What are the features of a 21st Century Classroom?

We have been concentrating on the technology end of what 21st century skills mean for children and teachers alike. The piece that we haven't touched on so far is what it means for a global education. How can these skills help students be more global. We know that these skills, colaborating, communication and creating, are valuable skills to build within our own classroom walls, but what about beyond the four walls. We talked about the world being "flat", so how can we use these skills on a global level? We should seek out opportunities for our students to collaborate and communicate with classrooms across the country and across the seas. These opportunities will not present themselves easily, they need to be sought out by the teacher who is willing to put the extra effort into making these experiences meaningful for the students in front of them.

In a 21st Century classroom we should not notice the technology. It shouldn't be a special day that we got the laptop carts or the special lesson that uses the interactive whiteboard. These things should be blended into the daily routine in a manner that students don't see that it is something special. It should be like taking out their notebook. We need to become as comfortable with its potential and uses as we are with our text books and whiteboard markers. Students shouldn't notice technology happening in their classrooms. They don't use technology as a special treat in their lives outside of the classroom, it should be that seamless.

The Design Process

It is interesting to see that when you have one idea about how something will go, and you start working on it, you realize that it is not what you had in mind. This is striking to me because I am teaching the design process to my students in regards to architectural design. I hadn't stopped to think about how the design process relates to things other than engineering and construction.

The design process includes:

• Identify and define the problem or need
• Research the problem
• Brainstorm possible solutions
• Select the best solution
• Construct a prototype
• Test and Evaluate the solution
• Communicate the solution
• Redesign

The redesign brings you back to the beginning again. You identify what needs to change and go through the process again.

The process of developing these blogs and wikis with meaning for our classrooms is following the process. As you begin to work on something, you will go through each of these steps - conscientiously or un-conscientiously you are working through the design of a useful tool for yourself or for your students.

I began a wiki in Moodle and now that I see how it looks and "feels", I don't like it at all and think that making a seperate wiki will be more useful for my students. I plan to post a FAQ section, video tutorials and a "help" section.

21st Century Learners

One of the things that struck me the most with this weeks readings were the comments from the students in the 21st Century Digital Learner article. I felt a pang of resentment. I feel that because their outside world is so stimulating and entertaining, that they expect their classrooms to be entertainment spots too. I absolutely agree that 21st century learners are different, but everything they do doesn't have to be bells and whistles and a horse and pony show.

Reading the above, you may think that I am being resistant to new technology, but that is not it at all. I absolutely agree that getting in touch with their world is useful for making the learning meaningful for them. But I also believe that they need to understand that the world is not all fun and games. That the world they live in may be "flat" now, but that we still need to have the ability to know how to learn from "regular" teaching too.

PowerPoints used to be "the thing", but now, even those are too boring for the kids. Its not exciting enough. So now we can use things with even more bells and whistles and wow factors.

21st Century Skills

21st Century Skills are very relevant to my curriculum as a technology teacher. It is important for me to keep up to date with the world of technology. Over the summer I took Global Understanding for the 21st Century, so this is a nice follow-up to that. I hope to come away with new ideas to enhance my curriculum.