Laura

I will be looking for resources related to working with 21st century learners. While they are not really a "subgroup" of the student population, they are a group that teachers need to be better prepared to teach.

[|Learning to Change - Changing to Learn] This is a short video about the 21st century paradigm shift in education. The video starts with the following claim: "The U.S. Dept of Commerce ranked 55 industry sectors by their level of IT (information technology) intensiveness. Education was ranked number 55," and ends with the following pronouncement: "It's the death of education, but it's the dawn of learning." It seems like a good place to start an attempt to understand 21st century learning.

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[|The Six Design Principles of 21st Century Learning]



__**Relevant and Applied Curriculum**__: use of problem and project-based learning, differentiation of instruction, curricular design that emphasizes relevancy and the use of Web 2.0 technologies.

__**Informative Assessments**__: captures the varied dimensions of the 21st century learner and provides meaningful feedback that is used to continuously improve student learning.

__**Social & Emotional Connections with Students:**__ student has a clear and purposeful connection to the social environment at school and to at least one adult who is aware of the student's learning interests and preferences

__**Culture of Creativity & Innovation**__: instruction should provide students with opportunities to explore complex problems and seek solutions with an emphasis on experimentation and collaboration.

__**24/7 Access to Tools & Resources**__: technology's essential role in 21st century learning must be facilitated by providing students with access to information, resources, and technology needed for research and collaboration. In short, each student needs to have their own computer.

__**21st Century Outcomes**__: students should gain skills that relevant in the 21st century job market. These include: collaboration, creativity, innovation, problem solving and critical thinking. Also included are a work ethic and a sense of social responsibility.

[|H. Sapiens Digital: From Digital Immigrants and Digital Natives to Digital Wisdom] In this article, Marc Prensky asserts that the distinction between digital immigrants and digital natives is becoming less relevant while digital wisdom is what truly matters. Digital wisdom refers to the wisdom that comes from using digital technology to access cognitive power as well as wisdom in the prudent use of technology to enhance one's capabilities. Prensky labels this new creature //homo sapiens digital//, and he is distinguished by his acceptance of digital enhancement as an integral fact of human existence and the fact that he possesses digital wisdom. Digital wisdom enhances cognitive power by enhancing: access to data, the ability to conduct deeper analysis, the ability to plan and prioritize, insight into others, and access to alternate perspectives. Prensky argues that digital wisdom can be learned and taught so he calls on teachers to embrace new technologies and facilitate their use in the classroom to harness students' cognitive power.

[|Maximizing the Impact: The pivotal role of technology in a 21st century education system] This is a report produced by the State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA), the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), and the Partnership for 21st Century Skills. This report is a call to action: because we live in a digital world, schools must prepare students to live in that world. Technology can be used to teach students vital 21st century skills like communication, collaboration, analysis, creativity, innovation and problem solving. Consequently, these organizations call on schools to incorporate technology into all aspects of instruction and assessment because while knowledge of core content is necessary, it is not sufficient for success in the global workforce.

[|A Framework for Understanding Teaching with the Internet] <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">The Internet has become an essential teaching tool in working with 21st century learners. In this article, Raven McCrory Wallace uses three case studies of teachers using the Internet with their students to develop a framework for teaching with the Internet. The framework outlines five affordances of resources used in teaching (the Internet being one of these resources). Wallace determines that there are five affordances: boundaries, authority, stability, pedagogical context, and disciplinary context that can be used to evaluate a variety of instructional tools. While the focus of this article is on Internet use, the framework is more general and therefore useful for evaluating any number of resources. The explanation of this framework is particularly instructive for teachers who are new to using technology or who have tried unsuccessfully to use it in the classroom.

<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; cursor: pointer; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; padding-right: 10px;">[|Measuring skills for the 21st century] <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">In this article, Elena Silva explores the challenges of measuring 21st century skills like application, analysis, problem-solving, and innovation. She identifies several tools being piloted and tested like the [|College Work and Readiness Assessment (CWRA)] and [|PowerSource]. She also identifies the [|International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Programme]as an example of the possibility of measuring students' content learning and higher-order skills. The last part of the article is a realistic look at the challenges of evaluating the type of open-ended and performance-based assessments required to assess students' mastery of 21st century skills.

<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; cursor: pointer; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: medium; line-height: 24px; padding-right: 10px;">[|Wired for Reflection] <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">In this short article, Meredith Stewart refutes claims that technology use in the classroom is making learners less reflective. She provides two practical examples, digital portfolios and videotaped Socratic seminars, to explain how technology can be used to enhance students' ability to reflect on their learning. She also provides information for teachers about how to set up digital portfolios. [|Her blog] is also a great example of a technology-based tool teachers can use for their own reflective practice.

<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: medium; line-height: 24px;">[|Digital Media - New Learners of the 21st Century]

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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">This is an eight minute segment from PBS's <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; cursor: pointer; padding-right: 10px;">[|Digital Media - New Learners of the 21st Century]. In this segment, John Seely Brown discusses the "power of play" and its potential to transform learning. The full-length program (linked above) interviews the leading innovators in what the program labels an "education revolution."