digital learners and 21st century

1. THE 21st CENTURY DIGITAL LEARNER

2. • The 21st century dawned as the beginning of the Digital Age – a time of unprecedented
growth in technology and its subsequent information explosion. Never before have the tools for
information access and management made such an impact on the way we live, work, shop and
play. New technologies and tools multiply daily and the new technologies of today are outdated
almost soon as they reach the market. Numerous studies and reports have emerged over the
past decade that seek to identify the life, career, and learning skills that define the skills needed
for success in the 21st century world. While there are some differences in how the skills are
categorized or interpreted, there are also many commonalities. Common skills across most of
the studies include:
1. Creativity and Innovation
 Using knowledge and understanding to create new ways of thinking in order to find solutions to
new problems and to create new products and services.
Think Creatively
o Use a wide range of idea creation techniques (such as brainstorming)
o Create new and worthwhile ideas (both incremental and radical concepts)
o Elaborate, refine, analyze, and evaluate ideas in order to improve and maximize creative efforts
o Demonstrate imagination and curiosity

3. Work Creatively with Others
o Develop, implement, and communicate new ideas to others effectively
o Be open and responsive to new and diverse perspectives; incorporate group input and feedback into
the work
o Demonstrate originality and inventiveness in work and understand the real world limits to adopting
new ideas
o View failure as an opportunity to learn; understand that creativity and innovation is a long-term,
cyclical process of small successes and frequent mistakes
Implement Innovations
Act on creative ideas to make a tangible and useful contribution to the field in which the innovation will
occur
2. Critical Thinking and Problem Solving
 Applying higher order thinking to new problems and issues, using appropriate reasoning as they
effectively analyze the problem and make decisions about the most effective ways to solve the
problem.

4. Reason Effectively
o Use various types of reasoning (e.g., inductive, deductive, etc.) as appropriate to the situation
Use Systems Thinking
o Analyze how parts of a whole interact with each other to produce overall outcomes in complex
systems
Solve Problems
o Solve different kinds of non-familiar problems in both conventional and innovative ways
o Identify and ask significant questions that clarify various points of view and lead to better
solutions
3. Communication
 Communicating effectively in a wide variety of forms and contexts for a wide range of purposes
and using multiple media and technologies.

5. Communicate Clearly
o Articulate thoughts and ideas effectively using oral, written, and nonverbal communication skills in a
variety of forms and contexts
o Listen effectively to decipher meaning, including knowledge, values, attitudes, and intentions
o Use communication for a range of purposes (e.g., to inform, instruct, motivate, and persuade) and in
diverse environments (including multi-lingual)
Utilize multiple media and technologies, and know how to judge their effectiveness a priority as well as
assess their impact
4. Collaboration
 Working with others respectfully and effectively to create, use and share knowledge, solutions and
innovations.
Collaborate with Others
o Demonstrate ability to work effectively and respectfully with diverse teams
o Exercise flexibility and willingness to be helpful in making necessary compromises to accomplish a
common goal
Assume shared responsibility for collaborative work, and value the individual contributions made by
each team member

6. 5. Information Management
 Accessing, analyzing, synthesizing, creating and sharing information from multiple sources.
6. Effective Use of Technology
 Creating the capacity to identify and use technology efficiently, effectively and ethically as a tool
to access, organize, evaluate and share information
7. Career and Life Skills
 Developing skills for becoming self-directed, independent learners and workers who can adapt
to change, manage projects, take responsibility for their work, lead others and produce results.
8. Cultural Awareness
 Developing cultural competence in working with others by recognizing and respecting cultural
differences and work with others from a wide range of cultural and social backgrounds.

7. Information, Media and Technology Skills
INFORMATION LITERACY
Access and Evaluate Information
o Access information efficiently (time) and effectively (sources)
o Evaluate information critically and competently
Use and Manage Information
o Use information accurately and creatively for the issue or problem at hand
o Manage the flow of information from a wide variety of sources
o Apply a fundamental understanding of the ethical/ legal issues surrounding the access and use
of information

8. MEDIA LITERACY
Analyze Media
o Understand both how and why media messages are constructed and for what purposes
o Examine how individuals interpret messages differently, how values and points of view are
included or excluded, and how media can influence beliefs and behaviors
o Apply a fundamental understanding of the ethical/ legal issues surrounding the access and use
of information
Create Media Products
o Understand and utilize the most appropriate media creation tools, characteristics, and
conventions
o Understand and effectively utilize the most appropriate expressions and interpretations in
diverse, multi-cultural environments

9. ICT (INFORMATION, COMMUNICATIONS AND TECHNOLOGY) LITERACY
Apply Technology Effectively
o Use technology as a tool to research, organize, evaluate, and communicate information
o Use digital technologies (e.g., computers, PDAs, media players, GPS, etc.), communication/
networking tools, and social networks appropriately to access, manage, integrate, evaluate,
and create information to successfully function in a knowledge economy
o Apply a fundamental understanding of the ethical/ legal issues surrounding the access and use
of information technologies

10. Integrating 21st Century Skills with Content
These skills are about the thinking processes and behaviors students will use as they learn
subject area content and work with others to deepen their understanding of the content. All of the
frameworks emphasize the need to ground 21st century skills in core content, and especially in an
interdisciplinary fashion. Organizing instruction around important concepts and “big ideas” helps
students create conceptual structures for storing, retrieving and using information in new and
unanticipated ways. As the 21st century skills are integrated into content, some key design
principles include
o Connecting the content knowledge to real-world applications and problem situations that enable
students to see how what they are learning connects with their lives and the world around them.
The work that is asked of students must be authentic work that is relevant and that mirrors real
life.
o Emphasizing deep understanding of the learning by focusing on projects and problems that
require students to use the content knowledge in new ways and to extend their understanding
through collaboration with others.
o Helping students understand and monitor the thinking process they are using by including
metacognitive activities that ask students to reflect on their use of thinking structures and the
effectiveness of the thinking strategies employed. “The highest ranked skills for students
entering the workforce were not facts and basic skills; they were applied skills that enable
workers to use the knowledgeable and basic skills they have acquired.”

11. o Using technology to help students access, analyze, organize and share what they are learning and allow
students to independently locate appropriate tools for the task.
o Providing opportunities for students to become “creators as well as consumers of published
information” (Apple, 2008) by providing opportunities for creating and verifying their own entries in
collaborative sites and evaluating contributions of others.
o Engaging students in solving complex problems that require higher order thinking and application of
content and that result in new perspectives and solutions to problems.
o Providing opportunities for students to work collaborative as they gather information, solve problems,
share ideas, and generate new ideas.
o Developing life and career skills by creating opportunities for students to become self-directed learners
who take responsibility for their own learning and who learn how to work effectively with others.
o Helping students make connections between subjects, concepts and ideas and with others, including
those outside of the classroom.

12. How should Instruction Change to Prepare Students for Success in the 21st Century?
The 21st Century skills are not really different. We have always wanted students to be creative thinkers
and problem solvers who have the skills necessary to function effectively in society and in the workplace.
However, the way in which these skills are incorporated in the classroom and how technology is integrated
will greatly change instruction. Indeed, with technology, today’s classroom transcends physical walls and
reaches around the globe. In addition, we need to plan instruction with an understanding of the “digital
natives” (Prensky, 2001) who have grown up in the Digital Age and who expect learning to be interactive,
engaging and up-to-date.
Instruction that meets the needs of today’s students will incorporate
• A variety of learning opportunities and activities
• The use of appropriate technology tools to accomplish learning goals
• Project-and problem-based learning
• Cross-curricular connections
• A focus on inquiry and the student-led investigations
• Collaborative learning environments, both within and beyond the classroom
• High levels of visualization and the use of visuals to increase understanding
• Frequent, formative assessments including the use of self-assessment.

13. The 21st Century Teacher
• There are essential skills Digital learners that teachers should consider in giving appropriate activities
and assessments to their learners. But what about the 21st Century Teacher, what are the
characteristics we would expect to see in a 21st Century Educator. We know they are student centric,
holistic, they are teaching about how to learn as much as teaching about the subject area. We know
too, that they must be 21st Century learners as well. But teachers are more than this. To meet the
demands of the Digital Education, the 21st Century Educator should acquire the following
characteristics:

14. • 1. The Adaptor
• The 21st Century teacher is an adaptor. Harnessed as we are to an assessment focused education model the
21st Century Educator must be able to adapt the curriculum and the requirements to teach to the curriculum
in imaginative ways.
•
• *They must also be able to adapt software and hardware designed for a business model into tools utilizable by
a variety of age groups and abilitirs.
• *They must also be able to adapt to a dynamic teaching experience. When it all goes wrong in the middle
class, when the technologies fail, the show must go on.
• *As an educator, they must understand and apply different learning styles. They must also be able to adapt
our teaching style to be inclusive of different modes of learning.
•
• 2. The Visionary
• Imagination, a key to component of adaptability, is a crucial component of the educator of today and
tomorrow.
•
• *They must see the potential in the emerging tools and web technologies, grasp these and manipulate them
to serve their needs. If we look at the technologies we currently see emerging, how many are developed for
education?
• *The visionary teacher can lookat others ideas and envisage how they would use these in their class.

15. • *The visionary also looks across the disciplines and through the curricula. They can make links that reinforce
and value learning in other areas, and leverage other fields to reinforce their own teaching and the learning of
their students.
•
• 3. The Collaborator
• *Ning, Blogger, Wikispaces, Bebo, MSN, MySpace, Second life - as an educator we must be able to leverage
these collaborative tools to enhance and captive our learners. We too, must be collaborators; sharing,
contributing, adapting and inventing.
•
• 4. The Risk taker
• How can you as an educator know all these things? How can you teach them how to use them? There are so
many, so much to learn.
• *A 21st Century Educator must take risks and some times surrender yourself to the students acknowledge.
• *Have a vision of what you want and what the technology can achieve, identify the goals and facilitate the
learning.
• *Use the strengths of all the digital natives to understand and navigate new products, have the students teach
each other.
• *The learning pyramid shows that the highest retention of knowledge comes from teaching others. Trust your
students.

16. 5.The Learner
• We expect our students to be life long learners. How many schools have the phrase "life long learners"
in their mission statements and objectives. We too must continue to absorb new possibilities and
experiences. We must endeavor to stay current. The 21st Century teacher or educator must learn and
adapt.
6.The Communicator
• The 21st century teachers are fluent in tools and technologies that enable communication and
collaboration. They know how to use different media in communication. It allows students to be able to
express their insights and share their thoughts in a topic or any issues that concern them.

17. 7. The model
• The Digital teacher must model the behaviors that are expected from their students. Today and tomorrow more so, there is
an expectation that teachers will teach values.
• The Educators are often the most consistent part of our student life. Teachers will see the students more often than their
parents.
• The 21st Century Educator also models reflective practice, whether its the quiet, personal inspection of their teaching and
learning, or through reflective practice via blogs, twitter and other medium, these educators look both inwards and
outwards.
• These teachers also model a number of other characteristics. These are not necessarily associated with ICT or the
curriculum, but are of equal importance. They model:
•
• Tolerance
• Acceptance
• A wider view than just their curricula areas
• Global awareness
• Reflection
•
8. The Leader
• Leadership, like clear goals and objectives is crucial to the success or failure of any project.

18. • Facilitating the 21st Century Learning
•
• ICT is a vast variety of tools and technologies encompassing personal computing, the internet, phones, fax and
everything in between. In facilitating 21st Century learning, there are three factors that administrators and
educators are deliberately considering in the implementation of Technology in Education.
•
• 1. Resources
• This is the physical and electronic tools and materials available to the teacher in the classroom. A well
resourced room or school is considerably higher up the ladder than a low decile school which has to fund raise
for a new computer. The availability of tools like:
• *Interactive whiteboards
• *Classroom desktop computers
• *Pods of laptops or one to one programs
• *PDA's, ipods and cellphones
• *Educationally focused software
• *Learning and content management systems
• *Video and audio conferencing
• *Media production facilities
• *Learning spaces for the 21st Century

19. • Coupled with abundant access to resources, high speed internet access, suitable and appropriate
communications tools are great enablers. If with this you also have resource materials for teaching and
learning, tailored to your curriculum then ICT implementation is easier. But even with a high level of
implementation it is not assured. The other two factors, Skills and Curriculum, must be available in
equal volumes. But what of the classroom that struggles with one computer or perhaps has a lab
between a school, are they condemned to poor integration. Certainly not, but they are obviously
hampered and limited.
• Resources are also Professional development and time. Time is a precious and limited resource. Time to
play and experiment is hard to find when teachers are prescribed a number of non-contract periods and
management judiciously fills our timetables.

20. 2. Skills
• Skills, fall into two categories; Technical and Pedagogical.
• By Technical skills, it refers to the ability to operate the resources provided to you. The ability as a 21st
Century teacher to adapt, adopt and modify. The confidence and competence to teach and facilitate the
use of these technologies. The second category, pedagogical skills, is the more important of the two.
Stengths in Pedagogy can and will make up for deficits in technical ability. The classroom teachers'
ability to use a variety of suitable pedagogical strategies is key to integration. The teacher, who sees
little value in the use of ICT's, even if they have high technical ability, will always limit the level of
integration. Where as the teacher with an understanding of 21st Century padagogies, who recognizes
that these technologies are enablers and motivators for our 21st Century learner, is able to use the
learner's own skills and abilities to enhance their learning and the integration of ICT.

21. 3. Curriculum
• Does our curricula reflect 21st Century learning? Are our assessment models reflective of the world our
students are in or will be in?
• Integrating curricula that support ICT inegration are dynamic. The use of ICT's is mandatory and global,
inclusive and specific. The selection of tools and resources are curriculum driven. These units are
constantly reviewed. Teachers and students contribute to the development and revision of the learning
experience. They are student centric. Teachers encourage using digital approaches Teaching drives the
technology rather than technology driving the teaching.