Evaluation of the Partnership for the 21st Century Skills Website!!
The Partnership for 21st Century Skills website http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/ is very user friendly, in its arrangement. It is easy to subscribe to receive emails, simple to access and use drop down bars at the top, plenty of links to articles, links to videos, and contact information at the bottom. As this website is read, initiatives from West Virginia are immediately brought to mind. Although some of the links seem to not include much information, there are often sub links within that link.
It is surprising that only ten states in the United States of American have gotten on the bandwagon for the Partnership for 21st Century Skills! More companies than states are involved in the Partnership for 21st Century Skills! These companies that have home bases in certain states should interest their state departments of education in becoming part of the Partnership for 21st Century Skills. Partnerships for 21st Century Skills initiatives are in the news a great deal!
Everything on the site is valid, there are no strong opinions that go against an educator’s beliefs. This website would be benefitted with very specific ways to get your state involved.
Partnership for 21st Century Skills website shows that whether it is this organization or a different educational technology organization, most, if not all states will be involved in some sort of technology initiative in the next few years! As a district, this means convincing the state of Connecticut to join Partnership for 21st Century Skills and deciding who will be teaching technology curriculum. As a contemporary teacher, this means being more aware of the technology curriculum and which content areas are in charge of which technology content standards. As contemporary students, this means being much more literate, in today’s society. A question in one’s mind may be “Does the growing importance of expert thinking and complex communication mean that schools should stop teaching the three R’s and focus on teaching these (technology) skills?” (Levy & Murnane, 2006). According to Levy & Murnane, educators do not need to stop teaching the three R’s, instead we can embed them in the curriculum, as long as the district and teachers are very aware of this, the schools do not need to rebuild their entire district’s curriculum for integrating educational technology!!
Resources
Levy, F., & Murnane, R. (2006). Why the changing American economy calls for twenty first century learning: Answers to educators' questions. New Directions for Youth Development, 2006(110), 53–62.
Resources
Levy, F., & Murnane, R. (2006). Why the changing American economy calls for twenty first century learning: Answers to educators' questions. New Directions for Youth Development, 2006(110), 53–62.
The Partnership for 21st Century Skills. (2009). The Parnership for 21st Century Skills Web. Retrieved July 22, 2009, from http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/index.php
Christine, the ideas about the three R's presented by Levy and Murnane also caught my attention, as they drive home the philosophy of P21. The need for basic adademic skills has not changed in our workforce, but there is now an emphasis on making our students better decision makers, communicators, researchers, problem solvers, etc.
ReplyDeleteI have found myself thinking that I wish all teachers could take this Walden course that we're enrolled in right now. The things we're learning that relate to the P21 philosophy are so powerful and useful!
Christine,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your post on the Partnership for 21st Century Skills. As an educator, I think that expert thinking and complex communication can be embedded into our teaching. I know many of the critical key elements listed on their web site are already things that most teachers work toward every year.
I was like you, quite dismayed at the fact that so few states have joined the Partnership. I feel strongly that in order for US schools to compete globally we need to join together and work towards the same goals. I see little use in each state having it's own test and I would like to see a national test and national standards in place within the next five years. We all share the same goal, I think it's time we work together to achieve it. The Partnership for 21st Century Skills seems like a great place to start and I plan to do what I can to spread the word in my state.
I enjoyed your evaluation of the site.
Coleen
The Partnership for 21st Century Skills. (2009). The Parnership for 21st Century Skills Web. Retrieved July 22, 2009, from http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/index.php