Re-thinking teaching and learning in the 21st century
Assessment, Pedagogy, Reflections May 1st, 2008I just read a fascinating article in The Journal entitled 21st Century Teaching and Learning: Assessing New Knowledge by Dr. Ruth Reynard. The article discusses the evolving role of teachers as they respond to new demands of the global, hi-tech, inter-connected world. Dr. Reynard states:
Much has been discussed about the new roles teachers and students play in learning environments created by using new technology and the types of skills required of students in this century. Those skills tend to be softer skills like team building, cooperative communication strategies, self-direction, and the academic skills of critical and applied thinking, new knowledge construction and collaborative learning techniques.
Dr. Reynard goes on to say:
… current educational trends based on standards and tests lean towards teacher-driven instruction, while the required 21st century skills of higher order thinking skills, application of technology, and adapting to change and workplace skills, among others, require new methods and new assessment measures.
To address the skill requirements of the 21st century, teachers should assess the process
of learning rather than just the outcome. Evaluating the methods in which a student reaches an outcome should hold just as much importance as the outcome itself. As you can see, the content of instruction does not change, just the method of assessment. In this scenario, students still gain the content knowledge, but they also strengthen their own metacognitive skills. They learn how to think, not just recall information.
Recognizing and valuing the “how” and the “why” (ie, the thinking process) will help our students build the cognitive and problem-solving skills required to meet the ever-changing demands of the 21st century.
May 22nd, 2008 at 9:37 am
I agree with you that Ruth Reynard’s article is very interesting and totally relevant - I just wish that more people with the responsibility for teaching and learning believed it.
Teachers do have to change their practice - the student’s use and confidence in technology is growing - certainly faster that that of most staff. Students expect to use all forms of technology, that is how they constantly learn outside of school hours. Many schools are not harnessing these technological skills and abilities, thereby inhibiting students learning potential.
Many people still do not accept this - but that is the challenge for the 21st century, which is already almost a decade old! Students are moving and learning faster outside the system which is supposed to be what educates them. That is just crazy.
Employers want flexible thinkers, creative minds, independant workers that can also collaborate far more than those that can recite facts from memory. Wheb will some of our teachers get it?