Partnership for 21st Century Skills
http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/

This organization describes itself as "the leading advocacy organization infusing 21st century skills into education" and it probably is -- considering the major technology companies and education groups involved. This is a "must visit" website for anyone keeping up with the progress of digital education in U.S. schools. Key reports set out the 21st Century Skills education agenda, and news updates share information about a variety of state and local initiatives. There's also a series of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Literacy Maps that illustrate the intersection ICT Literacy and core academic subjects. A free newsletter keeps you up-to-date on website developments.

Report: Learning for The 21st Century
http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=29&Itemid=4

This report from the Partnership for 21st Century Skills might be described as Silicon Valley's "manifesto" on education in the new millennium. Most partners are technology companies, who joined with NEA, USED, and several education consortiums in 2002 to form a public-private organization "to create a successful model of learning for this millennium that incorporates 21st Century skills into our system of education." Learning for the 21st Century lays out the arguments for change, identifies key curriculum elements, and offers nine steps toward building momentum for implementation. This document and a companion piece, The Road to 21st Century Learning: A Policymaker's Guide to 21st Century Skills , are driving much of the education investment of key partners like Microsoft, Apple, Dell and Cisco Systems.

The Future of the Internet
http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/188/report_display.asp

A survey of technology thinkers and stakeholders shows they believe the Internet will continue to spread in a “flattening” and improving world. There are many, though, who think major problems will accompany technology advances by 2020. This study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project (September 2006) shows that a majority of those surveyed agree with predictions that by 2020, a low-cost global network will be thriving and creating new opportunities in a “flattening” world. However, a significant 42% of survey respondents were pessimistic about humans' ability to control the technology in the future.

Educating the Net Generation
http://www.educause.edu/content.asp?PAGE_ID=5989&bhcp=1

The aptitudes, attitudes, expectations, and learning styles of Net Generation students (born after 1980) reflect the environment in which they were raised -- a digital world that's decidedly different from that which existed when most of today's teachers were growing up. What are the implications for educators? This collection of essays was prepared for a higher education audience, but the core research is plenty pertinent for K-12 teacher leaders. At this page, you can download the entire book (it's free) or choose selections of particular interest. We recommend Selection 2, "Is It Age or IT: First Steps Toward Understanding the Net Generation." Written by editors Diana and James Oblinger, this article is rich with recent research on the characteristics of Net Gen'ers, and it explodes several myths about what Digital Kids expect in school.

Teaching With Blogs
http://www.seedwiki.com/wiki/teaching_with_blogs/teaching_with_blogs.cfm

If someone in your school isn't experimenting with classroom blogging, you may be falling behind the curve! Which is not, of course, a sufficient argument for devoting precious time and resources to this increasingly popular web tool. But when you consider that the best teacher bloggers are (1) increasing student engagement; (2) expanding student contact time; (3) offering students opportunities to produce meaningful, authentic work; and (4) adding substantive project-based and problem-based learning activities to their curricula, then perhaps it's time to investigate! This page developed by the Alabama Best Practices Center is a good place to begin an in-depth exploration. Also, here's a list of quick ideas about ways to use blogs in education, compiled by an educator at Georgia State University. And if you'd like to see some Alabama classroom (and professional development) examples of blogs, wikis, podcasts and related 21st Century teaching , visit this Delicious bookmarking page.

Articles by ABPC's 21 st Century Teacher Fellows

"Blogs Are for Science, Too!"
http://www.abpc21.org/res/JColeman_blogging.doc

"After teaching high school chemistry for 15 years," writes former high school chemistry teacher Juliana Coleman, "I had tried just about every engaging instruction opportunity available and had my classroom activities set. I was up to date! Or so I thought." Juliana's participation in the ABPC 21 st Century Schools program changed her thinking. "Through this program, I have been exposed to technology that I never would have dreamed of 15 years ago. To date, my favorite, and the one I have incorporated into my classroom, has been blogging." Juliana is now an assistant principal and an ABPC 21 st Century Fellow.

The Who, What, Where, How, and Why of Using Wikis in Your School and Classroom
http://www.abpc21.org/res/ABPC_ASmith_wikis.doc

Teachers across Alabama are discovering one of the coolest web tools available – the WIKI. As middle grades teacher and ABPC 21 st Century Fellow Aimee Smith tells us in this brief how-to article, a wiki is an open-editing web application similar to a web page. Open-editing means that a wiki can be edited by anyone who can view it in a web browser (although most wiki services offer an optional password protection feature). Information can be posted to a wiki without programming knowledge and without the expense of site hosting, making it very appealing to many users – including teachers and students! It's quick and easy (the expression "wiki wiki" means "quick" in Hawaiian) and suitable for every grade, K-12.

Getting Started with Classroom Blogging
http://www.abpc21.org/res/JSimp_classblog0206news.doc

"Today's students are eager to interact with technology," says Jeanne Simpson, a seventh grade math teacher at Cedar Ridge Middle School in Decatur and an ABPC 21st Century Teacher Fellow. "They want to share their thoughts with the world. Many are seeking out unsupervised places such as MySpace or Xanga to begin social networking. I believe they will participate in school-sponsored networking just as eagerly. Not only will they have the chance to learn proper internet behavior, but they will also have the opportunity to clarify their thinking and deepen their understanding of academic concepts through classroom blogs." In this article for our newsletter, Jeanne describes her own classroom blogging experiments and shares a wealth of resources about in-school blogging!

Assuring Internet Access and Safety
http://www.abpc21.org/res/webaccess_0206news.doc

How can we be certain that our children have a safe online experience and also assure that teachers and students have the flexibility to explore the Web together; use tools like blogs, wikis, podcasts, and streaming video for instruction; interact with learners all over the world, and gain the competencies they need to succeed in a digital society? In early February 2006, technology representatives from 15 Alabama school districts involved in the ABPC 21st Century Learning project joined leaders from our participating schools in a live online mini-conference to discuss Internet safety and access issues. The two-hour session, held on the Elluminate Live website, featured four guest experts who led a lively, frank dialogue about ways to support Internet and WWW access for 21st Century learning, while also assuring student safety and the security of school and district technology infrastructures.

More Voices Create Better Filtering Policies
http://tinyurl.com/ky5e7

This article from School Administrator magazine (August 2005) deserves the attention of any educator who believes technology policies need to serve the school system's primary mission — high quality teaching and learning. "Many school districts have not yet figured out how to create good policies about technology use," writes Doug Johnson, a district technology director in Minnesota. "Unilaterally made and often unofficial rules are creating what seems like a new range war – not between the cattle ranchers and the sheepherders but between the educators and the technologists." How can central office administrators, IT directors, principals and teacher leaders work together to shape sensible technology policies that encourage 21st Century learning? In Johnson's district, policy development is a collaborative process that often begins with a dialogue built around Edward deBono's brainstorming techniques. "No one will agree with every decision," says Johnson, "but at least everyone can have a better understanding of why it was made."

Ease into Technology Integration
http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/

You know it's time to start paying attention to 21st Century Learning in your classroom and school, but good grief! What about AYP?! We can't think of a friendlier, more supportive place to begin to explore the nexus between technology and best teaching practice than Education World's "Technology in the Classroom Center." You'll find friendly practical articles featuring teachers who actually DO the work. This collection includes a range of articles, from curriculum integration and project-based learning to tips on how to operate in a one-computer classroom—and how to avoid the pitfalls of one-to-one computing.

Birmingham's Carver High School Students
Video-Conference with Hollywood Pros
http://www.edutopia.org/magazine/ed1article.php?id=Art_15 79&issue=jul_06

Every other Tuesday afternoon, from 2:30 to 3:30, Camilla Sanders-Avery's students at Carver High School in Birmingham have a videoconference with some of the most successful animators in Hollywood. The students display their animation projects and get immediate feedback from the experts. No sugarcoating here: "They tell you exactly what your work needs," says senior Eric Gates. Read this story and view an accompanying video file at the Edutopia magazine website.

Digital Storytelling
http://terry-freedman.org.uk/artman/publish/printer_804.php

Digital storytelling is when an individual or group of people craft a movie from start to finish. Digital storytelling is a great idea, but where do you start? Teacher Mechelle De Craene outlines some practical strategies to enable you and your students to get the most out of this exciting medium. What does movie-making look like in a real classroom full of 30 or more youngsters? "I wanted to share a few classroom practicalities that worked well for me," she writes. "Therefore, this article contains some of the gems that I gleaned from my experiments. To date, I've ventured into two digital storytelling projects both with gifted students and students with special needs."

Meaningful Learning in a Web-Based World
http://snipurl.com/NewWebLearning

"Unlimited, ubiquitous, personalized media gratification is unlike anything we've ever had to contend with, and just letting it happen isn't a good idea," says educator Tom March. "To counteract the New WWW's potentially harmful impact on youth, educators must use technology to create learning experiences that are real, rich, and relevant." Declaring schoolwide bans of "3rd Generation" devices that can stream digital media from cellular networks isn't the best solution, March says. "We can and must do better. In fact, as educators, we are just the people who can help. If we acknowledge that boredom and stress are leading our young people to get lost in the New WWW, we must also acknowledge that schools have too much of both. But the joy of learning has neither!" March shares his ideas about meeting this 21st Century education challenge in his article "The New WWW: Whatever, Whenever, Wherever" — part of Educational Leadership's special issue on "Learning in the Digital Age" (December-January 2006)

Is Multi-Media a Good Education Investment? http://www.topicseducation.com/uploads/resources/RS_Investment.pdf

 As educators search for the most effective and engaging methods for teaching our nation's young people, many are turning to technology to assist in accomplishing their goals. Of particular interest is the integration of multimedia devices, applications, and activities into the classroom. But are these new devices and applications appropriate for classroom use? Do they go beyond student interest (they are cool, after all) and move into student understanding and achievement? Read this recent research report to find out more.

High Digital Engagement
http://www.edutopia.org/magazine/ed1article.php?id=Art_1355&issue=oct_05

 Nathaniel Hawthorne's novels can be daunting, but Diane Hamstra, a teacher at Park Tudor School in Indianapolis, found a way to get her tenth-grade students to dive enthusiastically into the 19th-century moralist's dark thicket of language. Learn how Hamstra uses a software application called DyKnow Vision to let her students analyze various passages on computer screens at their desk. She then posts their work on a large-screen monitor and students discuss the displayed examples. Using the software, the students' responses "were deeper than with pen and ink," Hamstra says. "The focus was really sharp. There's something about changing over to an electronic medium, something about that screen. It's psychological. It's a generational thing." Read "Synching Up With The iKid," which makes the case that "educators must work to understand and motivate a new kind of digital learner," at this webpage. There's also a PDF version , which includes a second story about technology and higher-order thinking.

Curious About Podcasting?
http://www.stager.org/podcasting.html

This page of resources about podcasting "for educators and students" was assembled by consultant Gary Stager. He writes: "Not since the advent of the World Wide Web has such an easy and exciting communications medium been within reach of the masses. Podcasting offers educators and students remarkable opportunities for their voices to be heard in their local communities or the around world. One could think of podcasting as blogging without writing or as a way for every class to have its own radio station. You have the power to get in on the ground-floor of this new media phenomena and express yourself today." Stager provides all the infomation you need to get started!

The Multi-Tasking Student — A New Paradigm
http://tinyurl.com/jfukr

The ability of students to multi-task with technology carries major ramifications for classroom instruction and decision making, says Illinois superintendent Alan Simon in this insightful article from School Administrator (April 2005). "For years, educators and parents have been concerned that students are easily distracted and unable to complete in-depth assignments," he writes. "For years students have complained that school moves too slowly and does not interest them. Is it the subject or is it the speed of the transmission of information? Is it possible that students are really bored and are capable of doing more than one simple task? Is it possible that schooling is not challenging to the techno tasker? Is it possible that an attention deficit is really an asset or even a legitimate human mutation?"

Visioning about Education's Future (Large PDF File)
http://www.ta.doc.gov/reports/TechPolicy/2020Visions.pdf

This "visioning exercise" sponsored by the U.S. Department of Commerce in 2002 produced a series of articles and essays by some of the leading thinkers on education and technology. Throughout Visions 2020: Transforming Education and Training Through Advanced Technologies, the various authors present vignettes that help us understand what technology-assisted teaching and learning could look like in the future. Among the authors: Chris Dede, Milton Chen, Microsoft research manager Randy Hinrichs, NEA executive director John Wilson and Marco Polo Foundation president Caleb Schutz. Fascinating reading! (2.3 mg PDF file)

"Generation M" Study Looks at Today's Students
http://www.kff.org/entmedia/entmedia030905pkg.cfm

A study by the Kaiser Family Foundation, "Generation M: Media in the Lives of 8- to 18-Year-Olds," finds that students in grades 3-12 spend an average of six hours and twenty-one minutes plugged in to some type of media each day. Accounting for multitasking, the figure jumps to about eight and a half hours when you include nearly four hours of TV viewing and forty-nine minutes of video game play. Comparatively, homework gets slightly less than fifty minutes of attention. "For this digital generation, electronic media is increasingly seductive, influential, and pervasive, yet most schools treat the written word as the only means of communication worthy of study. Therefore, most American students remain poorly equipped to think critically about, and express themselves through, the media that defines them."

Portrait of a Digital Native
http://www.techlearning.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=170701917

In an increasingly digital world, are we creating a culture composed of people who can't sustain the attention to solve a deep and complex problem? Or is constant exposure to digital media pushing people—especially students who are "digital natives"—to become experts at analyzing information while multitasking and networking? In this story at the TechLearning website, educator Tom McHale reviews recent studies and profiles high school senior Meredith Fear, an honors student who demonstrates the prowess of a digital native as she sits in her room doing her homework while she surfs the Web, checks her school e-mail account, her Bloglines news aggregator, and Furls of an online article for her independent study—then "quickly transitions from this to respond to group members on Instant Messenger who have attached PowerPoint slides for an upcoming class presentation." How can schools meet the learning needs of the Digital Generation? (Requires free registration)

Report: Literacy in the Digital Age (PDF File)
http://www.ncrel.org/engauge/skills/skills.htm

In 2003, the Metiri Group and the North Central Regional Educational Laboratory (NCREL) published seminal study, 21st Century Skills: Literacy in the Digital Age, based on two years of research. The 88-page report includes an executive summary which showcases the skills students will need to thrive in a technological, global environment. They're presented as "skill clusters" that parallel rigorous academic standards. The four skill clusters are digital age literacy; inventive thinking; high productivity; and effective communication.

Technology and Diverse Learners
http://www.thejournal.com/articles/17295

An elementary teacher in Arizona describes how she uses technology as "the perfect tool" for providing learners of all abilities the opportunity to achieve in this article, "Successful Strategies for Meeting the Needs of Diverse Learners," in T.H.E. Journal (May 2005). Margaret Bowerman writes: "One of the greatest challenges teachers face is effectively reaching a roomful of students with varying abilities and learning styles on a daily basis. When I completed my special education certification 27 years ago, I knew I'd be constantly working to develop a curriculum rich enough for all students...In my third-grade class of 25 students, I have seven students with special needs, two identified as gifted and 16 considered typical. The technology I use for planning, instruction and assessment ensures that they are all engaged learners. The techniques I use to facilitate my students' success include a classroom structured around learning centers and small-group work, integration of a variety of technology tools, and assessment organized around the multiple intelligences."

21st Century Teaching
http://tinyurl.com/59j8a

Subtitled "Mapping the connections between ICT literacy skills, technology tools, and the learning goals of core subject areas," this article from Access Learning (March 2005) examines a key issue associated with the 21st Century Skills agenda. As author Ed Hazell notes, "There's a disconnect between the content taught, the technology tools used, and the 21st century skills needed to apply the content and tools effectively." Hazel quotes Ken Kay, president of the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, who recalls meeting with a group in the Southwest who wanted to create a 21st century high school. "The administrators at this school told me that the core curriculum people say to them, 'I'm not in the business to teach analytic thinking and problem solving. I went to school to teach a subject.'" The article goes on to explain the Partnership's ICT Literacy Maps which Kay says show "a real, three-dimensional texture to 21st century learning. The difference between these skills and 20th century learning is that in the 21st century, you can't separate your learning skills, your knowledge of the core content, and your technology skills. I think the maps have been very successful in helping people see how technology, learning skills, and core content work to reinforce each other when they intersect."

Report: The Digital Disconnect
http://www.pewinternet.org/report_display.asp?r=67

In 2002, The American Institutes for Research was commissioned by the Pew Internet & American Life Project to conduct a qualitative study of the attitudes and behaviors of Internet-using public middle and high school students drawn from across the country. The study is based primarily on information gathered from 14 gender-balanced, racially diverse focus groups of 136 students, drawn from 36 different schools. The study concluded that "many schools and teachers have not yet recognized--much less responded to--the new ways students communicate and access information over the Internet. Students report that there is a substantial disconnect between how they use the Internet for school and how they use the Internet during the school day and under teacher direction."