ColoradoLearns - Recently Updated Pages

ColoradoLearns

lesliekm — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 22:39:47 CST

Envision Next Generation Learning

Help us define powerful learning, share resources and support educators.
Explore the HOW of 21st Century Learning

We want to know:

How can we help empower today's learners and teachers?

What are the alternatives to schooling as we know it?

What does 21st century learning practice actually look like (in a "real" classroom)?

How can I contribute to transforming our educational organizations?

Welcome to our 21st century learning wiki!

Wikis are collaboratively created web sites — we're building this together. That means you'll not only find things others have posted about 21st century learning, you can also add the content and resources you know about. In order to add or edit, be sure to join our site.

Explore, Enlighten, Engage

* Join a discussion
* Add a promising practice description or idea
* Add or annotate a resource (Research & Resources);

Explore the information on the site and share what you know. (Use the scroll bar on the left to get around.)

Don't miss out on important events.
Stay up to date with the RSS Feed under the Updates tab!

WorkingShops: Fall 2009 - Winter 2010

St Vrain Workingshop Nov. 16
Connect new CDE standards to 21st c learning opportunities.
More of these workingshops to come.

For more information go to www.C21L.org

Workingshop participants
Welcome! Explore. Join the site and the conversation.

C21L blog

Click the newspaper icon on the left to read it here
or the blue arrow to go directly to the C21L blogspot.

COLORADO 21st C Learning

lesliekm — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 10:44:14 CST

CDE Rolling out new Standards

The new (Jan, 2010) CDE standards are offering Colorado a point of leverage for integrating 21st Century skills into the core of all learning.

Use this wiki to collaborate about implementation strategies

How are we taking up that challenge? How can we best help one another?
What does this mean for each of us? How are we preparing for this essential shift? What help do you need?

What tools can would be useful?

Share curriculum maps, implementation models, units of study, integration across subjects

Workingshop

lesliekm — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 10:41:07 CST

Handouts

Scroll down to the attachments section to find these handouts from the workingshop

21st C Learning Scenarios	Articulating 21st C Learning Targets	P21 Framework	Planning Framework	Post Secondary Workforce Readiness	CDE Science Standards Abridged

21st C Learning Scenarios

Articulating
21st C Learning
Targets

P21
Framework

Planning Framework

Post Secondary Workforce Readiness

CDE Science Standards Abridged

WorkingShop Resources

lesliekm — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 10:34:18 CST

November Workingshop SVVS

Follow the link to get the handouts for the C21L workingshop November 2009

21st C Learning Scenarios	Articulating 21st C Learning Targets	P21 Framework	Planning Framework	Post Secondary Workforce Readiness	CDE Science Standards Abridged

21st C Learning Scenarios

Articulating
21st C Learning
Targets

P21
Framework

Planning Framework

Post Secondary Workforce Readiness

CDE Science Standards Abridged

April Pikes Peak Workingshop

Here are the handouts and resources from the C21L Pikes Peak WorkingShop. You will find the following attachments at the bottom of this page.

1) Agenda for the April 25, 2009 WorkingShop
2) Flyer
3) Educational Practice Scale- Quadrant from conventional learning --> 21st Century Learning
4) Elements of 21st Century Learning- targets, assessments, learning experiences, environments
5) Frameworks (P21, Schoolkit, CDE, D-11 ACHIEVE)
6) 21st Century Learning Assessment
7) Promising Practice Observation Notes
8) Team goal setting - Goals, Gaps & Objectives
9) Building Walk-Thru Guide
10) Colleague discussion guide
11) Classroom Observation Template
12) Critical Friends Protocol

21C Learning & CO State Standards

lesliekm — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 09:50:59 CST

Colorado State Standards mandated to include 21st Century Skills! Get involved!

At the past few State Library meetings that I have attended, there has been much conversation about how to go about infusing AASL’s Standards for the 21st Century Learner into the Colorado State Standards. I've just finished an intense week of immersion in the review process for the Colorado State Content Standards. The State Board of Education and CDE are currently revising all thirteen model content standards in order to modernize and refresh the standards. All content standards are required to update the standards to include 21st Century skills, postsecondary readiness, workforce readiness, and school readiness. 11 regional forums have taken place to solicit community, business, and educator input as how to define those topics. I believe that it is imperative for us to be as involved in this process. The reform of the state standards to include 21st Century Skills is the first step to true education reform in the state of Colorado.

Ways to participate and stay informed:

CDE had a third party consultant, WestEd, analyze and gather data to define 21st Century skills, postsecondary readiness, workforce readiness, and school readiness.

Visit the CDE website: Office of Standards and Assessments

You can stay updated by subscribing to CDE’s e-mail news service: http://www.cde.state.co.us/Communications/index.html

Promising Practices: Curriculum

Promising Practices

lesliekm — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 09:50:02 CST

Find out what your colleagues are doing under the 21st century teaching and learning banner.

Curriculum

Teaching Practice

Instructional Design

Assessment

Professional Development

Culture & Community

Doing or seeing something you'd like to share?

Nominate your own (or a friend's) classroom.

5 easy steps to nominate:

1. Choose from the categories above - the one that best fits your practice.

2. Click on the link, then click on the Easy Edit button to add your item.
To add a row to the table, right-click outside the table (making sure you're in Edit mode).

3. Describe what you're doing in your classroom, school or district to foster 21st century teaching and learning.

4. Be sure to include some contact information.

5. Add links (when possible) to supporting materials. They really help us understand more deeply what you are doing!

Research & Resources

lesliekm — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 21:41:00 CST

21st Century Learners: Discussion/Collaboration/Research/Resources on (and off) the World Wide Web

For ease of use, some of these resources will be moving to the News tab on the top of the page- check back for updates...

Blogs will move to News tab.	Wikis	Websites/Articles/Guides	Videos/Podcasts	Books
Digital Ethnography Michael Wesch of "Did You Know" fame and his K-State group are dedicated to exploring and extending the possibilities of digital ethnography. Youth Voices....a fantastic place to connect with others, get students to post and get involved in an on-line community based in sharing work. Oh and check out the list of response guides they use to help students of all ages learn how to respond, critique others' work and so on... Gary Stager's blog on Project Based Learning. Includes articles from Creative Educator Magazine about What makes a good project? and Raising Our Standards: Creating Projects that Endure. The Fischbowl Karl Fisch’s staff development blog for Arapahoe High School teachers exploring constructivism and 21st century learning skills. Dangerously Irrelevant This is the blog of Dr. Scott McLeod, director of the UCEA Center for the Advanced Study of Technology Leadership in Education (CASTLE). Weblogg-ed Will Richardson’s Blog, author of the recently released Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms 2¢ Worth David Warlick’s Blog, author of Redefining Literacy in the 21st Century and others. Neverending Search Joyce Valenza’s (rock star school librarian) blogs on all things 21st Century Magee's Blog Connie Masson's blog on instructional technology and media services	Educational Origami What a resource for ideas, rubrics, blooms, 21st C learning. Creator is from Aukland, NZ. Wiki has gotten awards and is visited by people all around the globe. (Added byLKM 12/18/09) Moving Forward Wiki The Moving Forward wiki houses a collection of resources to help presenters and change agents as they help move schools and universities forward into the 21st century. Principals of the Future This wetpaint site is for school principals who wish to stay current on technology in education. 21st Century Learning a community of educators embarking on a collaborative journey into the future of education, educational technologies and new curriculums in order to prepare our students to function in a competitive and rapidly changing global world. Colorado School Technology Fairs a sharing and work space for those folks interested in K12 school technology fairs in Colorado Twitter for Teachers Powerful Learning Practiceoffers a unique opportunity for educators to participate in a long-term, job-embedded professional development program that immerses them in 21st century learning environments.	Levels of Technology Integration Where does your school fall? Comes from "superkimbo" check out the images of her learning space too...wow! Littleton Public Schools - annually published 32 page Tech Guide 2009- links to school blogs, class wikis, info on the Powering Up Writing project, Guides to tech use (interactive white boards, clickers, doc cameras...and more) pdf format YourIT Magazine Hallmarks of 21st Century Learning used at Littleton Public Schools (thanks to Dan Maas for sharing) Article about a New Jersey group- shows how a virtual community can come from a powerful life changing experience. Powerful Learning Practice (PLP) Powerful Learning Practice Cities in Crisis Report 2009 see attachments at the bottom of the page World Digital Library- The Library of Congress just launched a new website in partnership with The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as well as 32 other partners. National standards for quality online courses and teaching includes a standard on 21st century skills (from North American Council for Online Learning) Partnership for 21st Century Skill’s framework provides a graphical representation of both 21st century skills student outcomes and support systems. DPS Information Literacy and Technology Projects http://techtraining.dpsk12.org/ilt/ Here is a link to some exciting projects in DPS. Center for International Scholarship in School Libraries School Library Impact Measure toolkit (a resource suggested in the 21st Century Learning Needs Assessment thread) Learning.now: Web 2.0 Education Hot or Not (a resources suggested in the Using Web 2.0 Tools thread) PLP is a professional development model that immerses educators into environments and practices that allow them to learn and own the literacies of 21st Century learning and teaching.	Brave New World Wide Web a video by David Truss Currently going viral in the edublogosphere Did You Know ,the classic that originated with Karl Fisch’s presentation, went viral, and has become a standard at education insevices. Web 2.0 ... The Machine is Us/ing Us from Michael Wesch at Kansa State University – very thought provoking	Guided Inquiry: Learning in the 21st Century- Kuhlthau, Maniotes & Caspari - 2007 publicationGuided Inquiry — www.greenwood.com The Global Achievement Gap: Why Even Our Best Schools Don't Teach the Global Survival Skills Our Children Need-- And What We Can Do About It by Tony Wagner Reinventing Project-Based Learning is a great book used as the basis for St. Vrain's instructional model: Cyber Camp. A great way to implement transparently using technology as a tool to learning with the emphasis being on the project, not the tool.

About Us

lesliekm — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 14:48:47 CST

C21L is a collaborative group of educators dedicated to helping all educators clarify 21st century learning targets and strategies. A nonprofit organization, C21L is Colorado’s professional development affiliate of the Partnership for 21st Century Skills – the leading national advocacy organization focused on infusing 21st century skills into education.

Here is a quick look image of C21L's new brochure. To download a printable copy see pdf attachment below. (scroll down)

About this wiki

lesliekm — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 11:53:48 CST

About the origins of this wiki:

This wiki is an extension of the Navigator Projec t, which brought together Colorado policymakers, educators, and other education stakeholders in June 2007 to build a consensus on 21st century learning. Conference participants produced a broad vision for 21st century learning, as well as statements about what 21st century learning looks like and why it's important. Now comes the interesting -- and essential -- part: Making it happen in schools and districts across the state. There's much to be done to specify HOW to achieve this vision.

The Council on 21st Century Learning (C21L)carried out the work of the Navigator Project, in partnership with Colorado Springs School District 11. C21L's mission is to support systemic change that transforms schooling into powerful learning that serves the needs of all people.

P21 Affiliates

lesliekm — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 11:52:57 CST

The Council on 21st Century Learning (C21L), based in Denver and the host of ColoradoLearns wiki, joined the Partnership for 21st Century Skills as an affiliate organization in January 2009. C21L representatives Stevan Kalmon, Dixie Griffin Good and Greg Wilborn joined reps from 14 other groups in Tucson for several days of deepening our understanding of 21st century learning and teaching.

Wiki 101 - Help

lesliekm — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 10:49:01 CST

Here are some tips to wiki working- Just in case it's all new to you.

STAGE 1: JUST GETTING STARTED??	Grab a cup of coffee and just read around the site, EXPLORE. There is lots of information and tons to learn. Once you get acquainted with the site...it will only take a few minutes when you return to keep up with what's new. So take your time looking around and getting to know our community and what we have to offer.
Now that you've read around...you're thinking ...I want to know more, or this resource could really help this group/discussion...or these ideas can help me...I'd like to stay in touch with this wiki... STAGE 2: Join this site	On every page on this wiki, in the upper right corner, there is a button that reads: Join this Site Click this button to create a username and password. Choose something easy to remember, or have your computer remember it, because you'll need it to log in every time you add to our conversation. Good news is: Once you have a username and password with WETPAINT, it will be the same for all of your wetpaint wikis. Set up an RSS feed that will tell you when new posts have occurred so you can stay up to date on the news and information we have to offer you...you wouldn't want to miss that great local 21st Century Learning conference now, would you?
STAGE 3: Fill out your PROFILE	GREAT! Now you are one of us! Thanks for joining! We think of this as a learning community. In order to better collaborate it is important that we know a little bit about one another. This is optional, but so helpful in making connections within this group. So please, fill out your profile with information about your expertise, interests and experiences with 21st Century Learning, and any other information that you think would be helpful to building this community. Add a picture if you'd like!
Stage 4: Join the conversation	So now you are one of us... like minded, forward thinking learner educators looking for more information on the HOW of 21st Century Learning. Please join a conversation. Add a post, continue or start a dialogue, add a link to a related blog or news article on the news page. Ask a question of the community, seek help, share experiences, add to the promising practices...
HOW TO QUESTIONS: How do I edit?	Sign in. Click the edit button. Cut and paste material into the wiki. Click the save button at the bottom left of the toolbar.
How do I create a link?	Click edit Type in the information about the link. Highlight the word(s) you'd like the link to be attached to. Click on the "link" in the editing toolbar. Type in or paste your http address into the window that pops up. Save your changes.
ADD YOUR QUESTION HERE Just erase this and type your own question in! Or leave this if you think it's helpful and do it in the next row.>>>>>>	AND WE'LL ANSWER IT HERE!

WE NEED YOUR HELP!
Please use the space below and the following discussion thread to make suggestions for content, organization, or other features that you would like addressed in this wiki.
The moderators will continually visit this page and carefully consider each request and idea.
THANKS for your HELP making this a great place to learn and grow!

RSS feeds of related blogs and news...
IS THIS THE right platform for what we are trying to do? After I read this blog post by Steve Hargadon, I am not so sure what we need is wiki OR is what we need a social networking site for people dedicated to 21st Century Learning. I would love to hear what you think...how is this working for you?

Why 21C Learning?

lesliekm — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 23:23:29 CST

WHY is 21st Century Learning Important?

The evidence of widespread change is all around us — from the influence of the Internet, to the global economic structure, to the astounding pace of technology development and information exchange. Education has responded to these changes in many ways: Raising standards, implementing high-stakes tests, adding computers to classrooms, providing professional development for educators, even offering online learning and other alternatives to traditional schools. We urge our educators to work harder. We expect more from students.

Sadly, these efforts fall short.

Too many young people are left out or left behind. At least 30 percent of Colorado’s youth drop out before earning a high school diploma. Minority students bear the brunt of these dismal graduation facts. In 2004, only 56 percent of black students and 44 percent of Hispanics in Colorado graduated.

For those who succeed in school, too many are ill prepared for the challenges ahead. Americans are losing ground on international measures of academic excellence and workforce competitiveness. Employers and citizens agree that today’s graduates lack the skills and content currently in demand.

In truth, we cannot respond effectively to the sweeping changes of our times by patching and tweaking our grandparents’ education system. We need a comprehensive plan to bring education into the 21st century.

A Metaphor

Our educational system, like the Ford Model T automobile, was designed for the Industrial Age. We have retrofitted this classic vehicle many times. It seemed to work for our grandparents, our parents, even for us, although not as well as we like to remember — and not well at all for many. We work hard and pay a high price to keep this increasingly antiquated machine working. And, though the Model T still chugs along, it can no longer take all its passengers, today’s students, where they need to go.

We need to define what it means to be well educated today, while looking forward, not in the rear view mirror. We need a common understanding of literacy that goes beyond knowing numbers and letters. We need a cohesive, comprehensive vision for education that is aligned with the realities of life and work in the 21st century.

Now that we find ourselves solidly in the 21st century, it is time upgrade the education machine to a model based on principles rooted in 21st century understanding of how the world and the mind work.

Start a Dialogue

What does 21st century learning mean for your child, your school, your community? Use the video link (above), as a conversation starter. What supports this new approach to learning? How do we deliver the goods? How do learning organizations work?
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Other Resources

If you want to start with some student perspectives on promote 21st century learning:

Look at 21st century learning from the K-12 student perspective, with an emphasis on technology as a key component to 21st century learning: http://learning2cn.ning.com/video/video/show?id=703147%3AVideo%3A20506

Look at 21st century learning from the college/post-secondary ed student perspective: http://learning2cn.ning.com/video/video/show?id=703147%3AVideo%3A18255

If you want to see what other 21st Century Learning groups are doing:

Council on 21st Century Learning - Results from an ed conference in Colo. Springs, Colorado, are put together as a voice for the Colorado model of 21st Century education: http://C21L.org/

The Partnership for 21st Century Learning Skills - an advocacy group that offers an outline of what 21st c. learning is and showcases nine states' 21st c. learning initiatives: http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/

Learning 2.008 Shanghai Conference - very well documented record of a 21st c. learning conference in Shanghai of 2008: lots of videos, blogs, photos...very 21st c. technology/interactive. Emphasis appears to be on how technology is a key piece of this learning paradigm: http://learning2cn.ning.com/

21st Century Learning - an education vendor in Arizona that provides 21st century curriculum that fits within the framework of No Child Left Behind (NCLB): http://www.21-learn.com/index.html
The 21st Century Learning Initiative - A perspective from Canada and the UK: http://www.21learn.org/index.php

Critical Friends Protocol

lesliekm — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 23:19:48 CST

Watch this video of a community of teacher learners working to improve their practice. (sorry, I couldn't embed it here.)
Moving Beyond Talk Educational Leadership February 2009
by Debra Smith, Bruce Wilson and Dick Corbett

Critical Friends Tuning Protocol National School Reform Faculty, Harmony Education Center

Article about Critical Friends
2002 by Deborah Bambino March 2002 | Volume 59 | Number 6
Redesigning Professional Development Pages 25-27

Professional Development

lesliekm — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 23:18:54 CST

Participating in PD that is related to 21st C learning? Modeling practices, or using a unique design?

Organization	Description of Promising Practice	Link or File	Discussions
Participating in or leading a PD that you'd like to share? Nominate it. Here's how: Click on the Easy Edit button to add your item. Be sure to include contact information.	Describe what you're doing in your classroom, school or district to foster 21st century teaching and learning.	Add links to supporting materials- word documents, web pages, wikis, video, images...be creative.
National School Reform Faculty Harmony Education Center	Critical Friends Protocol
Denver Public Schools PLC investigations in inquiry leslie_maniotes@dpsk12.org	DPS Teacher Librarians and Technology Teachers are joining in Professional Learning Communities using an inquiry approach to arrive at topics of their choosing to investigate over the course of this school year.	How we will share our year's results in April?	Please join our discussions about Inquiry- Come weigh in on using Skype as a collaboration tool
De Beque School District Doug Pfau, Superintendent: 970-283-5418; dpfau@debeque.k12.co.us	We provide two book studies per year that all our staff participate in to develop best practices and have the crucial conversations about our teaching and student learning.		Discussion
Bennett School District 29J Richard Coleman 303-644-3234 ext. 8203 coleman.richard@bennett.k12.co.us	The school district has a staff development program which first involves new teachers in a supervised mentoring program. All staff development activities in each building are focused on the goals of the building and district. For instance, if raising math achievement is a building goal, that is what the staff development focuses on.		Discussion
Brush Public Schools Bret Miles, Superintendent: 970-842-5176; bmiles@brushschools.org	The professional development supports all the Essential Skills activities at Brush (see Assessment). This year we have trainers in for Differentiated Instruction as well as Assessment. In addition to hired trainers, the rest of the PD offerings are not arranged until after each team has created their School Improvement Plan. which specifically asks for training or materials needed for the team to reach their goal they set following the Data Dialogue.		Discussion
Academy School District 20 Lynn Kintz: 719-234-1316; lynn.kintz@asd20.org	Every other month, we bring together the school librarians and instructional technology specialists from each of our schools for 2 ½ hours to focus on “Technology, Resources & Educating Kids.” Our focus has been on best practices to support integration of ET-IL and 21st century skills. Topics addressed last school year included looking at data to inform instruction in ET-IL, defining essential skills for the 21st century, strategies for collaborative planning, how to step up assignments to include inquiry and 21st century skills, internet safety and ET-IL assessment strategies. In our culminating meeting, we invited teachers who have collaborated with the librarians and technology specialists to share their successes with these practices. These “best practices” were video-taped and these examples will be made available to educators throughout the district.		Discussion
Academy School District 20 Lynn Kintz: 719-234-1316; lynn.kintz@asd20.org	The district recently brought the D20 TV production facility on line. This facility makes it possible to teach classes on video production, as well as offer opportunities for embedded video in online staff development, video production experiences for elementary and middle school students, and the creation of news magazine shows highlighting district programs and accomplishments produced by students. This program is especially well-suited for students who would like to explore this creative form of expression more fully. It can also be used to produce vodcasts for instructional use, whether student or teacher created. All aspects of video production are explored in depth, including production design, writing, on-air talent, and technical production activities.		Discussion
Aurora Frontier K-8, Aurora Public Schools Donita Torres: drtorres@aps.k12.co.us	Our school improvement plan requires that the technology coordinator (myself) offer an optional, one credit class for all staff members about integrating technology into their instruction. Rather than focusing on the technology in this class, we are going to use the Understanding By Design model to create lessons that include 21st Century learning skills and practices within the framework of each individual teacher's content. The idea behind this class is to provide teachers with the know-how of including 21st Century learning into their instruction, and selecting the right technology tools to support their instruction, rather than selecting the instruction to support the technology.	As I complete the class supporting materials, I will post links to them here!	Technology is NOT the focus discussion
www.betrproject.org			Professional Development For Colorado Educators -

Culture & Community

lesliekm — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 15:40:45 CST

Learning doesn't occur in a vacuum...it takes a strong community to happen.
What do 21st century learning communities look like?

Organization	Description of Promising Practice	Link or File	Discussions
Do you have a unique or interesting culture or community that you'd like to share? Nominate your own practice or someone that you know. Here's how: Click on the Easy Edit button to add your item. Be sure to include contact information.	Describe what you're doing in your classroom, school or district to foster 21st century teaching and learning.	Add links to supporting materials- you can add pictures, video, word documents, and links to any web page.
Twitter for Teachers	a wiki devoted to use of twitter in classrooms and as professional development	Twitter4teachers
Scott Elias & Melinda Miller	Podcasts about/for Practical Principals
Leigh McGown 970-945-9463 x101 lmcgown@mtnboces.k12.co.us	Professional Learning Communities at Yampah Mountain High support school culture which personalizes individual success for at-risk youth. The PLC is the action model—we use William Glasser’s, Choice Theory, as the guiding principles for our work.	To learn more about Choice Theory	Discussion: What makes this a promising practice in 21st century learning?
Academy School District 20 Lynn Kintz 719-234-1316 lynn.kintz@asd20.org michael.doub@asd20.org	To help individual schools implement the district ET-IL plan and integrate 21st century skills into their site plans, Academy School District 20 has created a rubric “planning tool” that schools use to guide their planning process for technology and information literacy instruction and assessment. The district has also aligned its ET-IL planning process with the district accreditation process – adding “look-fors” to the accreditation external review rubrics that include such things as evidence of collaboration among library media specialists, technology specialists and classroom teachers and links between the school’s ET-IL plan and site (SIP) plan.

Colorado's Evolving Vision

lesliekm — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 11:43:29 CST

With grant support from the Colorado Department of Education’s Power Results program, the Council on 21st Century Learning (C21L) and Colorado Springs School District 11 created the Navigator Project — a combination of activities designed to promote statewide awareness and exploration of 21st century learning. The project’s core activity was the Navigator Conference, which convened more than 200 people in Colorado Springs on June 25-26, 2007, to create a statewide vision for 21st century learning in Colorado. It was an important step taken by an exceptional and diverse group of education stakeholders, including the state’s new commissioner of education, students, members of the state board of education, legislators, appointees to the P-20 education council, school district superintendents, education policy advocates, parents, librarians, and classroom teachers.

Participants drafted the vision depicted above. In workgroups and plenary sessions, these “navigators” identified essential knowledge, skills and attributes needed to thrive in the 21st century. They described the principles of assessment needed to assure that students are mastering these essentials, and discussed the characteristics of powerful learning experiences.

See also:C21L

What is 21C Learning?

lesliekm — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 11:41:52 CST

Principles for 21st Century Learning

An education vision for the 21st century must embrace teaching and learning practices that help everyone prepare for a lifetime of active learning in a global, high-tech, information-rich society. As such, each of us must:
• Display a desire and capacity for learning anytime, anywhere;
• Achieve proficiency in learning and life skills, such as those identified in Colorado's Vision; and
• Cultivate the capacity to respond to rapid change.

The transformation to 21st century learning requires rethinking what students learn, how they learn it, and the learning environment itself. This means providing curricula that help students acquire skills and knowledge that will enable them to thrive in the 21st century; instructional strategies that include powerful experiences through which learners construct knowledge; and learning communities that involve learners both as individuals and collaborators. Each of these areas is discussed in more detail below.

(How urgent is the need to change our system of education?)

21st Century Curricula

Using core subject knowledge, 21st century curricula attend to how people learn and get things done. Traditional education focuses on the recall and comprehension of facts and concepts. A nationwide sampling of education standards found that roughly 80 percent of core content standards target factual and conceptual knowledge rather than skills or procedural knowledge.

The Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce notes that state assessments do little to measure the qualities that “may spell the difference between success and failure for the students who will grow up to be the workers of 21st century America.” Such qualities include creativity and innovation, and facility with the use of ideas and abstractions. Also important are self-discipline and organization, ability to manage and complete projects, and the ability work well in teams.

Cultivation of these qualities is left to chance in the current education system. If they are taught, mastery of these skills does not “count” or get measured in any formal sense. States need to adopt standards aimed at mastery of essential skills, habits, and processes.

A growing body of research and practice points the way to teaching and assessing essential skills for the 21st century. For example, the literature on effort-based learning and learnable intelligence offers tremendous insight into the growth mind-set, in which students learn to embrace challenges and persist in the face of setbacks, resulting in higher levels of student achievement. Another beacon is the CES Network of schools, which holds as its first principle “learning to use one’s mind well” and calls on teachers "to provoke students to learn how to learn, and thus to teach themselves." In this model, engaging students in authentic, in-depth learning experiences and coaching them to master content replaces covering broad content areas superficially.

(What skills and knowledge do you consider most important in the 21st century?)

21st Century Instructional Strategies

Research on how people learn demonstrates that the learner needs meaning and context — tangible connections between the learning task or goal and the learner’s existing patterns of experience or knowledge. These connections occur when learning is embedded in circumstances or purposes that feel intrinsically important to each learner. Strategies for meaningful learning experiences include:
• Providing a structured inquiry process in which students construct new knowledge through the exploration of ideas, information, and phenomena;
• Emphasizing “real” work that has explicit and direct meaning for the learner (through contexts or purposes that feel personally important);
• Using digital tools and media to empower each person’s learning by supporting knowledge production, providing authentic audiences, linking multiple communities, and facilitating equity;
• Incorporating assessments that authentically report on what students know and can do, and which are used primarily to guide instructional and learning decisions rather than to evaluate learners.

Examples of such learning strategies include both recent innovations (e.g., Journey North , and Urban Plan , and Fremont Business Academy ) and longstanding practices (e.g., school plays, newspapers, and athletics). We know how to create powerful learning; we just need to align it with skills-focused curricula and implement it within 21st century learning communities.

(What instructional strategies do you think would best promote 21st century learning?)

21st Century Learning Communities

Perhaps the most challenging and essential element of educational transformation relates to organizational culture: thinking of schools as learning communities. The deeply embedded Industrial Age culture of schooling relies on hierarchical authority, teachers producing knowledge that students consume, and rigidly maintained patterns and structures. “Built on the factory model,” observes Alvin Toffler, schools provide “a ‘covert curriculum’…of three courses: one in punctuality, one in obedience, and one in rote, repetitive work.”

In marked contrast, learning communities are dynamic living systems identified by the premise that all members of the community are engaged in the lifelong work of constructing knowledge. The community promotes abundant, multi-directional flows of information, the fundamental source of system energy. The community assures equity and embraces diversity, and its rich interconnection of relationships makes each individual as well as the overall community more vibrant and resilient.

To cultivate true learning communities, each school, district and agency must conceive anew how it undertakes the enterprise of learning. It will require questioning long-held notions, and brushing aside how-we’ve-always-done-it mind-sets. Each community will create its own learner-centered culture that seeks to help students find their way to success.

(What would it take to build a community in which every member is a learner?)

Public Policy- Outcomes from Navigator

lesliekm — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 10:45:11 CST

These thoughts originated from Navigator participants. What does it all mean for policymakers and stakeholders?

The topics include:

Assessments
Capital Construction
Revising Content Standards
Why Seat Time?

Assessments (CSAP/NCLB)

BIG IDEAS

• Systems approach
• Professional development
• From “punishing” to “promising”
• Local/State/Fed level assessments
• High School – CSAP disconnect
• Too much time and pressure
• Achievement gap focus
• Need for longitudinal data
• A place for other assessments? (ACT, PLAN, …)
• What are we giving up? (Arts, Social Studies, …)

Key Conclusions

• Over-testing children
• Training and development of teachers
• Are we testing the right things?
• Are they a part of 21st century learning?

Next Steps

• Education Stakeholder Follow-up o Parents, Teachers, CDE, CASE, CASB, CEA
• Problem Solving Mode

Capital Construction K-12 Capital Construction and Technology Infrastructure

Need for

• Standards for facilities and technology infrastructure
• Stable funding for facilities and technology infrastructure
• Statewide technology infrastructure

Key Conclusion

• This is a basic first step to move 21st century skills into all Colorado schools

Next Steps

• State recognize and accept responsibility for facilities and infrastructure
• Site visits to neediest areas with key officials and press to build understanding

Revising Content Standards

Attendees:

Evie Hudak, Rep. Nancy Todd, Kandy Claybaugh, Debbie Milner, Tim Snyder, Anne Bell, Shelley Kooser, Michael Doub, Cindi Seidel

Discussion Summary

Revision:

• Too much in standards?
• Is it only about content?
• 21st century skills, should it serve as an umbrella or incorporated into existing content or as additional graduation requirements
• Change instructional methods or content standards
• Standards overlap – could review and eliminate duplication
• Look at standards for where 21st century skills are
• Problem of seat time/Carnegie unit as required by college
• Healthy living (promote and preparing for the future) life skills

HB1118 opportunity for:

1. Multiple pathways
2. Incorporate career or college learning
3. Jr/Sr year look for internship opportunity

Next Steps:

1. Use opportunities of HB1118 and P21 to infuse 21st century skills
2. Involve all stakeholders
3. Review standards

Why Seat Time?

• FTE vs. early graduation
• How to keep funding
• How to keep kids
• GED = drop out
• Alternative education opportunities
• Alternative opportunities require alternative professional development
• Does funding support SBE?

CAL Learner Vision

lesliekm — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 10:39:28 CST

VISION STATEMENT

We exist to inquire, create new knowledge, share knowledge and participate productively, and pursue personal and organizational growth.

Comments from Meeting of 21st Century Learner Standards Vision Committee (7-11-08)

Becky Johnson – The vision should be in a multimedia format, with each element linked to portals where students, teachers, administrators, community, etc., can link to the components of the vision. Each element of the vision opens a new portal. By embodying the vision in this way, we...
• Create new knowledge;
• Manifest the vision in a sensory way;
• Experience the vision as we make it as we discuss it.

Jody Howard – This can be a living vision, a vision where everyone contributes.

Stevan Kalmon – Becky is making a concrete representation of the vision --- a manifestation of the vision described in a 3-dimensional form that is multi-faceted. Vision could be a Wiki and could be collaborative. But the product is not the point right now; it's the conceptualization of the vision in space and time, rather than just words. Words alone cannot capture it; a line of words doesn't represent it. Must imagine it in multiple dimensions.

Jody Howard -- The first person "we" is essential, giving the vision force.

Stevan Kalmon -- The first person requires each of us to own the vision, to manifest the vision, in everything we do.

Jody Gehrig – It’s not our vision – but a vision open to discussion, and the universe participates. The audience is educational citizens. It’s about common beliefs, culture change, & learning 1st, tools 3rd.

Becky Johnson – The vision is a collaborative culture. The vision statement is dynamic and changes when the culture changes. Not just a vision but a vision that continually changes with the world and when the students change. It exists in virtual space – share in many ways and many places – link to whatever you want to link to. We are all 21st century learners.

Logo and/or slogan
• Think
• Understand (suggested modification -- Create)
• Participate
• Grow

“Learner’s Bill of Rights” (suggested by Jody Gehrig)

I am a 21st Century Learner because I have the right to inquire

I am a 21st Century Learner because I have the right to...

(Or is it, Because I have the right to..., I am a 21st Century Learner...?)

Dan Maas- Not sure if this is helpful, but these are Hallmarks of 21st Century Learning that we are using LPS...

Parent Perspectives

lesliekm — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 10:38:26 CST

Parents with children in school are deeply invested in education outcomes. We all want to ensure that learning is relevant, rigorous and will prepare our children to pursue their dreams. How do non-educators weigh in on key decisions concerning what students learn and how they learn it?

Things Parents Can Do (Please add your ideas!)

Influence School / District / State Policy Decisions	Be a Learner	Provide Direct Learning Experiences	Make Informed Choices	what else?
	Think about your own experiences as a learner and student -- what experiences led to powerful learning?		Learn about the skills and habits of mind needed to thrive now and in the future.
	Model for your children how to find out about things that interest you.		Find out what your school / classroom teachers are doing to provide relevant learning experiences for students.