Everyone could make his own image of the future learners, but few only can draw an approximate picture. I might be one; still, together we'll try to ask the right questions to get a better readable image.
The learners we are talking about will basically stay learners for their entire life in a global context. They should be aware of what skills and what competencies will enable them to be useful and get work wherever across the glob. We no longer talk about local labour market needs. So these learners are confronted with different yet unsure challenges that their parents never faced during their quest for a living. It is a matter of "savoir-faire" not knowledge as it were.
The 21st learners, thus, are very special in the sense that they should learn in a global framework with global peers. Globalization makes it possible for completion and cooperation among learners from the four corners of the world. We no longer talk about local or regional education systems. Globalization wants everything shared: resources, information, expertise and experience.
The 21st learners are global citizens due to the flood of information pouring both ways. 1.0.1 is the new global language. These learners must learn and use it to communicate with their peers worldwide who speak different languages.
Traditional education leads to traditional jobs that do not exist any more, or at least they won’t exist in the near future. It will be a big mistake to keep teaching things that are outdated and no longer valid neither for further study or for the labour market. Learning has tremendously changed from acquiring knowledge to using knowledge.
What is different about the 21st century learner then? The first thing is that everybody is that learner, school pupils, University students, teachers, doctors, housewives and all.
When we talk about the 21st century learner, we automatically talk about life long learners. It seemed that we'll be forced to learn due to things like
Satellite TV
Mobile phones
Internet
Web2.0
Read/Write Web
RSS (Really Simple Syndication)
Interactive technological devices
Social networking sites
Blogs
Wikis
Podcasts
Newsreaders
Photo/video sharing
etc
Such devices and many other new ones which are increasing in shape and options faster than expected, oblige these learners to learn something new every single minute. There are more things that work on activating the process of non-stop learning.
multimedia
technology
web 2.0
global citizenship
multiple intelligence
competencies
skills
Readiness and acceptability.
etc
To be acquainted with these unprecedented flow of information, one has to be an Active learner able:
The learner no longer learns to repeat information, but rather learns how to seek the information and use it. This is still a brick in the entire facility of the modern learning. How to get the information is not so easy because it is a matter of savoir-faire and time scheduling; the faster the better. Once the information sought reached, it should be questioned for authenticity and validity. The internet is full of resources but there are good and weak, valuable, less valuable and valueless data. Now to develop the skill to think it out critically is another skill to form the personality of the 21st century learner. These skills among others are what makes the 21st century learner different. Here are more imperative skills to make the image of differentiation clear
The learner should be:
A critical thinker
A problem solver
An innovator
An effective communicator
A self-directed learner
Information and media literate
Globally aware
Civically engaged
Financially and economically literate
Resilient
Disposed for life long learning
The 21st Century Learning Skills
The learners must have flexible skills and competencies to be cooperative and work in teams in order to reach ones’ utmost potentials and be prepared for future competition in multiple fields of expertise as the average job opportunities are variable. One could do more than eight different jobs in one’s life time. For this reason especially, they need to own some skills like:
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