This week the White House asked the following question on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter: “What does a 21st century education mean to you? Here is my take:

A 21^st century education is a lifelong learning process of obtaining and developing knowledge and skills which enables people to be successful, productive, and contributing members of our society throughout this century.

The foundation knowledge will include reading, writing, mathematics, science, history (including social and cultural backgrounds, customs, norms and sensitivities,) economics, finance, metacognition (in how one thinks and learns), psychology, and the information technologies of the times.

The core skill sets will consist of developing one’s abilities:

• to learn, (unlearn,) and teach,
• to communicate effectively through various mediums, for various purposes to various audiences,
• to collaborate, team, build relationships and resolve conflicts,
• to locate and evaluate information from a wide variety of sources,
• to apply knowledge to situations and solve problems,
• to analyze and think critically,
• to engage in creative and innovative thought and activities,
• to manage one’s self, time and projects,
• to manage one’s physical, mental, and spiritual condition,
• to manage increasing amounts of data, information, and messages through an increasing number of channels, and changing technologies,
• to cope with increasing rates and types of change in the world around them,
• to contribute to one’s communities and governances for the betterment of humanity.

The high rate of change will require ongoing learning throughout one’s productive life. Education will be delivered through more channels, to a wider diversity of students, offer a wider variety of material, courses and curriculums, to more people, at more times, and with more personalization to the students. More of the population will be involved in delivering education in some format. Greater amounts of education will be delivered to students who are not co-located with the instructor or each other. Co-located institutions will still retain a significant role in education, although their operations, processes, and techniques will change significantly.

P.S. Life long learning in not an option anymore, it is a requirement to be successful and remain employable.

So, What does a 21st century education mean to you?

Realities vs. Myths of Modern Day Serfs – College Dropouts

Without a college education, it becomes increasingly harder to break out or stay out of poverty. This does not surprise most people I have talked to. What does surprise them is the reality of how few young people (in the US) who start college, actually graduate within 1.5 times the stated length of those programs.

For two year colleges, 80% of young people starting a two year program won’t graduate within three years, if at all. For four year institutions, 60% won’t graduate in six years, if at all. The drop-out rates are pretty dismal and occur at time when such an education has become increasingly important.

Myths around these students abound. Getting grounded in the realities of students today is one of the first actions to take if we are going to significantly reduce the failure rates of young people entering higher education. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation collected data on this subject in May and June of 2009. The foundation has since released a report entitled “With Their Whole Lives Ahead of Them” to raise awareness in this area. The report lists four significant myths:

MYTH 1: “Most students go to college full-time. If they leave without a degree, it’s because they’re bored with their classes and don’t want to work hard.”
REALITY NO. 1: “Most students leave college because they are working to support themselves and going to school at the same time. At some point, the stress of work and study just becomes too difficult.”

MYTH 2: “Most college students are supported by their parents and take advantage of a multitude of available loans, scholarships, and savings plans.”
REALITY 2: “Young people who fail to finish college are often going it alone financially. They’re essentially putting themselves through school.”

MYTH 3: “Most students go through a meticulous process of choosing their college from an array of alternatives.”
REALITY 3: “Among students who don’t graduate, the college selection process is far more limited and often seems happenstance and uninformed.”

MYTH 4: “Students who don’t graduate understand fully the value of a college degree and the consequences and trade-offs of leaving school without one.”
REALITY 4: “Students who leave college realize that a diploma is an asset, but they may not fully recognize the impact dropping out of school will have on their future.”

You can get a copy of the report: With Their Whole Lives Ahead of Them here (including what would help) in a PDF file or by visiting the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation website at: http://www.gatesfoundation.org/united-states/Pages/get-schooled-college.aspx . The report contains a plethora of information including extended results, what can be done, data, survey questions, methodology, etc.

What do you see being done to address this situation in your organization or elsewhere?    What else do you think would help?

Indeed, we have become an information snacking culture. Although this can be a useful process in some circumstances, I find the downsides of a culture oriented this way to be of concern.  Some modifications of our instruction are needed.

As a culture, we want the quick summary (preferably the top 3 – 10 items in a bullet list) that is easy to glance at and then move on. We seem to be hooked on fascinating information tidbits (especially with a picture or graphic, and if its delivered real time.)  If we can get it on the net or do it with our computers, we don’t want to learn it. We will go there when, and if, we ever need it. We also don’t want to reflect on stuff, certainly not in depth, for we are too busy and just don’t have the time. Yikes!

The first problem I see (and experience) is: there is no structure and context for the info bites to be of much value. They are much less likely to be retained in memory and hence are transitory. Without the structure and context, there is often little real understanding of the information, whether the information is credible, what assumptions or conditions underlie this particular bit of information, etc. The risks here are serious for the individual and the society.

The second problem is not having the information internalized and being able to work with it. This is the “I’ll just Google it” issue. If one has a solid base and understanding to start with, then info bites can be drawn on. That formula for a calculation you perform once a year or two can be looked up. But if you don’t know how to add and subtract, when the power goes off, you can’t make change at the store. And if the power is on, you don’t know if you are paying the right amount or getting the right change. It also becomes nearly impossible to understand implications of information or actions in real life. You don’t have time to look everything up and integrate it. When the light turns red, you better know to stop. If you are confronted by law officers, you better know your rights as well as their legal powers. “Wait a second until I Google that and I’ll get back to you” just won’t work too well. And these are the relatively simple things in life.

The third problem is around time. Yes, life is hectic for most of us. Especially since we have so many choices, opportunities, requests and requirements (which we usually signed up for.) that it seems like there just is not enough of it to do anything else. In reality it is about choices and we don’t want to trade off other activities to spend time on reflection (and the effort it takes – I will get to that next.) We all still get 24 hours a day. Generally, we also get a lot more days in our existence. We also work far fewer hours than most of the previous generations did.

The fourth problem, which underlies much of the previous three, is we don’t want to spend the effort to understand. It takes active effort to really reflect on something. It takes effort to practice a skill, in this case, mental skills. It takes effort to build the background and learn the structures. It takes effort to get the information into our memories. It takes effort to learn how to learn and develop our brain “muscle” ability. Thinking is work, and we want to know it without the work. Just as we want to look like models and movie stars without the diets or the exercise.

So alas, we are becoming an info snacking culture with the mental mode of couch potatoes. We have seen the effect when we did this with our physical bodies: eating fast food and watching a tube (pick your favorite kind.) It isn’t pretty (pun intended,) nor healthy, and leads us to be far far less capable, as individuals, and as a society.

You know, I think there may be a problem here. And it comes at a time when we need to learn more, and more often. So what is an instructor to do?

1)      Don’t assume your students really have the base background.
2)      Reinforce the structure and context of the information.
3)      Teach and reinforce learning skills and how to learn with all your material.
4)      Learn and use the technology for optimum results. Use it to:

• Deliver information in a way that makes it more “memorable”. Use neuroscience and metacognition in design and delivery.
• Provide base building information that can be pursued individually as needed.
• Provide exercises for using and connecting the information.
• Stir interest in students who are media bombarded all the time.
• Connect and help students outside the class – keep the learning rolling.
• Connect with peers for guidance, best practices, emotional support and help!

5)      Reinforce reality. In life, we are constantly making choices and tradeoffs. In this context,  the student trades off are their time and effort put in against if, and how much, they learn as well as how long it lasts and how far it reaches.

Some of these items are not new. However, I believe the importance of them today is much higher and should lead us to modify our instruction accordingly.

What do you think about “Instruction in an Information Snacking Culture? “  That is the big question for the month of February.

Visit THE LEARNING CIRCUITS BLOG to see what others are thinking. Feel free to post your comments here as well.

As I look around and ahead into the future, I believe that life long learning is no longer an optional orientation if one wants to remain employable, let alone successful.

In prior generations, the expectation for the middle class was: 1) Go to college and get a degree 2) Enter the professional world 3) Advance through hard work and success in your career area. 4) You could move further up by becoming a manager 5) If you didn’t have an MBA, get one and continue to grow in your career area, and 6) retire. Besides a few corporate classes, often the program of the year, ongoing education was not necessary.

The world today, however, requires a different approach. Jobs, and the skills they require are coming into existence, changing, and disappearing at increasingly faster rates. This will require workers, both white collar and blue collar, to continue their education throughout their professional lives. Whether it is to retrain to different fields or to update the ever changing skill sets, life long learning has become a professional necessity.

But how are we preparing ourselves, our students, and our current workforce for life long learning. One thing has become clear to me as I look around. We need to teach “how to learn” to our students; every student. This is now a basic life skill. Without it, students stumble and fumble along. Some pick up habits by experience or watching others. A few pursue learning strategies on “how to learn” on their own. But the vast majority of students I come in contact with at the post-secondary level, do not have a clear understanding of how to learn effectively and efficiently. They don’t know why they do (or we require them to do) many of the things they do. And they are not really aware of many small facets and strategies for improving their learning process.

We can bemoan the situation, point fingers, or ignore the situation. Personally, I believe one of the most valuable things we can teach the students that enter our classes is “how to learn.” It does not matter what the field or subject is, the age or background of the student, or the level of education that has been achieved. If we teach them from where they are at, then teaching “how to learn” is invaluable. It will help, not only in the class at hand, but for their entire lives and the many classes, subjects, topics and areas they pursue.

Besides teaching these skills to my Economics and Personal Finance students, I will be publishing posts on “how to learn” skills on Explorations with Prof E.

What do you teach your students in this area?

Of course you do. Everyone has a Personal Learning Network (PLN). But how is your PLN working for you?   Take a look at the two PLNs below and judge for yourself. You may be missing out – big time.

Personal learning networks have been around from the dawn of time. I know, you’re not quite that old. PLNs consist of the resources you go to in order to learn something, like solving a problem or developing a new skill. If you were from the dawn of time, your PLN would have been members of your tribe. You would have watched them and learned how to do things like crack nuts to get inside the shell. Likewise they may have learned from you, perhaps by watching you escape being lunch for a Saber Tooth Tiger by diving into a cave hole too small for the predator to enter.

Okay, these tigers are gone, but we still have our tribes (family, neighbors, colleagues, friends) and some are in your PLN. We also learn by reading books and journals, watching TV and videos, and perhaps by listening to a radio program. We also have some tools on the internet. Got a question, go to Wikipedia. Looking for something, do a Google search. A typical PLN for an educator looks like this:

by Alec Couros, licensed under CC/ATT/NC

The number of users of Web 2.0 applications, such as online Social Networking,  has been growing exponentially around the globe. It is not just kids and geeks. Adults in education are joining in. Web 2.0 is not just for entertainment. It is being used for both professional development and instruction deployment. A rapidly growing number of educators are developing enhanced PLNs, like the one below:

by Alec Couros, licensed under CC/ATT/NC

Educators are connecting across grade levels, across disciplines and across the world. They are sharing resources and teaching each other. The are collaboratively developing materials and sharing what they know, find, need, etc. It could be about the technology: how to use it, what’s good, best practices, best products, implementations in the classroom or online. The collaboration could have nothing to do with technology, but focus on classroom management, book reviews, curriculum design or any of the other issues educators face. The breadth and depth of PLNs for these “networked” educators has increased dramatically. Likewise the learnings and skills of networked educators are also growing significantly.

So, how is your PLN working for you?

For me, life is an adventure and a journey.

This, my first post, is but another step in that journey. Although I have felt that I should be taking this step for a long time, one thing or another always seemed to have cropped up and I stepped some somewhere else instead.

One factor is the priority assigned in making choices on how I spend my time. But I believe the bigger real issue is one of underlying fear or insecurity around things like: what will I write about, will what I write be good enough for my standards and what will the negative ramifications be of what I write?

But reward always entails risk, and my “gut” tells me it is the right thing to do. So here is to holding one’s nose and jumping off the high dive. From past experiences, I know it will be much more exciting than sitting on the side watching and making excuses.

In Digin4ed, the focus centers around the new path I have embarked on to become an educator. More on this in an upcoming post.