Preparing for 21st Century Skills

The ESU 10 technology trainers attended the National Education Computing Conference (NECC) in San Antonio, Texas this summer, along with 13,000 educators from across the country and from around the world. It was an inspiring educational technology convention; one which left me determined to make a difference in the education of our children by encouraging and working with educators to develop 21st century skills in Nebraska students.

The sponsor of NECC, ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education), revised the student technology standards (NETS) last year and released the revised technology standards for teachers this year, with new standards for administrators to follow next year. The focus of all ISTE technology standards has changed from the use of technology tools, i.e. can insert an image into a word processing document, to skill sets that require thinking along with tool usage, i.e. apply existing knowledge to generate new ideas, products, or processes. See http://iste.org/nets.

As the world rapidly changes and students from foreign countries outscore and outperform the best and brightest of our students. US students, who once were sought out for highly skilled jobs, are now competing with and losing out to students from other countries. For more info on this subject, read The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman, New York Times columnist (http://www.thomaslfriedman.com/bookshelf/the-world-is-flat) According to Ray McNulty, http://www.leadered.com/, “the flattening of the world will continue to impact our students as they work and live in the 21st century.” With the rapid advances in technology, we are faced with very different challenges and demands from our world than we were just 10 years ago. The world our children face is dramatically different than the one we faced when seeking a job/career, yet our educational process hasn’t seen much change.

As we look into the future, what jobs will be available for our students? Do those jobs even exist today? Are we preparing students with the skills that will be needed for such jobs? What needs to changed in the educational process? Are you willing to take a risk and use tools in the classroom that you’re not that comfortable with but students are? Are you willing to change the way you’ve always taught?

Join the ESU 10 staff, along with many other educators who see the need for change in education, as we embark on a course not yet completely known, but one that provides opportunities for students to be engaged in and excited about their education.

Blogs are online journals that can be used to post one's thoughts, feelings, and opinions which others can read and to which they can post comments. After seeing the various examples of how other educators have used blogs in the classroom, please post a comment indicating how you could use a blog professionally, i.e. with students, parents, community, peers, etc.