CHAPTER 1: THE 21ST CENTURY

EDUCATION

RECHELYN G. SALEM-MAGBANUA, MAED-MATH

Course Instructor
LEARNING OUTCOMES:
At the end of this chapter, you must have:
1. Defined the 21st Century Education
2. Described the 21st Century teacher and the needed
innovative tools for learning
3. Examined the critical attributes of 21st Century
education
4. Explained how 21st Century education concepts can
be integrated in the classroom
21ST CENTURY EDUCATION CONTEXTS
21st Century Schools. Schools in the 21st century focus on
a project-based curriculum for life that would engage
students in addressing real-world problems and humanity
concerns and issues.
The 21st Century Curriculum. It has critical attributes that
are interdisciplinary, project-based and research-driven. It
also integrates higher-order thinking skills, multiple
intelligences, technology and multimedia, multiple
literacies and authentic assessments, including service-
learning.
21ST CENTURY EDUCATION CONTEXTS
The 21st Century Learning Environment. Tpypically, a 21st
Century classroom is not confined to a literal classroom
building but a learning environment where students
collaborate with their peers, exchange insights, coach
and mentor one another and share talents and skills with
other students.
Technology in the 21st Century Pedagogy. Technologies
are not ends in themselves but these are tools students
use to create knowledge for personal and social change.
21ST CENTURY EDUCATION CONTEXTS
Understanding 21st Century Learners. Today’s students
are referred to as “digital natives”, while educators as
“digital immigrants” (Prensky, 2001).
The 21st Century Learning Implications. 21st Century
skills are viewed relevant to all academic areas and the
skills may be taught in a wide variety of both in-campus
and community settings.
21ST CENTURY EDUCATION CONTEXTS
21st Century Skills Outcome and the Demands in the
Job Market. The 21st Century skills are a set of abilities
that students need to develop to succeed in the
information age. The Partnership for 21st Century Skills
lists three types: (1) Learning Skills which comprise
critical thinking, creative thinking, collaborating, and
communicating; (2) Literacy Skills which is composed of
information literacy, media literacy, and technology
literacy; (3) Life Skills that include flexibility, initiative,
social skills, productivity and leadership.
 A Paradigm Shift for 21st Century Education
Before 21st Century Education
Time-based
Focus: Memorization of discrete facts
Lower order thinking skills in Bloom‟s
Taxonomy, such as knowledge and
comprehension
Textbook-driven
Passive learning
Learners work in isolation and confined
in the classroom (walled classroom)
21st Century Education
Outcome-based
Focus: what students Know, Can Do and
Are Like after all the details are
forgotten
Higher order thinking skills
(metacognition), such as application,
analysis, synthesis, and evaluation
Research-driven
Active learning
Learners work collaboratively with
classmates and others around the world
(global classroom).
 A Paradigm Shift for 21st Century Education
Before 21st Century Education
Teacher-centered: teacher is dispenser
of knowledge, information and
attention.
Little to no student freedom.
Fragmented curriculum
Grades taken from formal assessment
measures entered in the class record
for reporting purposes
21st Century Education
Student-centered: teacher is
facilitator/coach of students‟ learning.
No “discipline problems”- Students and
teachers have mutual respect and
relationship as co-learners. High
student motivation.
Integrated and Interdisciplinary
curriculum
Grades are based on student‟s
performance as evidence of learning
outcome
 A Paradigm Shift for 21st Century Education
Before 21st Century Education
Assessment is for marking purposes
and placed as part of the plan structure
Low expectations. What students
receive is what they get.
Teacher is judge. No one else sees
student work. Outputs are assessed
using structure metrics.
Curriculum is irrelevant and
meaningless to the students.
Print is the primary vehicle of learning
and assessment.
21st Century Education
Assessment is important aspect of
instruction to gauge learning outcome
High expectations that students
succeed in learning to high extent.
Self, peer and others serve as
evaluators of student learning using
wide range of metrics and authentic
assessments.
Curriculum is connected to students‟
interests, experiences, talents and the
real world.
Performance, projects and multiple
forms of media are used for learning
and assessment.
 A Paradigm Shift for 21st Century Education
Before 21st Century Education 21st Century Education
Student diversity is ignored. Curriculum and instruction address
student diversity.
Students just follow orders and Students are empowered to lead and
instructions while listening to teacher‟s initiate while creating solutions and
lecture. solving problems.
Literacy is the 3 R‟s (reading, writing Multiple literacies of the 21st Century
and „rithmetic) aligned to living and working in a
globalized new society.
Factory model, based upon the needs of Global model based upon the needs of
employers for the Industrial Age of the a globalized high-tech society.
19th century
(Source: https://www.21stCenturySchools.com/)
 THE EIGHT ATTRIBUTES OF 21ST CENTURY EDUCATION
AND THEIR IMPLICATIONS
1. Integrated and Interdisciplinary. Education in the 21st
Century is characterized by interfacing various disciplines
in an integrated manner rather than compartmentalizing its
subsequent parts.
2. Technologies and Multimedia. Education in the 21st
Century makes optimum use of available Information and
Communication Technology (ICT), as well as multimedia to
improve the teaching and learning process, including online
applications and technology platforms.
 THE EIGHT ATTRIBUTES OF 21ST CENTURY EDUCATION
AND THEIR IMPLICATIONS
3. Global Classrooms. Education in the 21st Century aims to
produce global citizens by exposing students to the issues and
concerns in the local, national and global societies.
4. Creating/Adapting to Constant Personal and Social
Change and Lifelong Learning. Education in the 21st Century
subscribes to the belief that learning does not end within the
four walls of the classroom. Instead, it can take place
anywhere, anytime regardless of age.
 THE EIGHT ATTRIBUTES OF 21ST CENTURY EDUCATION
AND THEIR IMPLICATIONS

5. Student-Centered. Education in the 21st Century is focused

on students as learners while addressing their needs.
6. 21st Century Skills. Education in the 21st Century
demonstrates the skills needed in becoming productive
members of society. Therefore, it implies that teachers shoukd
possess these skills first before their students.
 THE EIGHT ATTRIBUTES OF 21ST CENTURY EDUCATION
AND THEIR IMPLICATIONS

7. Project-Based and Research-Driven. 21st Century

Education emphasizes data, information and evidence-based
decision-making through student activities that encourage
active learning.
8. relevant, Rigorous and Real World. Education in the 21st
Century is meaningful as it connects to real-life experiences of
learners. It implies the use of current and relevant information
linked to real-life situations and contexts.
 THE CHARACTERISTICS OF A 21ST CENTURY TEACHER

1. Multi-literate. Teachers know how to use various

technologies in teaching.
2. Multi-specialist. Teachers are not only knowledgeable in the
course subject they teach but also in other areas so that they
can help the learner build up what they gain in the classroom
and outside the school and make sense of what was learned.
 THE CHARACTERISTICS OF A 21ST CENTURY TEACHER

3. Multi-skilled. Teachers cope with the demand for widening

learning opportunities by being skillful not just in teaching nut
also in facilitating and organizing groups and activities.
4. Self-directed. Teachers are responsible for various aspects
of school life and know how to initiate action to realize the
learning goals of the students and the educational goals of the
country, at large.
 THE CHARACTERISTICS OF A 21ST CENTURY TEACHER

5. Lifelong learner. Teachers embrace the ideal that learning

never ends. Therefore, teachers must be constantly updated on
the latest information related to their subject and pedagogic
trends.
6. Flexible. Teachers are able to adapt to various learning
styles and needs of the learners. They can facilitate learner-
centered teaching with flexibility using alternative modes of
delivery.
 THE CHARACTERISTICS OF A 21ST CENTURY TEACHER

7. Creative problem solver. Teachers create innovative ideas

and effective solutions to the arising problems in the field, be it
in the classroom, in the school or the profession as a whole.
8. Critical thinker. Teachers are critical thinkers as they
encourage students to reflect on what they have learned, and
rekindle in them the desire to ask questions, reason out, probe,
and establish their own knowledge and belief.
 THE CHARACTERISTICS OF A 21ST CENTURY TEACHER

9. Has a passion for excellent teaching. Teachers possess

passion in the teaching profession to ensure that students are
motivated to learn under their guidance and care.
10. High Emotional Quotient (EQ). Teachers do not just have
the head but also the heart to teach. Teaching is emotionally
taxing but an influential job as it involves interaction with
human beings.
 COMMON 21ST CENTURY TECHNOLOGY TOOLS FOR
LEARNING
1. Affinity Groups. These are groups or communities that
unite individuals with common interests.
2. Blogs. Web logs or “blogs” are interactive websites, often
open to the public that can include Web links, photographs and
audio and video elements.
3. E-portfolio. It refers to student’s works that are generated,
selected, organized, stored and revised digitally. Often,
electronic portfolios are accessible to multiple audiences and
can be moved from one site to another easily.
 COMMON 21ST CENTURY TECHNOLOGY TOOLS FOR
LEARNING
4. Hypertext. These are electronic texts that provide multiple
links and allow users to trace ideas in immediate and
idiosyncratic directions.
5. Podcasts. These are digitalized audio files that are stored
on the internet and downloaded to listener’s computers or most
likely to MP3 player.
6. Web 2.0. This refers to a second generation of Web-based
communities that demonstrate the participatory literacies that
students need for the 21st century.
 COMMON 21ST CENTURY TECHNOLOGY TOOLS FOR
LEARNING
7. Myspace (http://www.Myspace.com). It is a social
networking website that offers an interactive user-submitted
network of friends, personal profiles, blogs, groups, photos,
music and videos internationally.
8. Second Life (http:www.secondlife.com). It is an Internet-
based 3-D virtual world that uses avatars (digital
representations) to explore, socialize, participate in individual or
group activities, create and trade items (virtual property) and
services.
 COMMON 21ST CENTURY TECHNOLOGY TOOLS FOR
LEARNING
9. Semantic Web. It is an extension of the current Web that
puts data into a common format so that instead of humans
working with individual search engines (e.g., Google, Ask
Jeeves) to locate information, the search engines themselves
feed into a single mechanism that provides this searching on its
own.
10. Webkinz (http://www.webkinz.com). It is an Internet
simulation wherein children learn pet care and other skills.
 COMMON 21ST CENTURY TECHNOLOGY TOOLS FOR
LEARNING
11. Wiki. It refers to software that fosters collaboration and
communication online. Wikis enable students to create,
comment upon, and revise collaborative projects.
12. Youtube (http://www.Youtube.com). It is a popular
website for video sharing where users can upload, view and
share video footage, including movie clips, TV clips, and music
videos, even student-produced videos.
 COMMON 21ST CENTURY TECHNOLOGY TOOLS FOR
LEARNING

13. Google Docs. It allows students to collaborate with other

people and the document materials that need to be compiled,
processed, transacted and analyzed.
14. Prezi. It allows individuals to use pre-made, creative
presentation templates.
15. Easybib. It allows individuals to generate citations in any
given format.
 COMMON 21ST CENTURY TECHNOLOGY TOOLS FOR
LEARNING

13. Google Docs. It allows students to collaborate with other

people and the document materials that need to be compiled,
processed, transacted and analyzed.
14. Prezi. It allows individuals to use pre-made, creative
presentation templates.
15. Easybib. It allows individuals to generate citations in any
given format.
 COMMON 21ST CENTURY TECHNOLOGY TOOLS FOR
LEARNING

16. Social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Edmodo,

Schoology, Instagram, etc). These are means to
communicate and share ideas among users.
17. Smartboards and audience response systems. These
are replacement for traditional chalkboards or whiteboards in
classrooms.
 COMMON 21ST CENTURY TECHNOLOGY TOOLS FOR
LEARNING
18. ReadWriteThink.org. (www.readwritethink.org). It is a
repository of standards-based literacy lessons that offer
teachers instructional ideas for internet integration.
19. WebQuest Page (www.webquest.org). It provides
Webquests on an array of topics across content areas with a
template for creating one’s own.
20. Literacy Web (http://www.literacy.uconn.edu). It is an
online portal that includes a large number of new literacy’s
resources for new literacies for teachers.
THE END!