Leveraging Digital and Global Competencies
M Fullan "when something is that powerful move towards the danger, figure it out, don’t shy away. " Loved this! A. Chiarelli
A few years ago, we wondered, "What will happen when we look out into our classrooms and every student has a device (whether supplied by to them or BYOD)?"
That time is now!!!
Joe Sisco
iMovie
I'm going to add to the conversation anecdotally. We know that we are teaching students who will work in jobs that don't exist, using technology that hasn't been invented. But we are also reading about a generation of kids who have been "helicoptered" who suddenly find themselves in college, in university and on the job with no resiliency, no idea how to make it in the "real world". Teaching our kids how to think critically, to stop and think, to communicate, to collaborate will help them when they are independent.
Here is my favourite video about so-called 21st century skills. Calling them digital and global competencies makes so much more sense. How many of us actually ever taught in anything but the 21st century? Not for long I think.. - Cindy Hughes
Thank you for bringing this up - we do live in a world where
students aren't able to cope with hardships because people
have done everything for them and are lead to believe most things they hear. In a world where the internet is "like drinking from a fire hydrant" we have so much information thrown at us that we need to learn how to sift through and be critical in what we are reading, learning and applying to our education. We need to teach our students not only how to use tech but how to navigate it and become critical citizens. J. Ciprietti
The role of technology in enabling students to see themselves in the daily learning is high today. Just a couple of decades ago, it would be more difficult for a teacher to bring into the classroom information about other cultures/countries. In this day and age this kind of valuable information is at the tips of our fingers. With only a couple of clicks, teachers and students can incorporate prior learning experiences in the curriculum and their learning journey.
Therefore, I believe that our main aim, as teachers in a a globalized world, should be how to create an environment where students can understand, retain the material taught and succeed, no matter what kind of future technology we use in the classroom, as long as the student is comfortable with it and benefits most from it and that is designed to promote high levels of interactivity and engagement with data and information in multiple forms.
During my research into the subject of Leveraging Digital and Global Competencies I found an interesting video which I have attached here for your review.
Anca Popa
Collaboration and Communication - Lisa Bouffard - https://education.microsoft.com/Story/SkypeCollaboration?token=fE7Zh
One World, One Big Family
We would like to collaborate with other schools throughout the Globe.
Global citizens take action on the world's biggest challenges. In an ever-changing world where globalization is the norm, teaching how to be an active citizen in and beyond our communities is an integral part of our students' success.
This Project/collaboration will provide information on the importance of global citizenship how to become part of an international professional learning network engaging students in real world problems to solve.
I think students can learn a lot from speaking to students from another part of the world. There are many great opportunities, through Skype, for students to explore different jobs and experiences.
Ever wonder how you are doing within your own classroom with respect to Deep Learning? We are often our own harshest critics, but we do understand that clear expectations often result in better performance. Attached is a handy teacher self-assessment divided into: 1) Learning Environments 2) Learning Partnerships 3) Pedagogical Practices 4) Leveraging Digital. I found it useful as a guide to where our classrooms are headed, and how I am doing individually. D. Rigley
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Six Learning Competencies Research has identified six global competencies to support all learners in a complex, rapidly-changing, technology-intensive globalized world. They are:
• Critical Thinking and Problem Solving
• Innovation, Creativity & Entrepreneurship
• Learning to Learn / Self-Aware and Self Directed Learning
• Collaboration
• Communication
• Global Citizenship and Sustainability M. McCormack
CREATIVITY:
Students engage in collaborative inquiry-based projects working on real world problems and develop creative and innovative ideas, knowledge, and products. In the process, students gain skills in design thinking (exploration and experimentation), entrepreneurship, leadership, and real world experiences that can help them in future working environments.
Students are expected to:
• Contribute solutions to complex problems
• Develop or enhance a concept, idea or product
• Make discoveries through inquiry and research
• Pursue new ideas to meet a need of a community M. McCormack
CRITICAL THINKING: Students will engage in problem and inquiry based projects to investigate and solve complex real world problems using critical thinking and problem solving skills and a wide variety of digital tools and resources. By conducting detailed research, critically analyzing and evaluating problems and evidence, understanding and processing patterns and making connections, and thinking in a systematic way, students will learn strategies for effective decision making.
Students are expected to:
• Solve meaningful, real-life, complex problems
• Take concrete steps to address issues
• Design and manage projects
• Acquire, process, interpret, and analyze information to make informed decisions (critical and digital literacy)
• Engage in an inquiry process to solve problems
• Make connections and transfer learning from one situation to another M. McCormack
COMMUNICATION: Students will communicate effectively and authentically using oral, written and nonverbal communication skills in a wide variety of physical and virtual environments using a diverse array of digital tools and resources. In addition, students will also show effective listening skills.
Students are expected to:
• Communicate effectively in different contexts in oral and written form
• Ask effective questions to acquire knowledge
• Communicate using a variety of media
• Select appropriate digital tools according to purpose
• Listen to understand all points of view
• Voice opinions and advocate for ideas M. McCormack
COLLABORATION: By working collaboratively in teams, students learn from and teach each other, discover how to successfully navigate digital learning spaces, collectively participate in the creation of new ideas, knowledge and content, develop a mix of key cognitive and social skills (critical thinking, problem solving, leadership, empathy, adaptability, etc.), and gain practical knowledge and experiences.
Students are expected to:
• Learn from, and contribute to, the learning of others
• Co-construct knowledge, meaning, and content
• Assume various roles on the team
• Network with a variety of communities/groups
• Respect a diversity of perspectives M. McCormack
CITIZENSHIP: Students will use a variety of virtual learning tools to connect with diverse audiences at a global level to develop a deeper perspective, sensitivity to, and respect for human and cultural diversity. Through project and inquiry-based learning, students will become actively involved in addressing issues of human and environmental sustainability in a rapidly changing and interconnected world, helping them to become global citizens. Global citizenship will help students gain an enhanced sense of personal and community responsibility.
Students are expected to:
• Contribute to society and the culture of the local, global and digital community in a responsible, accountable, and ethical manner
• Interact safely and responsibly within a variety of communities
• Create a positive digital footprint M. McCormack
CHARACTER: Students will develop a broader and more well-balanced set of character traits that will benefit them in their work and personal lives. These include resilience, empathy, confidence, perseverance, persistence and tenacity. These key character traits will help students to deal with and overcome the many challenges and obstacles in life and form the important connections and relationships they need to succeed in life.
Students are expected to:
• Contribute to society and the culture of the local, global and digital community in a responsible, accountable, and ethical manner
• Learn from and with diverse people M. McCormack
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Here is a link to the slide deck that all the students & teachers in grade 3 created for our Social Justice Initiative. It was created to show which global competencies we focused on as well as our learning elements and curriculum focus. The link is to the right of this box. Lisa Brennen
I have the same idea as Lisa Brennan. Here is a link to the slide deck that my teaching partner and have done for our Social Justice Initiative. It was created to show our classes' learning and the global competencies as well as our curriculum links. Click on the link to see our Google Slide Deck.
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Leveraging digital to enhance student understanding and learning : Josée Plante
Collaboration- in a 21st century context requires the ability to “work in teams, learn from and contribute to the learning of others, use social networking skills, and demonstrate empathy in working with diverse others” (Fullan, 2013, p. 9) Josée Plante
Critical Thinking – in the 21st century is described as the “ability to design and manage projects, solve problems, and make effective decisions using a variety of tools and resources” (Fullan, 2013, p. 9) Josée Plante
Communication - in a 21st century context refers not only to the ability to “communicate effectively, orally, in writing, and with a variety of digital tools” but also to “listening skills” (Fullan, 2013, p. 9) Josée Plante
Creativity in schools gives “students experiences with situations in which there is
no known answer, where there are multiple solutions, where the tension of ambiguity is appreciated as fertile ground, and where imagination is honoured over rote knowledge” (Creativity: The State of the Domain, Upitis, 2014, p. 3). Josée Plante
Some useful rubrics connected to critical thinking, particularly the ones in student friendly language. D. Rigley
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21st Century competencies C. Pellecchia
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Interesting how new report cards will align with new 21st century competencies (P. 56) C. Pellecchia
Digital learning is necessary because our world is changing C. Pellecchia
facilitates communication and collaboration.
“Communication technologies provide pathways for connections among students, parents, and educators (P21, 2009, p. 18)” P. 35 C. Pellecchia
assists in the assessment of student performance.
“Technology can support assessment for, as, and of learning, providing real-time assessment information that deepens our understanding of student learning gains and challenges. Technology can also support the tasks of gathering and analysing assessment information about student learning, thereby facilitating instructional decision making”. P.34 C. Pellecchia
21st Century Competencies and Examples in MY classroom C. Pellecchia
The following categories of 21st century competencies have been shown to have measurable benefits in multiple areas of life: • critical thinking and problem solving • innovation, creativity, and entrepreneurship • communication • collaboration (teamwork) • a growth mindset (metacognition / learning to learn, perseverance, and resilience) • local, global, and digital citizenship P.46 C. Pellecchia
Communication: Using concept mapping tools like Mindmeister or Mindomo to create a mindmap on different types of rocks, how they are formed, and examples of each. C. Pellecchia
Critical Thinking: Create a storybook online using Book Creator (Narrative Writing-Christmas Story), Creating a comic using Pixton(Harmful Effects of Smoking) C. Pellecchia
Book Creator
Communication, Citizenship, Collaboration, Creativity: Creating a public service announcement on the Harmful of effects of Smoking using iMovie, Creating a Google Slides Presentation on a Landform Region in Canada C. Pellecchia
21st Century Competencies Resource Document C. Pellecchia
increased student engagement
“Research shows that students are more engaged, intrinsically motivated to learn, and more successful when they can connect what they are learning to situations they care about in their community and in the world. Technology can provide access to real-time data, simulations to situate learning in the real world, and opportunities for students to link learning to their personal interests. P.33 C. Pellecchia
Digital world is enticing to students
Technology is attractive and available-how do we use it to deepen learning
Students have a role to play- they affect how teachers teach C. Pellecchia
C Pellecchia
Teachers are asked to be facilitators of learning, but teachers need to be willing to learn along the journey as well C. Pellecchia
yes! we have to find the time and be open to new approaches and ideas
Character, Collaboration, Communication: File Sharing (Google Docs, SLides, Sheets), Discussion on D2L website (Bullying vs Cyber bullying, Math Talks), PADLET (Places we have visited in Canada) C. Pellecchia
CRITICAL THINKING
Strategies to develop Critical Thinking
Critical Thinking Model
Understand your Point of View
Think about Purpose
State the Question
Gather Information
Watch your Inferences
Clarify your Concepts
Check your Assumptions
Think about Implications & Consequences
Students work on Arduino projects and I encourage students to try to solve a problem as their project. We talk about empathy as the first step in the Design Process.
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COLLABORATION
Use Google Classroom to answer questions collaboratively.
Use G Suite & sharing permissions to collaboratively work on a drawing, doc, sheet or slidedeck.
Explicitly teach what collaboration sounds like and what it looks like. Some students thing that collaboration means each person is individually responsible for part of an assignment, project or creation but ideally, collaboration works best when all participants are required to participate and are actively involved in the learning process.
COMMUNICATION
I encourage lots of questions to be asked in class. Students can ask out loud, post a question on the "Question Board" or post a question on the Google Classroom. I encourage students to answer their peer's questions and use the "Ask three before me" routine.
Students always have choice in how they wish to make their thinking visible. I often refer students to using these visible thinking routines by PROJECT ZERO - Harvard University.
Core Routines
Understanding Routines
INNOVATION & CREATIVITY
In every course my students work on a 20% Project where they spend 20% of their time implementing an Inquiry project-based learning task.
For many assignments, I encourage them to use a program or tech tool of their choice to demonstrate their learning. There are many online web 2.0 tools, G Suite, etc. in which students can make their thinking visible and be creative.
Creativity Routines
SELF-DIRECTED LEARNING
I am using HyperDocs and posting them in Google Classroom. A HyperDoc makes your lesson plans visible to students. The HyperDoc is an organized collection of information, videos, and links which guide students to learn the GOALS of the lesson. Students can work at their own pace, anytime, anywhere. If students are away they know exactly where they need to pick up from.
I am fostering metacognition in my classes through conversations and explicit teaching of strategies. Students need to develop a sense of how they learn best. Some students learn best using technology.
I use the Universal Design for Learning model focusing first on WHY we are learning the WHAT and then use technology frequently for the HOW component. I feel that students can become more invested in their education if they understand first why the learning is occurring. Students become more engaged in the learning process when they are able to tap into technological resources in their learning process.
Why use Visible Thinking Strategies
CITIZENSHIP
Twitter: I get my students to use Twitter. It connects them globally to issues and topics around the world.
Global Digital Citizen Foundation
Giving Every student access to technology is key to leveraging these Competencies. You can do all these amazing things and access all these great apps, etc to provide students with opportunities to enhance these 6Cs or the 21st century competencies IF you have the technology. As Michael Fullan says if it's used purposefully and is engaging and not too complicated then tech can be used to accelerate learning. Students are definitely change agents. I love the Think Different video. That's precisely why education needs to change. Students have the answers to change how we teach, how they learn. They can't be connected, participatory learners without the tech in front of them daily (Alec Couros) to learn in a learning network and extend their knowledge. Opportunities are only endless with access to technology. Some students have access everyday to tech, some have it once a week. The access to technology is what needs to be equitable for students to all gain and refine these essential global characteristics. I think all these skills are just as essential for the teacher as the learner. We can't teach these learners if we don't critically think about our lessons, are self aware of our abilities, are innovative and creative in assessments and assignments and collaborate with other teachers regularly as part of a PLC. We too must be a global citizen and communicate via social media, actually using the tech and platforms are students are using to speak the same language. The 21st Century competencies are necessary for all of us to move forward.~Alison Couturier
In my classroom students have access to Chromebooks all day. We use Google sites for Communication and Self Directed Learning. We use Google Classroom for Self directed learning as an agenda and online assignments. We use Google Docs and Sheets to collaborate in groups in Math and Language. We use Google slides to create presentations collaboratively to communicate our results of our projects. We use the Hang Outs and Gmail to communicate with one another with questions. I am trying to create opportunities for students to engage in their own self directed experiences. For example, in math I asked students to survey, collect, graph, data that interested them, really actually interested them. I gave a few examples and then set them free. Students began brainstorming in small and large groups. Eventually I had groups that began to form. One group collected data about building structures and tested various age groups. One group timed others putting a tent together. One group even created an escape room and timed how long it took for someone from each grade level to escape. Their excitement was incredible. Totally authentic, collaborative, self directed learning and they will use technology to present the results. They were engaged in purposeful learning.
Your students are very lucky to have access to chrome books all day! My chrome book has to be shared with a whole division but when I do get on them (I try to get them on one period a day, they are so enthusiastic and so willing to learn something new. C Pellecchia
The more exposure the kids have to tech in the class and the more ‘glitches’ they encounter the more they are pushed to problem solve on their own and collaborate with their peers for assistance. The first day the carts are wheeled into the room they are all shouting for help, following you around like ducklings and hands raised everywhere. Now when a hand goes up a kid around them says, "Here I know what to do, I’ll show you" or "I found a workaround". Its amazing! Now pair that with a meaningful task and the kids are well on their way to the deep learning goals of the 6 c’s A. Chiarelli
#ThinkDifferently! A. Chiarelli
I agree completely! When tech first arrived we had sign outs for the laptop carts and we all had to share, it was almost a novelty - games were the only things to do or even just microsoft word. Now it seems all projects are done online with chromebooks and they can teach me more than i can show them- which is amazing! What used to be a tool used for rewarding good behaviour (fun friday computer time) now is an essential tool for learning and assessment! -Jenna Ciprietti
21st CENTURY GLOBAL COMPETENCIES
by Deanna Williams
In Robotics, when students choose projects to work on, I suggest a Design Thinking approach first which emphasizes "empathy" as the first step. In the first step, students need to make a connection to a real world problem whether it's personal or global and their project should be an attempt at solving this problem or at least relating to the problem.
h
The more teachers become comfortable with using technology as a tool to enhance learning, the more engaged and motivated students will be to learn in a new way that will help them in the real world C. Pellecchia
Resource: A Vision for Learning in TDSB
The education systems must keep pace with changing times because : • changes in the work force from an industrial model of production to a rapidly transforming, technology-driven, and interconnected globalized knowledge economy. Such an economy requires competencies suited to dynamic and unpredictable models of economic and social development;
• emerging evidence on how to optimize learning, including the use of technological innovations to deepen and transform learning;
• changing expectations on the part of learners, who are demanding an education system that is more connected and relevant to their everyday lives. (21st Century Competencies p.8) Josée Plante
Connected learning – As explained by Alec Couros, student learning is no longer solely dependent on the sum of knowledge acquired over time but also to expand their knowledge on how to use peripheral devices to find information. It is important for students to develop technical skills in order to be able to learn and know through a particular network. Josée Plante
- can create and design presentations that showcases problem-solving
- can embed videos and links directly
- can engage others to collaborate on ideas by using the “share” feature
- can provide comments and feedback using the “comment” feature
- can link slides within the presentation to organize ideas M. McCormack
- can edit and communicate with collaborators in real-time, using different devices at the same time.
- can communicate their thinking by using “callouts” shapes to explain their thinking to others.
- can use “add-ons” to include mathematical equations in numeracy
- can use the “question and answer” feature in “present” mode to promote a discussion in their presentation.
- can use audio and visual recordings, and images to enhance communication skills M. McCormack
- can work in real-time with others
- can add slides to the same document.
- There is no limit to the number of collaborators
Google Slides can be shared with a larger group of people by providing a link (found in the “share” feature M. McCormack
- can create and be involved in unique presentations
-can collaborate to solve complex problems in any subject and use “call-outs” to show their thinking
- Concepts can be presented in a variety of forms (tables, charts, diagrams, videos, etc) M. McCormack
- The learning process focuses not only on what students learn but also how they learn about themselves and others, to learn to do things, and interact socially. Global Citizenship Education, p.18
- can explore various themes and topics
- can interact safely within the school board policies regarding sharing with others (privacy is protected using the ‘sharing’ feature.
- can upload presentations within Google+ to share with larger communities (educators only) M. McCormack
EduGains 21st Century Competencies
Six Categories of Deeper Learning Skills for Education Leaders
Floating topic
Creativity
Create something new or create something in a new way- INNOVATE (new or better)
Citizenship
Be in touch with both culture and community. Use Pixton to create a comic about a social issue that is important to the school community
Character
responsible-caring-contributing citizens
BHN Catholic Graduate Expectations
Communication
Present information in a clear, concise, and meaningful way- to inform, instruct, motivate, and/or persuade.
OneNote, PowerPoint, Padlet
Critical Thinking
Filtering, analyzing, and questioning information/content found in media and then synthesizing it and applying it to their daily lives
MediaSmarts: Canada's Centre for Digital and Media Literact
Collaboration
develop the skill of utilizing various personalities, knowledge, talents, in a way to benefit the whole group
Defending Answers
Working as a Team