EDUC
328
BUILDING
and
ENHANCING
NEW LITERACIES
ACROSS THE
CURRICULUM
MODULE
121ST CENTURY EDUCATION
Learning Outcomes: At the end of the lesson, the students shall be able to:
• Define and describe how 21st century education concepts can be
integrated in the classroom.
• Analyze research abstract on 21st century education and its implications
on teaching- learning process.
Hello students! Welcome to the new normal setting of learning. In this course, you
are going to learn about the 21st century education. You will learn to describe the 21st
century teacher and innovative tools for learning. Examine the critical attributes of 21st
century education. Draw relevant lessons and significant values from the experience in
practicing 21st century education. I hope you enjoy reading and learning. Let’s start!
ACTIVITY
Answer the following questions
1. What is your understanding of 21st century learning?
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2. What can you say about 21st century learners?
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3. Are you in favor of integrating technology in the teaching-learning process?
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ANALYSIS
Answer the question that supports your answer in the above activity.
1. What is the implication of technology for the 21st century education teachers and
learners?
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CONCEPT EXPLORATION
This modern society is ushered in by a dramatic technological revolution. It is an
increasingly diverse, globalized and complex media saturated society. According to Dr.
Douglas Keilner, this technological revolution bears a greater impact on society than the
transition from an oral to print culture.
Education prepares students for life in this world. Amidst emerging social issues and
concerns, there is a need for students to be able to communicate, function and create change
personally, socially, economically and politically at the local, national and global levels by
participating in real-life and real-world service-learning projects.
Emerging technologies and resulting globalization also provide unlimited possibilities
for exciting discoveries and developments.
21st Century Education Contexts
21st Century Schools. Schools in the 21st century focus on a project-based curriculum
for life that would engage students in addressing real-World problems and humanity concerns
and issues.
This has become an innovation in education. from textbook driven, teacher-centered,
paper-and-pencil schooling into a better understanding of the concept of knowledge and a new
definition of the educated person. Therefore, it makes a new way of designing and delivering
the curriculum.
Schools will go from ‘buildings’ to ‘nerve centers”, with open walls and are roofless
while connecting teachers, students and the community to the breadth of knowledge in the
world.
Teachers will transform their role from being dispensers of information to becoming
facilitators of learning and help students translate information into knowledge and knowledge
into wisdom.
Therefore, the 21st century will require knowledge generation, not just information
delivery, and schools will need to create a “culture of inquiry”
Learners will become adaptive to changes. In the past, learners spent a required amount
of time in respective courses, received passing grades and graduated. Today, learners are
viewed in a new context.
These changes have implications for teachers: (1) Teachers must discover student
interest by helping them see what and how they are learning to prepare them for life in the real
world; (2) They must instill curiosity, which is fundamental to lifelong learning; (3) They must
be flexible in how they teach; and (4) They must excite learners to become more resourceful so
that they will continue to learn outside' formal school.
21stCentury learning demands a school that excites students for' school. There is a little
or no discipline problem because of strong student engagement. Likewise, parents are informed
about positive changes in their children. As a result, students manifest significant improvement
in basic skills of reading, writing, speaking, listening, researching, scientific explorations,
math, multimedia skills and others.
The 21st Century Curriculum.
The twenty-first century curriculum has critical attributes that are interdisciplinary,
project-based and research-driven. It is connected to local, national and global communities, in
which students may collaborate with people around the world in various projects. The
curriculum also integrates higher order thinking skills, multiple intelligences, technology and
multimedia, multiple literacies and authentic assessments, including service learning
(http://edglossary.org/21st-century-skills).
The classroom is filled with self-directed students, who work independently and
interdependently. The curriculum and instruction are designed imbued with the concept of
differentiation. Thus, instead of focusing on textbook-driven or fragmented instruction,
instruction turns to be more thematic, project-based and integrated with skills and competencies
purely not confined within themselves, but are explored through research and concept
application in projects and outputs (http://edglossary org/21st-century-skills).
Learning is not confined through memorization .3, met, and figures alone but rather is
connected to previous knowledge, personal experience, interests, talents and habits.
The 21st Century Learning Environment.
Typically, a 21st Century classroom is not confined to a literal classroom building but a
learning environment where students collaborate with their peers, exchange insights, coach and
mentor one another and share talents and skills with other students. Cooperative learning is
also apparent, in which students work in teams because cooperation is given more emphasis
than competition, and collaborative learning more than isolated learning. They use
technologies, including Internet systems and other platforms.
Hence, in the process of creating a world-class 21st century learning environment,
building new schools and remodeling of present school facilities can be addressed toward
creating environmentally friendly, energy-efficient, and “green” schools. Inside every
classroom, students shall apply their knowledge of research in life, which is a clear indication
of a relevant, rigorous, 21st century real-life curriculum.
An ideal learning environment also considers the kind of spaces needed by students and
teachers in conducting investigations and projects by diverse groups for independent work. An
ideal learning environment has plenty of wall space and other areas for displaying student work
that includes a place where the parents and the community can gather to watch student
performances, as well as a place where they can meet for discussions.
Technology in the 21st Century Pedagogy.
Technologies are not ends in themselves but these are tools students use to create
knowledge for personal and social change.
21st Century learning recognizes full access to technology. Therefore, a better
bandwidth of Wifi access should be available along areas of the school for the students to access
their files and supplement their learning inside the classroom. Various laboratories and learning
centers are set up in such a way that they allow a space needed for students’ simulation and
manipulative works. All classrooms should have televisions to watch broadcasts created by the
school and other schools around. Other resources in the school can also be utilized by students
in
creating
opportunities
for
their
knowledge
explorations
(http://www.21stcenturyschools.com/Critical_Pedagogy. htm).
Understanding 21st Century Learners. Today’s Students are; referred to as “digital
natives”, while educators as “digital immigrants (Prensky, 2001). Most likely, digital natives
usually react, are random, holistic and non-linear. Their predominant senses are motion and
touch. They learn through experience and team differently. Digital immigrants often reflect, are
sequential, and linear. Their predominant senses are hearing and seeing. They tend to
intellectualize and believe that teaming is constant (Hawkins and Graham, 1994).
Students’ entire lives have been immersed in the 21" Century media culture. They take
in the world via the tilter of computing devices, such as cellular phones, hand held gaming
devices, PDAs, and laptops plus the computers, TVs, and game console at home.
A survey by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation found that young people (ages 818) spend on electronic media an average of six hours a day. in addition, many are
multitasking, such as listening to music while surfing the Web or instant-messaging friends
while playing a video game.
The preschoolers easily navigate electronic multimedia resources on games, in which
they learn colors, numbers, letters, spelling, and more complex tasks, such as mixing basic
colors to create new colors, problem-solving activities, and reading.
However, as Dr. Michael Wesch points out, although today’s students understand how
to access and utilize these tools, they use them only for entertainment purposes. Thus, students
should be prepared and assisted to become media literate as they function in an online
collaborative research-based environment with the advent of researching, analyzing,
synthesizing, critiquing, evaluating and creating new knowledge.
21st Century Skills Outcome and the Demands in the Job Market.
The 21st Century skills are a set of abilities that students need to develop to succeed in
the information age. The Partnership for 21st Century Skills lists three types, namely: (1)
Learning Skills which comprise critical thinking, creative thinking, collaborating, and
communicating; (2) Literacy Skills which is composed of information literacy, media literacy,
and technology literacy; and (3) Life Skills that include flexibility, initiative, social skills,
productivity and leadership. These skills have always been important in an information-based
economy.
Likewise, skills demanded in the job market include knowing a trade, following
directions, getting along with others, working hard and being professional, efficient, prompt,
honest, and fair. More so, to adapt to these jobs in this information age, students need to think
deeply about issues, solve problems creatively, work in teams, communicate clearly in many
media, learn ever-changing technologies and deal with the influx of information. Amidst rapid
changes in the world, industry requires students to be flexible, take the initiative, low when
necessary. and create something now and useful.
According to Partnership for 21st Century skills (P21), various industries look for
employees who can think critically, solve problems, creatively, innovate, collaborate and
communicate. Therefore, for a perfect match between academe and industry demands, schools
need to embed time-tested industry-demanded work skills in the curriculum
(http://thoughtfullearning.com/resources/what-are-21st-century-skills).
The 21st Century Learning Implications.
21st Century skills are viewed relevant to all academic areas and the skills may be
taught in a wide variety of both in-campus and community settings.
Teachers should practice teaching cross-disciplinary skills in related courses, such as
integrating research methods in various disciplines; articulating technical scientific concepts in
verbal, written, and graphic forms; presenting laboratory reports to a pool of specialists, or use
emerging technologies, software programs and multimedia applications as an extension of an
assigned project.
Likewise, accrediting organizations and regulatory bodies may require 21st century
skills in the curriculum. In doing so, the assessment tools should also contain these skills. They
may design or adopt learning standards that explicitly describe multi-disciplinary skills that
students should acquire and master.
Schools and teachers should use a variety of applied skills, multiple technologies, and
new ways of analyzing and processing information, while also taking initiative, thinking
creatively, planning out the process, and working collaboratively in teams with other students.
More so, schools may allow students to pursue alternatives, in which students can earn
academic merits and satisfy graduation requirements by completing an internship,
apprenticeship or volunteer experience. It is in this manner that students can practice a variety
of practical, career-based, work-related skills and values while equally completing the
academic coursework and meeting the same learning standards required of students.
In today’s world, information and knowledge are continuously increasing at a certain
rate that no one can learn everything about every subject. What may appear true today could be
proven to be false tomorrow and the jobs that students will get after they graduate may net yet
exist. For this reason, students need to be taught how to Process, analyze and use the
information and they need adaptable skills that they can apply in all facets of life. Thus, merely
teaching them ideas and facts without teaching them how to use them in real life settings
is no longer enough.
Schools need to adapt and develop new ways of teaching and learning that reflect a
changing world. The purpose of school should be to prepare students for success after
graduation and therefore, schools need to prioritize the knowledge and skills that will be in the
greatest demand, such as those deemed to be most important by college professors and
employers. Hence, teaching students to perform well in school or pass the test alone is no
longer sufficient.
Henceforth, teachers must realize and students must understand that no one can move
toward a vision of the future unless he/she understands the socio-historical context of where
they are now, what events led them to be where they are, how this can inform development of
a vision for the future and how they want to get there. Thus, a clear articulation of the purpose
of education for the 21st century is the place to begin (http://thoughtfullearning.com/
resources/what-are-21st-century-skills)
A Paradigm Shift for 21st Century Education (CLICK)
The Critical Attributes of 21st Century Education (CLICK)
The Characteristics of a 21st Century (CLICK)
Common 21st Century Technology Tools for Learning
As teacher for the 21st Century, no one can escape from the reality that we are now in
a borderless society. It is, therefore, important that we should know different technology tools
for learning to respond to the needs of 218t Century learners’ and the demands of the times.
The following are common 21st Century technology tools.
1. Affinity Groups. These are groups or communities that unite individuals with common
interests. Electronic spaces extend the range of possibilities for such groups.
2. Blogs. Web logs or “blogs” are interactive websites, often open to the public that can
include Web links, photographs and audio and video elements.
3. E-portfolio. It refers to student’s works that are generated. selected, organized, stored and
revised digitally. Often, electronic portfolios are accessible to multiple audiences and can be
moved from one site to another easily. it can document the process of learning, promote
integrative thinking, display final work, and/or provide a space for reflective learning.
4. Hypertext. These are electronic texts that provide multiple links and allow users to trace ideas
in, immediate and idiosyncratic directions. Hypermedia adds sound, video, animation, and/or
virtual reality environments to the user’s choices.
5. Podcasts. These are digitalized audio files that are stored on the Internet and downloaded to
listeners’ computers or most likely to MP3 players. The term “podcast” comes from iPod, the
popular MP3 player.
6. Web 2.0. This refers to a second generation of Web-based communities. that demonstrate
the participatory literacies that students need for-the 21st-century.
7. Myspace (http://www.Myspace.com). It is a social networking website that offers an
interactive user-submitted network of friends, personal profiles, blogs, groups, photos, music
and videos internationally. Students can rate professors, discuss books, and connect with high
school and college classmates here.
8. Second Life (http://www.secondlife.com). It is an internet-based 3-D virtual world that uses
avatars (digital representations) to explore, socialize, participate in individual or group
activities, create and trade items (virtual property) and services.
9. Semantic Web. It is an extension of the current Web that puts data into a common format so
that instead of humans working with individual search engines (e.g., Google, Ask Jeeves) to
locate information, the search engines themselves feed into a single mechanism that provides
this searching on its own. Sometimes called Web 3.0, this technology enables integration of
virtually all kinds of information for more effecient and comprehensive retrieval.
10. Webkinz (http://www.webkinz.com). It is an internet simulation wherein children learn
pet care and other skills.
11. Wiki. It refers to software that fosters collaboration and communication online. Wikis
enable students to create. comment upon, and revise collaborative projects. One of the most
prominent is Wikipedia (http://www.wikipedia.org), an online multilingual free-content
encyclopedia, which has 7.9 million articles in 253 languages.
12. Youtube (http://www.Youtube.com). It is a popular website for video sharing where users
can upload, view and share video footage, including movie clips, TV clips. and music videos,
even student-produced videos.
13. Google Docs. It allows students to collaborate with other people and the document
materials that need to be compiled, processed, transacted and analyzed.
14. Prezi. It allows individuals to use pre-made, creative presentation
templates. 15. Easybib. It allows individuals to generate citations in any given
format.
16. Social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Edmodo, Schoology, lnstagram, etc.). These
are means to communicate and share ideas among users.
17. Smartboards and audience response systems. These are replacement for traditional
chalkboards or Whiteboards in classrooms.
18. ReadWriteThink.org. (www.readwritethink.org). It is a repository of standards-based
literacy lessons that offer teachers instructional ideas for Internet integration.
19. WebQuest Page (www.webquest.org). It provides Webquests on an array of topics across
content areas with a template for creating one’s own.
20. Literacy Web (http://www.literacy.uconn.edu). It is 'an online portal that includes a large
number
of
new
literacy’s
resources
for
new
literacies
for
teachers.
(http://cnets.iste.org/teachers/glossary html#t)
APPLICATION. RESEARCH ANALYSIS AND IMPLICATION
Direction: Analyze the following research abstract and cite its implication to teaching
learning. You may download the full paper of this research on the website given
below.
(CLICK)
How do youth assess student’s 21st century life and career skills and their learning
environments?
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Implication: How may the results of this study be utilized in enhancing the 21st century
life and career skills of students and their learning environments?
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Reference: De Leon, E. (2020). Building and enhancing new literacies across the
curriculum. Quezon City: LORIMAR Publishing Inc.
MODULE ASSESSMENT
Write the 21st Century Education concepts on each ray of the sun. Write down
below how will you integrate these concepts in the teaching-learning process.
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