Partnership for 21st Century Skills

I recently visited a blog titled Partnership for 21st Century Skills where there mission is to help schools collaborate with business, community, and government to get 21st Century Skills into the classroom. The 21st Centruy Skills include:

Information and communication skills (information and media literacy skills; communication skills)
Thinking and problem-solving (critical thinking and systems thinking; problem identification, formulation and solution; creativity and intellectual curiosity)
Interpersonal and self-direction skills (interpersonal and collaborative skills; self-direction; accountability and adaptability; social responsibility)
Global awareness
Financial, economic and business literacy, and developing entrepreneurial skills to enhance workplace productivity and career options
Civic literacy

The problem that these people are seeing is that students are not prepared for buisness standards, and even college, when they leave high school. I was surprised to see that there are so many buisness involved with 21st Centruy Skills. Some of the buisnesses involved include Pearson, Intel Corporation, Adobe Systems Incorporated, Apple, Dell, and LEGO Group to name a few. What helps 21st Centruy Skills market themselves is to have name brand buisnesses get involved and support them.

The idea behind 21st Centruy Skills is great. An issue that I see is some of the skills they accept schools to perform are unable to due to the lack of teachnology. For example, one of the skills frame work is Media Literacy. They expect students and teachers to understand both how and why media messages are constructed, examine how individuals interpret messages differently, and apply a fundamental understanding of the ethical/legal issues surrounding the access and use of media. Than it is expected that the students understand and utilize the most appropriate media creation tools, characteristics and conventions. I use to teach video technology and there are teachers in my school that expect students to create videos for an assignmnet. I would have a hand full of students come to me each year to eighther help them with creating a video, transfer the video to a computer from the camera, and/or create a DVD for them when they were finished. Teachers have to understand that not all students have access to a camera and/or the proper software to produce a video. What the teachers are expecting the students to do is great but they have to be very careful with what they are asking. Maybe they can team groups together so every group has atleast one person with access to a camera and one person with access to video software (and not the video technology equipment.

Here is a link to 21st Century Skills:
http://www.21stcenturyskills.org

Using blogs in the classroom

Though I am familiar with what blogs are, I have never set one up myself. Since I have started my own blog site I have noticed how helpful a blog can be. Posting a blog allows me to ask a question and receive a number of answers from a number of different people from around the world. What a powerful tool to have at our disposal!

I have been thinking how a blog would work in my classroom. I feel that the students could benefit from using a blog just as long as they do not abuse the privilege of it. I teach high school engineering and my students could benefit from a blog by posting questions they have, in regards to a project or activity, and receive answers from real-world engineers. Also they could use a blog to post questions about what to expect in college, or what is expected when they get into the real-world, or request information on a certain engineering pathway they may be interested in. I feel that the students would most benefit from a blog in this manner. I am not sure how else a blog would help?

Is there anyone that is a teacher that uses blogs in their classroom, or is there an engineer that has some ideas to how a blog could help a student in a high school environment?

NetOp

NetOp is great software to use in the classroom. Netop allows the teacher to monitor students working on computers from the teacher's computer. I am able to block certain, if not all, internet sites, freeze the computer screens while I lecture, and take control of the computers so the students can watch their screen while I demonstrate something to them.

Does anyone use NetOp or similar software?