In preparation for my first Mind Lab Digital and Collaborative Learning assignment, I was prompted to consider if my students shared my opinion on the 21st century learning skill and key competency that we need to work on. On Monday morning we held an impromptu exploration of how our learning experiences help us to develop the skills and attitudes of a 21st century learner.
The students worked in small groups of 3-4 and brainstormed all of the ways in which we practise and develop each of the key competency. One of their first observations was that many of the key competencies overlap, for example it is difficult to participate and contribute without having a clear understanding of how to relate to others.
Interestingly enough, my students felt that it was the key competency of relating to others that is in need of most attention in our class. They felt that when given a choice between working with others and working alone, most people tended to choose to work alone, and thus were not developing the skills necessary for collaborating with others. Furthermore, they identified that those students who did choose to work in groups always tended to work with the same people and assume the same roles within those groups.
The insights gained from this discussion were invaluable. We came to a shared understanding that knowledge creation only occurs through discussions that challenge our thinking, and thus the two 21st century learning skills and associated key competencies that we identified complement each other perfectly.
My next step is to plan an innovative practice to address these issues. I'll keep you posted on how it goes!
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