Week 2 - Blog Posting #4 - 21st Century Skills and LifeLong Learning

The huge question every teacher faces is how to engage the student. As teachers we want to engage our students now, and even bigger than that, we want them to engage in lifelong learning. The first issue I wish to discuss is engaging the students. Our students are 21st century students. They are digital natives, immersed in and already learning from technology. We need to engage those skills they have already learned through technology and use those skills to engage them in education, and set them up for life-long learning. Times have changed radically, yet education really has not followed that change as drastically. To engage students we need to reach them through what they know. This video shows a little bit on that topic.

Today's learners are dependent on technology. And as they are dependent on it, of course they learn best through it. This next video shows how the 21st century student learns. They learn through social networks, blogs, email, etc. They read blogs, books, and magazines. If they are looking for information they go to the internet. Watch the video to learn more on that.

Obviously, it is important that teachers today learn to engage our students and teach them what they will need. The next video I wish to share with you speaks of that. It gives three steps in reaching 21st century learners. The steps are having a creative classroom, teaching students the skills of competition, cooperation, and collaboration, and introducing the students to their global peers. With the technology we have, our students will need to be able to interact with people from all cultures through technology.

Lastly, if we apply these technology tools, and excite our students about learning, we will set them up to be lifelong learners. They will fall in love with learning because it has been made exciting. It will no longer be a boring drudgery. Also, lifelong learning will need to be a necessity in order to succeed. With jobs being created that we cannot even imagine, our students will have to be taught to adapt and to be willing to constantly learn. This may seem a little intimidating, but it can be truly exciting to see students who love to learn and that are excited and prepared for their future.

References:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZkvmpE50GQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1srP6J7f9kY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yCB4i7GJuM