For this week’s posting, I would like to introduce a website called P21. The Partnership for 21st Century Skills (P21) is a national organization that advocates for student learning to include more 21st century skills in order to keep up with the fast paced changes taking place in the world today. Their web site provides resources, tips, and tools to help administrators, teachers, parents, and community members keep up with the latest technology research and trends. The teaching of the 3Rs and 4Cs is an integral part of this organizations philosophy. As shown in the figure above, the core subjects (3Rs); reading, writing, and arithmetic are the foundation on which the related learning is built. Historically this has been the case for most educational systems. However, P21 goes on the core subjects to include the 4Cs, critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity as skills needed by all students to be successful in 21st century.
Other research helps provide validity to P21’s philosophy. The publication, Characteristics of a Globally Competitive Workforce identified three foundational skills very similar to the 3Rs and 4Cs proposed by P21. Their research supports the notion that students will need Basic Skills similar to the 3Rs, Thinking Skills as with the 4Cs, and Personal Qualities as it relates to life skills.
While exploring the P21 site I was struck by the number of resources available: In particular Route 21. Route 21 is an area within P21 that allows teachers to locate specific standards, lesson plans, and videos to aid in providing 21st century skills to their students. Once logged in, teachers can browse resources by support system, subject, or even skill. By placing all of these resources within Route 21, teachers are able to quickly and efficiently locate and utilize the information available.
Although this is an excellent site, one concern I have with P21 is a possible conflict of interest when dealing with business partnerships. Although not naive about the fact that it takes money to foster change, businesses tend to promote their own agendas in an effort to increase their bottom line: future sales. As an example, Dell and Apple are both supporters of P21 and each has their own agendas and platforms biding to be utilized in the expansion of technology across the nation. Will these large international corporations influence which technologies are promoted and placed into classrooms? If so, will the influences be beneficial to the educational system and students or to the companies selling the technology?
If the Partnership for 21st Century Skills continues to grow and partner with more states, every student and teachers will be drastically affected. School districts will no longer be able to ignore the digital world closing in around them. District administrators, principals, and teachers must go beyond the status quo and begin to look toward increasing funding, professional development, and exploring more 21st century assessments in order to prepare our students for the state of their future, not just the state test. P21 is a great place to start this dialogue.
References
Bates, R., & Phelan, K. (2002). Characteristics of a globally competitive workforce. Advances in Developing Human Resources, 4(2), 121.
Route 21 is definitely an excellent resource to aid in, what can be, a very overwhelming process for many teachers as they begin to implement these new 21st century skills into the classroom. P21 did a great at really breaking the skills down for teachers based on subject areas, curriculum, assessments, and even the skill itself. This greatly facilitates the process for teachers.
ReplyDeleteYou posed a very interesting question regarding the companies of Dell & Apple being supporters of P21. It is my hope that these larger corporations truly support the ideas of P21 and are not taking action merely for self-promotion. Nonetheless, the fact of the matter is simply that updated technology and newer computers are being placed in these classrooms to begin with, which is a wonderful thing. Technology has the ability to open new doors for students, not limit them. Right now, many teachers are not using technology in the classroom to its full advantage whether is be because technology resources non-existent, outdated, or not plentiful enough for a class, or simply because teachers lack the knowledge of how to effectively implement it, an average of “15 minutes a week” is simply not going to cut it anymore in the 21st century (Miners & Pascopella, 2007). As newer technologies enter more and more classrooms, we have the ability to fully commit to this necessary change. P21 is a great starting point for this.
Reference
Miners, Z., & Pascopella, A. (2007). The new literacies. District Administration, 43(10), 26–34. Used by permission.
Business partnerships are a tricky subject. While it is probably correct that Dell and Apple are getting promoted by being supporters of P21, that doesn't necessarily make the partnership a bad idea. While many businesses contribute to education simply because they feel it is the right thing to do, other business are very aware that it may be good business to contribute to education. When Microsoft makes donations to schools they do so because they believe technology is essential in education today. At the same time, they get to point out that they are proud sponsors of education. It may look like a win, win situation for Microsoft but actually it is a win, win, win situation because education also is receiving benefits. While I do believe that partnerships need to be examined, I certainly wouldn't want to discourage big businesses partnering with education.
ReplyDeleteI found the Route 21 an interesting and very informative tool that provides a great deal of resources. These resources will prove very beneficial in the future. In addition to the resources, it was very easy to navigate and especially useful the way the site broke down different skills that could be used.
ReplyDeleteYou did present one challenge that caught my attention. The problem you discussed was the business partnerships with P21. While I agree that there could be a conflict of interest, I disagree with you that their influence would be negative. These are the corporations that develop and create technology. Education needs the creativity and development of these people. Many of these businesses are also aware of the skills that need to be developed for future generations of students. Who would be better to suggest what skills need to be taught. One thing that I feel they could really help with is that they have the influence and power to sway educational and government leaders.