of kids' lives now that it would be dentrimental to ignore these advancements. Educators are so set in their ways of teaching that the students who don't do well with the traditional educational setting usually fall through the cracks. Technology might be able to help reach these students in ways that teachers are unable to do.

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  38. Because many of these skills are already being taught in schools, and have been taught for some time, I do not believe that the 21st century skills are a fad. Many teachers focus on these skills in order to reach all levels and types of learners and some schools seem to have the same idea as the 21st century skills educators, such as the Great Oaks schools.

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