Week 2 - Blog Posting #4.2 -21st Century Skills & Lifelong Learning

Howard Rheingold says that "we have to get beyond skills and that skills are very much an individual attribute. We need to move beyond skills and to the concept of literacies--skills plus community." This is a bold statement that is at once a challenge to do and a challenge to comprehend. The thread here is obvious. We are being asked to become aware of and understand what Web 2.0 applications are. We are being asked to first define media literacy and now to parse out the skills that are important for being media literate. But when we attempt to look at a skill that is "beyond skills as an individual attribute" but incorporates an awareness of community, is that something beyond our reach because we (the teachers) are digital immigrants? Or can we single out a skill or skill set that helps us direct our students to best become media literate?


Rain, Steam, and Speed by JMW Turner

Inquiry seems to be the one skill that drives the 21st century skills "train." And we have a choice: get on the train, get off the train, or get run over by the train. I like the train metaphor for a couple reasons. Just like the steam engine train revolutionized Europe and then the North American continent, technology is revolutionizing the world. That revolution requires a new set of skills that as Rheingold has discussed incorporate an ability to collaborate with a larger community, i.e. the world. My favorite resource for understanding the 21st Century Skills framework is The Partnership for 21st Century Skills website (2004): http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/index.php. This large advocacy group with it's numerous corporate sponsors has developed a framework for learning in the 21st century based on what they have determined are essential skills that kids will need to succeed as citizens in the 21st century. While they acknowledge NCLBs identification of the core subjects as English, reading, math, science, foreign languages, civics, government, economics, arts, history, and geography; they also emphasize several significant, emerging content areas that are critical to success in communities and workplaces:
Global awareness
Financial, economic, business and entrepreneurial literacy
Civic literacy
Health and wellness awareness
The contention is that we do not typically emphasize these areas in schools today, and the implication is that we had better start.

When we do begin to teach these skills, with our digital native students in mind, what we get is pretty magical. This video from Edutopia (2009) paints a train ride that I am exited to be on.


Edutopia: What Works in Public Education. (2009). The George Lucas Educational Foundation. Retrieved September 15, 2009 from http://www.edutopia.org/digital-
generation-project-overview-video

The Partnership for 21st Century Skills. (2004). Retrieved from http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=195&Itemid=183