Journal 4:Create, Collaborate, Communicate: Empowering Students With 21st Century Skills

Riedel, C. (2009, January). Create, Collaborate, Communicate: Empowering Students With 21st Century Skills. THE Journal, Retrieved Mar. 2, '09, from http://www.thejournal.com/articles/23872_3

This article outlines a presentation given by Howie DiBlasi, a retired CIO and emerging technology evangelist, about technology in education. The article starts out a little depressing, citing that the coal-mining industry is better at incorporating technology than the field of education, but the article then goes on to provide a vast amount of great suggestions and tools to incorporate technology in the classroom. The ideas are practical and easy to implement, even with limited resources and tight budgets. The suggestions were related to developing skills in students that employers rank as the most important attributes they are looking for, mainly creative problem solving, critical and analytical thinking skills, and information gathering technology. Some of the examples included things as simple as asking a geek for help, instructing students on the format of a valid URL address, using Google Docs to collaborate, use social book marking and incorporating video conferencing in the classroom. The article provided very useful and specific examples and stressed how easy it is to apply these things to the average classroom.

Q). Which of the examples do I think would be most useful in my classroom?
A). I really like the idea of using Google Docs to have students collaborate with students in different countries. Most cities have a “sister city” in another country, and I think it would be a wonderful project to team up with a school in one of these cities (preferably English-speaking) and work on a project together. An example could be a classic book, maybe Shakespeare, and have a student here start a paper and then seek editing and suggestions from a peer in another country. This encourages collaboration and global use of technology.
Q). How can I help my students develop the skills that employers are looking for?
A). The main skills that employers cited they are looking for, creative problem solving, critical and analytical thinking skills, and information gathering technology, are also crucial skills to have in the classroom. The foundations of a good essay require all of these elements, so I would place special importance on them when giving assignment directions and creating rubrics. A student must have cohesive thoughts in an essay and use proper sources, so these would be things we could easily go over in class that would then be helpful when searching for a job.