Using Emerging Web Tools to Teach 21st Century Skills

Justin Reich and Tom DaccordEdTechTeacher.org

Agenda• A review of 21st Century Skills• Technology and 21st C Skills

– Visions of 21st C instruction with technology

SPLIT ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY

• Where’s Waltham?• The First Step is Getting Connected:

Personal Learning Networks

Goals• Share visions of how Web 2.0 learning

environments can be used to nurture 21st century skills

• Reflect on Waltham’s strengths, opportunities and capacities in using technology to teach 21st century skills

• Begin to develop pieces of a Personal Learning Network

Economy-Wide Measures of Routine and Non-Economy-Wide Measures of Routine and Non-Routine Task Input: 1969-1998 (1969=0)Routine Task Input: 1969-1998 (1969=0)

-10

-8

-6

-4

-2

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

1969 1980 1990 1998

Perc

entile

Change in 1

969 D

istr

ibution

Complex Communication

Expert Thinking

Routine Manual

Routine Cognitive

Levy &Murnane: 21st C. Skills• Expert Thinking and Complex Communication

• Skills where humans have a comparative advantage over computers in a labor market

• [[What they are not: skills invented in the 21st century]]

• Levy F. and Murnane R., The New Division of Labor, Princeton UP

Partnership for 21st Century Skills

Justin’s 21st Century Skills

USING WEB 2.0 TOOLS TO TEACH 21ST CENTURY SKILLS

Words, Wikis, Westwood• How does the use of wikis change poetry

instruction in Westwood?

• What’s the same? What’s different?

• Why was this the most emailed article on Boston.com for 2 days?

Words, Wikis, Westwood• Reactions?• Discussion

– Include more voices

• Students writing– Motivating to write

more… more willing to share online

• Who is critiquing• Collects peer review

in one place

• Affordances?

• - Fun• Audience- • Quick feedback- or

delayed

“Participatory culture shifts the focus of literacy from one of individual expression to community involvement.”

-Henry Jenkins, Director of the Comparative Media

Studies Program at MIT

Social & Connected

-relatively low barriers to artistic expression and civic engagement

-strong support & informal mentorship in creating and sharing one’s creations

-believe their contributions matter, and feel some degree of social connection

participatory culture

The Great Debate of 2008

Student News Action Network

Calculus Manual

Great Debate of 2008http://greatdebate2008.wikispaces.com/

Student News Action Networkhttp://www.studentnewsaction.net/

AP Calculus Manualhttp://apcalc2008.pbworks.com/

Math Mov!eshttp://library.thinkquest.org/07aug/01801/

George Washingtonhttp://21stcenturytoolsncss.wikispaces.com/examples

A Day in the Life of a Hobohttp://edtechteacher.org/hobopodcast.html

Who am I?http://voicethread.com/library/35/

Exemplary Classroom Web 2.0 Projects

• http://parkerwiki0910.pbworks.com/

• http://www.flatclassroomproject.org/

• Vicki Davis Video: http://www.edutopia.org/digital-generation-teachers-vicki-davis

Web 2.0 in Administration

• Bering Strait School District : http://wiki.bssd.org/index.php/Main_Page

Waltham Wikis

• http://burns3.wikispaces.com/Group+3

• https://entreproject.wikispaces.com/Collings%2C+L.

Questions and Reactions to Technology and 21st C Skills

Where’s Waltham?What strengths can you build on in developing 21st

century skills? What roles can technology play?

• Classroom Instruction

• Homework

• Assessments

• Teacher/Department/Coach Collaboration

• Administrative Collaboration

The first step is getting connected:Personal Learning Networks

Personal Learning Networks

1. Organize Media Intake

2. Construct supportive community of learners

3. Prepare for ongoing professional development and learning

Are you connected?

http://pwoessner.com/2008/12/15/21st-century-literacy-network-literacy/

Organizing On-Going Learning

• Someone who has kindly explained how to do all of these things

• Ning– Classroom 2.0– ncssnetwork.ning.com – http://elementarytechteachers.ning.com/

• Blogs– David Warlick -dana boyd– Will Richardson - Kathy Schrock

• Twitter– Paul Bogush - Vicki Davis– Dennis Richards

• Social Bookmarking

NCSS Community Network

Organizing Media Intake: Browsers and RSSInternet Explorer Challenge

• Go to Waltham School District. Find the calendar

• Click on RSS Feed• Click Subscribe to This Feed

– Choose “Feeds” or “Add to Favorite Bar”

• Find and subscribe to a feed on another site

Firefox Challenge• Go to Waltham School

District. Find the calendar• Click on RSS Feed• Click Subscribe Now

– Choose “Toolbar” or “Menu” or create a folder

• Find and subscribe to another feed

Guidelines for Personal Learning Networks

• Devote a designated period of time to them

• Listen first, respond second, ask third, declare fourth

• Remember that building community takes time

• Make meaningful links

More Strategies for Getting Involved

• Teaching Global History with Technology at Harvard University

• EdTechTeacher Summer Workshops

It’s not about us

• The teacher is terrible at the skill but helps the student succeed marvelously

Develop Fundamental Skills in New Ways

Rehearse for 21st Century Situations/

Environments

Improve Student Engagement

Hypothesized Benefits to teaching with Web 2.0

Enable Rich CollaborationEnable Rich

Collaboration

Motivate StudentsMotivate Students

Improve Writing

Skills

Improve Writing

Skills

Engage in New Civic Dialogue

Train for Web 2.0

Applications in Business

Engage in New Global

Dialogue

Learn New

Media Literacies

Learn New

Media Literacies

Practice Deeper and

Richer Discussion

Practice Deeper and

Richer Discussion

Train for Writing

under Real World

Conditions

Develop Fundamental Skills in New Ways

Rehearse for 21st Century Situations/

Environments

Include More Students

Include More Students

Improve Student Engagement

Hypothesized Benefits to Teaching with Web 2.0

37

38

Challenges and Opportunities in moving towards a 21st Century

Learning Environment“Classrooms are rarely changed in substantial ways by educational policies.”

- John Diamond, sociologist of education, Harvard University School of Education

content influences

influences on pedagogy

PD implications

sustained & intensive

job-embedded

collective participation

active learning

PD “best practices”