Promoting The

4Cs While
Teaching
Online 1
 21st Century Competences

21st century competences are the skills and attributes

that people need to excel at life in the 21st century.

These are the competences that individuals need as they

carry out their roles as employees, students, parents,
hobbyists, etc.

The four 21st century competences that are promoted by

the curriculum are Critical Thinking, Creativity, 2

Communication and Collaboration.

The 4Cs

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 21st Century Competences in Online
Environments
Facilitating the 4Cs in online learning can be challenging:

Students are separated by Communication options are

time and space and this unnatural and inorganic –
makes it difficult for them especially in asynchronous
to collaborate. environments

Delayed feedback from The features, interface and

teachers compromise functionalities of students’
students’ ability to think devices may limit students’
critically creativity
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 21st Century Competences in Online
Environments

Despite the challenges, it is possible to use online

learning to promote the 4Cs

Indeed, in some cases, it is easier to promote the 4CS in

online environments than in face-to-face environments.

The use of technology can bridge the gaps created by

time and space and make collaborative tasks possible. 5
 Digital Learning menu for the 4Cs
Here are the key skills and attributes that students in online learning environment
need to develop in relation to the 4Cs.
Communication Collaboration Critical Thinking Creativity
• Students learn how to • Students learn how to use • Students learn to do • Students learn to use
choose and use digital digital tools to collaborate research to defend and digital tools to ‘think
communication tools • Students learn how to refine their views outside the box’
• Students develop the interact with other cultures • Students learn to use • Students are awed and
social skills (netiquette) and perspectives now simulations and other inspired by digital
to use digital made more accessible by digital tools and content; their
communication tools technology services to make and imagination comes alive
online. • Students learn to manage test predictions. • Students tap into their
• Students develop relationships, negotiate • Students develop sound personalities and
competence in compromise and allocate arguments for their interests by exploring
integrating multi- tasks without meeting online discussions digital content
media into their face-to-face. associated with their
communication hobbies and passions
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 Teachers’ role in
Promoting the 4Cs
in Online Learning
Environments
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 Provide Options
Give students choices when they are completing tasks in online
classes. Options can be included at different points in the tasks:
While students complete the task: In a Social Studies online class, for
example, students may be asked to choose any Jamaican they want and
develop a compelling essay for why that person should be named a
national hero.
When students are submitting the task: Instead of asking students to
write an essay, they can be encouraged to submit their answer using any
modality that they wish – video presentation, essay, poster, meme, etc.
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 Benefit of Providing Options
Providing options help build students’ creativity – more of their
personal views and ‘identity’ are likely to be present in tasks
over which they have more control.

Providing options help build students’ communication skills as

they must decide which medium works best in a situation

Options also help students’ critical thinking skills especially

when they must use reasons to evaluate multiple options in
order to choose the best one
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Use Assessment to Communicate Priorities

It is true that ‘what gets measured gets done’.

Online learning facilitates targeted assessment and
data collection.

When developing rubrics, mark schemes and grading

policies for online learning, allocate scores for choice of
communication media, for collaboration and for
creativity.

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 Use Open Tasks
Opening a task is perhaps the most effective way of
promoting the 4Cs. A task is open when students are
able to apply their own interpretation and perspective
to it.

Open tasks have multiple possible solutions; closed tasks

have one correct answer.

An example is shown on the next slide. 11

 Open vs Closed Tasks

John has 5 mangoes. Mark has “John has ___ mangoes. Mark
has ___ mangoes. Altogether
8 mangoes. How many they have ___ mangoes.”
mangoes do they have
Choose numbers to complete the
altogether? story above.
4 5 7 8 9 12 13

This task is closed. Only This task is opened.

1 answer is possible. Multiple possible
Minimal critical thinking answers exists. Critical
is involved in completing thinking is involved in
this task. solving this problem. 12
 Sample Open Task – History/Social Studies

What do you think a typical day would look like in the life of the
Tainos? Imagine the Tainos had a newspaper that is published daily.
What are some of the news stories and advertisements that you think
would appear in this newspaper?

Use Canva (or any graphic design site/app that you want) to design
a page from the newspaper.

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 Sample Open Task – Science

Can you figure out the best design for a raft/boat that floats? Use straw,
paper or fudge sticks to design a raft/boat. Tet your boat in your sink or a
pan at home. How much mass can your boat/raft support before it sinks?
Can it manage 1 spoon? 2 spoons? 3 spoons? Test your design and after
exploring, develop a video presentation making suggestions for the best
design for boats/rafts.

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 A Sample Opened Task – Mathematics

Examine the grilles (burglar bar) you see at home or in your

environment. Can you find grilles with vertical and/or horizontal lines
of symmetry? Take pictures of these grilles and share them with your
classmates. Create a design for a grille, making sure that your grille
has both vertical and horizontal lines of symmetry.

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Blend Online and Offline Engagement
Engaging students online does not mean they have to sit around a
computer all day. Give them tasks that allow them to explore
around the house and then return to the virtual space to report their
results.

Take advantage of the fact that students are at home and can do
exploration in their space.

For example, very young students can look for numbers around the
house – on product labels, bills, newspapers, etc. When they return to
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the virtual space, they can make a report of the smallest/largest
number that they saw.
 Blend Online and Offline Engagement
Blending online and offline engagement creates
opportunities for students to plan and carry out detailed
exploration not possible within the virtual space.
As a result, there are greater possibilities to engage in
tasks that support collaboration, creativity and critical
thinking.

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 Design tasks for Collaboration
Collaboration in online engagement? Yes! This is very
possible!

Many applications – Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google

Keep, etc. – all facilitate collaborative work in virtual
space. Students may also opt to collaborate using other
apps such as WhatsApp.

In designing tasks for student engagement in online classes,

make sure you ask students to work in groups. 18
 Final words
You should have realized by now, hopefully, that save
for a few tweaks, promoting the 4Cs in online
engagement is not very different from what you would
do in face-to-face engagement.

The important thing though is that you ‘show up and

teach’. Remember that, contrary to popular belief,
online classes do not teach themselves.
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