S

Comparing Frameworks for 21st Century Skills

Presenter – Bronwyn Wilson EDUC9707

Reading

Based on the paper by:

Dede, C (2010). Comparing frameworks for 21st Century skills (pp.51-75) in Bellanca, J& Brandt, R. (Eds.) 21st Century Skills: Rethinking how students learn. Bloomington:Solution Tree Press

Overview of presentation

Summary of the reading

Discussion groups

Whole group sharing

Conclusion and final summary

Individual comments on slide share

Focus Question

Many groups have called for students to learn 21st Century skills, but what does this actually mean and what has it got to do with the use of technology?

Summary of main points

The emergence of 21st Century skills has produced the need to create various frameworks to guide teaching and learning and leading change in the digital age.

Comparing and contrasting the frameworks help us as educators and administrators analyse the skills that are crucial to teach the students so that they are successful life long learners and to think about the implications for implementation.

Summary of main points

Connection to Kozma article led by Ronnie and our class discussions on 21st Century skills in week 3.

Technology plays a major part in the skills for the 21st Century as the emergence of sophisticated ICT’s are the main driving force behind the skills frameworks.

Digital Literacies created to show the connection between the two.

Revision: 21st Century skills

The 21st Century is quite different from the 20th Century in regard to the skills people now need for work, citizenship and self- actualisation (Dede, pg.51)

Primary cause for this is due to emergence of sophisticated Information Communication Technologies (ICT’s)

Rationale for formulating 21st Century skills

ICT capabilities are changing the work force and the skills needed.

Emergence of expert thinking – effective pattern making and metacognition

Collaboration – shifting skillset

Amount of data available

Organisational methods for finding information

Adding to our knowledge of 21st Century skills

Perrenial (valuable throughout history) and contextual skills (unique to new millenium work) eg Collaboration

Degree vs type – skills such as collaboration are 21st century skills by degree, managing information is a 21st Century skill by type.

The crowded curriculum – major political challenge is what to deemphasize to make room for deep knowledge of 21st Century skills.

What are the Major Frameworks for 21st Century skills?

Partnership for 21st Century Skills 2006 (Baseline for analysis as it is more widely adopted than the other frameworks)

enGauge Framework 2003

OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Competencies) 2005

LEAP (National Leadership Council for Liberal Education and America’s Promise Essential Learning Outcome)

ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) 2007

Educational Testing Service ICT Digital Literacy Framework

Partnerships Framework 2006

Partnerships Framework (2006) -baseline for analysis as it is more widely used than other frameworks.

Broad, detailed framework with areas such as Learning and Thinking, Life Skills

ICT Literacy Develop 21st century content knowledge and skills, in

the context of core subjects. Students use technology to learn context and skills to

enable them to think how to learn , think critically, solve problems, use information, communicate, innovate, and collaborate.

Summary of Comparisons

Frameworks are generally consistent with each other.

Less 20th Century curriculum –inquiry vs assimilation

More emphasis on contextual skills and knowledge

ICT’s embedded in tasks for efficiency

ISTE adds a sub-skill of ‘Troubleshooting systems and applications”

Students acting autonomously and taking risks.

Digital Literacy Frameworks

“Much of what distinguishes 21st Century skills from 20th Century skills is that a person and a tool, application or medium, or environment work in concert to accomplish an objective that is otherwise unobtainable”. (Dede, 2006,pg 63) eg. Wiki, Google docs to collaborate.

Digital Literacy Frameworks

Follow on from EDU summit article and discussion from last week.

Created in part to show ways ICT skills are central to 21st Century skills.(Dede, 2006, pg. 63)

Jenkins’ Digital Literacies – “emphasis on types of intellectual activity performed by a person working with the sophisticated ICT’s” (Dede, 2006,pg. 64)

Some examples of digital literacies include – play, performance, simulation, judgment, networking, negotiating, sharing, thinking, co-creating

Assessing 21st Century Skills

Big question: How do we assess these 21st Century ICT and digital literacy skills?

Various tests including performance tasks and analytical writing tasks that measure skills such as reviewing, evaluating and articulation of complex ideas. (Dede, 2006, pg. 69)

Key Stage 3 ICT Literacy Assessment – set in a complex virtual world.

Discussion Questions

1. In your opinion, which skill or skills from the frameworks, if implemented authentically, would have the greatest impact on education, the curriculum and on how students learn? Which, as educators challenge your own practice?

2. From the reading and your experience, how can we begin to bring education up to speed in the area of 21st Century skills to match other professions? What one specific action can you take back to your site to raise awareness of these skills?

3. What does the implementation of 21st century skills have to do with technology? How is your school/organisation embracing the 21st Century skills in the area of technology? Give examples for teaching, pedagogy and change management?

Conclusion

Technology is an integral part of the 21st Century skills due to the sophisticated nature of the ICT’s available.

Our responsibility as educators and administrators to embrace the skills and frameworks.

Challenge – what will I do with this information at my site?

Summary of groups responses.

Reference

Based on the paper by:

Dede, C (2010). Comparing frameworks for 21st Century skills (pp.51-75) in Bellanca, J& Brandt, R. (Eds.) 21st Century Skills: Rethinking how students learn. Bloomington:Solution Tree Press