Aug 30 2010
Chapter 1
After reading the chapter the major theme that I perceived came up many times is change. The Internet is changing dramatically and the tools available are becoming more diverse. These specific tools are enabling businesses to be more effective and efficient within their organization. In addition, tools such as Blogs and Twitter are changing the way education is being taught. It is essential for students to gain knowledge on the importance of these tools so they can utilize these in an effective manner when they are in the workforce. I believe this can be established in the classroom by understanding what your students already know, and maybe what they want to gain about new tools and learning.
This chapter also discussed 21st century skills and the importance for education and business to embrace this change. The text mentions four categories of skills including digital-age literacy, inventive thinking, effective communication, and high productivity. The needs for 21st century skills are growing and will continue to into the future. I believe one of the most influential issues regarding 21st century learning is collaboration. Working together is an essential skill that all students need to excel at primarily because it is required in the workforce. They must be able to collect, synthesize, and analyze information, then be able to work with others to employ that information. Students must learn how to learn, while also responding to endlessly changing technologies and social, economic, and global conditions. This issue can become an opportunity with incorporating group projects into the classroom and challenging the students to the best of their capability.
“This chapter also discussed 21st century skills and the importance for education and business to embrace this change.”
I two feel it is vital for both education and business to embrace change because it is going to happen whether they want it to or not. They better prepare themselves.
Valid comment about the 21st century skills and the importance of using the Revised Bloom’s taxonomy in your teaching to acquire those higher-order thinking skills.
Ryan, I completely agree that one of the big themes in the chapter was change. Everything is changing and education is as well. As educators we need to make sure we are teaching the current skills to our students so they can have the most success as possible in the future.