Briefing the Principals

I've been asked to present to a group of local small school principals regarding computers in schools and staff training.

I've put together a package that I feel provides a framework for understanding the issues surrounding "21st century skills".

To get things started I though I'd shake it up first. Four months old but good, and only 2 minutes. That ought to turn the discussion to getting these skills out to our kids.


So how do we get there?
Nets: the next generation: This is an excellent refinement of digital world skills including the important realm of citizenship skills (which is often overlooked in the discussion). Nets the next generation is presented in an easy to read, checklist style.

Leadership in an Online World: This document from the Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth affairs, (MCEETYA) provides a framework which will enable leaders to plan for and support change. Australia and New Zealand are committed to this. Greg Whitby referenced a similar document in his recent post at blueyonder

School 2.0 map: get a free one here. School 2.0 is a brainstorming tool designed to help schools, districts and communities develop a common education vision for the future and to explore how that vision can be supported by technology.












This inevitably leads to the question: "This is all well and good, but how do I prepare my staff?"
That's easy... The Intel Teach program is excellent here, though some might say that excellent is understating things a bit.

"It is an exemplary professional development opportunity for educators committed to creating learner-centered, technology-enabled curriculum and instruction for the 21st century."

- ISTE* Seal of Alignment Report on
Intel® Teach Essentials Course, Version 10

Intel teach is a global program, and is being implemented in over 50 countries, but for examples of how it's working here in NSW (Australia) check out some examples of intel teach in NSW

Hopefully my presentation will encourage some schools (just one would be enough) to make a change.

So that's it. What have I left out? What do I need to leave out? As always, comments and tips are most welcome.

Aquisition of mechanistic skills does not mean IT literate.

21st Century Skills

Readers of c21skills will know by now that I'm searching for a suitable ICT skills framework that can be adapted to work within my own State Dept of Education.

The best I have come accross so far are the ISTE Nets and the enGauge Framework.

Nets has become the defacto set of skills used in the USA, and even here in Australia we have very similar checklists for what we expect our children to know.

This is all well and good, but a checklist of skills does little to develop the critical thinking and collaborative work habits required of Australias 21st century citizen.

The kindergarten class of 2007 will graduate from high school in 2020! they are going to need alot more than an ability to "use" technology in a mechanistic way.

As good as the skillset in the NETS framework is, the enGauge model has a greater focus on 21st century skills.

Here is a comparison of the NETS skills and the enGauge model.

Note: the NETS standards do not specifically address Visual Literacy, Global
Awareness, Adaptability/Managing Complexity, Curiosity, or Risk-Taking, which are addressed by enGauge.

My thoughts? I'm looking at the enGauge model carefully. It doesnt have an easy checklist format that 20th century teachers seem to love so much, but it has a powerful set of skills that we ignore at our peril.

Impressive Membership

The Partnership for 21st Century Skills has an impressive framework for 21st century literacy.
The diagram at the bottom of this post shows that so called "ICT Skills" are only a subset of other elements such as content (global awareness, civic literacy, health and awareness), thinking skills (critical thought, problem solving, collaboration, creativity).

If you download the pdf from this site (see link at bottom of this post), you'll see a very impressive list of members. Intel, Verizon, Cisco, Adobe, Apple, Microsoft, Oracle, to name but a few. It would appear that some of the best a brightest have contributed to this document/site.

The Partnership for 21st Century Skills - Framework for 21st Century Learning

The Partnership for 21st Century Skills has developed a unified, collective vision for 21st century learning that can be used to strengthen American Global education.

Download this page as a PDF.