21st Century Learning

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Viewers and contributors to this 21st Century Learning Wiki should know and understand it will constantly change.

 

 

Just like the beach which changes with the tides, as we learn more about harnessing new technology tools for learning and begin to understand the needs of our 21st century students our wiki will change.   

 

 

 

 

What is 21st century Learning?  Why is it so important?

 

 

In Thomas Friedman's book, the World Is Flat, Mr. Friedman asks, "How can we ensure that our children are ready to compete and succeed in this new flat world?  Obviously, education is key, and Friedman says as much. He tells his own daughters, “Girls, when I was growing up, my parents used to say to me, ‘Tom, finish your dinner—people in China and India are starving.’ My advice to you is: Girls, finish your homework—people in China and India are starving for your jobs.”

 

Friedman lays out the stark numbers to document our education gap: the U.S. now ranks 17th in the number of students receiving science degrees, down from 3rd three decades ago; the percentage of scientific papers written by Americans has fallen 10 percent since 1992; the U.S. share of patents has dropped 8 percent since 1980. Then he brings in the big guns, relaying the results of the latest Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS): 44 percent of 8th graders in Singapore scored at the most advanced level in math, as did 38 percent in Taiwan; only 7 percent in the United States did.

 

 

This wiki page Partnership for 21st Century Learning  will provide you with some understanding of the skills students will need to be successful in the 21st century.

 

 

 

 

 

Can you envision the digital future ?

 

Skype, online shopping, online medical advice, social networking, commerce, trade, information, where is it all leading?  

 

Watch this 8 minute video produced by the Museum of Media History for a glance into our lives in the digital future.

 

"If we try to at least envision what our kids future might be like in very general terms that will inform our current teaching strategies, our current curriculum,and our current pedogies,in ways that hopefully will make us more effective in preparing them for that ( the future.)," Will Richardson elaborates in his 5 minute video.

 

 

 

 

Web 2.0 ?

 

Big deal!  Is there really a difference between Web 1.0 and Web 2.0?

 

Here are some ideas to start with:

 

• Web 1.0 was about reading, Web 2.0 is about writing
• Web 1.0 was about companies, Web 2.0 is about communities
• Web 1.0 was about client-server, Web 2.0 is about peer to peer
• Web 1.0 was about HTML, Web 2.0 is about XML
• Web 1.0 was about home pages, Web 2.0 is about blogs
• Web 1.0 was about portals, Web 2.0 is about RSS
• Web 1.0 was about taxonomy, Web 2.0 is about tags
• Web 1.0 was about wires, Web 2.0 is about wireless
• Web 1.0 was about owning, Web 2.0 is about sharing
• Web 1.0 was about IPOs, Web 2.0 is about trade sales
• Web 1.0 was about Netscape, Web 2.0 is about Google
• Web 1.0 was about web forms, Web 2.0 is about web applications
• Web 1.0 was about dialup, Web 2.0 is about broadband
• Web 1.0 was about hardware costs, Web 2.0 is about bandwidth costs

 

 

 

For more about Web 1 and Web 2 and the difference between the two watch these short videos.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Social Networking

 

 

MySpace, Facebook, Linked In, wikis, personal learning networks, and blog are all examples of social network sites.  It is estimated 55 % of all online American teenagers 12-17  use online social network sites.  What possible value could social networking have for the classroom? 

 

You may want to watch this short video about social networking for some innovative thoughts about the value of using these popular sites with students.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Personal Learning Networks

 

What, why, how...Will Richardson's thoughts on the importance of Personal Learning Networks.

 

Can personal learning networks be of value in the classroom?  How are they used? Check out the short movie and blog post for more insight.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wiki's

 

Have you heard of Wikipedia?  Currently Wikipedia, the online free-content encyclopedia has over 2,151,269 articles in total in the English version alone.  The success of Wikipedia is due to a simple software known as MediaWiki, and the collaborative efforts of millions of people.

 

 

 Watch any the short video below to see how wikis work.

 

 

 

What can a simple online software like wiki do for your classroom?  Take a moment to read a short slideshow or The Cool Cat Teacher Blog for ideas about classroom use.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Blogs

 

As of December 2007 blog search engine Technorati was tracking more than 112 million blogs.

 

Wikipedia says, "a blog (a portmanteau of web log) is a website where entries are commonly displayed in reverse chronological order. "Blog" can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, web pages, and other media related to its topic. The ability for readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of many blogs."

 

For a closer look at blogging and the use of blogs watch these short videos about blogs.

 

 

 

 

 

Do you know what 21st century students think about their learning?

 

What can students tell us about how they learn?  What insights can we gain about their digital lives that can help us in the classroom? 

 

Listen to students share their ideas about teaching and learning.

 

 

 

What does this all mean to teaching and learning?

 

Listen to Will Richardson speak about the pedagogy of Web 2.0.

 

 

 

 

 Graduation 2020. 

 

Students entering kindergarten this past fall 2007 will be the graduating class of 2020.  What will their education look like?  How will our practices evolve and grown in the 21st century. 

 

This 18 minute video will provide details about the possible changes these kindergarteners will encounter in their 13 years of education.

 

 

 

 

Copyright?

 

As teachers and students begin to using web 2.0 tools, copyright issues are bound to arise.  Guidance about copyright, fair use, public domain, and creative commons can be found on Karen Richardson's wikispace.

 

 

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