All Answers: Re: [pakgrid] Nine Lessons on How to Teach 21st Century Skills and Knowledge

Assalamoaliekum

there are many things to do in many directions.

The important issue is : who will take the students to the edge of the technology? I am sorry to say (and feel regret) majority of our university faculty (at least my experience in karachi) are not able to take students to maximally utilize their skills and become thought leaders. In the mean time, the private university names mentioned in the previous emails by Dr. Qasim, they don't have any interest in upgrading research/scientific skills of their faculty members, their mind set is simple, 'jano do itne qimaat mein do faculty rak leh gein'

We are producing working horses (may be donkeys, no offence) at mass levels which are happy to work on PHP,.Net......

To me, universities are supposed to bring up future leaders and innovators (of course with the help of faculty), however, we are mostly teaching tools after tools.

Knowledge transfers from top to bottom, if the university faculty is unable to work on new dimensions, how come the product could become useful. In the mean time the role of university administration is so disgraceful towards faculty that made an impact of disgrace to them. In the mentioned list of universities in karachi, an MS degree holder faculty with 6 years of experience is normally getting around 65k/month. What do you think will it bring motivation to the faculty to hit their limit during the 'product' development life cycle.

What I suggest is, under these situations, research and development environment culture has to establish across the universities, and PEC, HEC or any other accreditation committee should emphasize on such effort, instead of making faculty a 'clerk' by keep noting every thing in papers or online systems.
After all these are my experiences and suggestion, and you have right to disagree with all of them.

regards
Rauf Malick

    From: Qasim Sheikh <qs358@yahoo.com>
   To: "pakgrid@yahoogroups.com" <pakgrid@yahoogroups.com>; signalians-cafe <Signalians-cafe@googlegroups.com> 
Cc: "shirazbashir@gmail.com" <shirazbashir@gmail.com> 
 Sent: Friday, October 26, 2012 8:41 AM
 Subject: Re: [pakgrid] Nine Lessons on How to Teach 21st Century Skills and Knowledge
  
 And fortunately technology is finally making some of these within reach of 3rd world countries like Pakistan.   Unfortunately, the change needed in mindset of management and faculty is teaching institutions is monumental.  My feeling is that we should focus on implementing these suggestions rather than who owns these institutions of learning. Education should be recognised as an industry rather than a only a public service.  Public sector should be responsible for setting standards and ensuring their achievement.  More importantly it should make sure that quality education is available to all.  If my estimates of cost at UET and NUST vs FAST, MAJU etc are correct then writing is on the wall.  Most private universities are   implementing HEC guidelines   already.  Here are two concrete suggestions:

Evolve HEC guidelines so that universities implement 9 points given below.  Off course we have to adapt these 9 points to our socio-economic realities.
Divert a major chunk of public sector funding for undergraduate education through programs like the National ICT R&D Fund Scholarship program.

With Regards
Qasim

92 300 8540838 (mob)
    From: Shiraz Bashir <shirazbashir@gmail.com>
 To: pakgrid@yahoogroups.com; signalians-cafe <Signalians-cafe@googlegroups.com> 
 Sent: Friday, October 26, 2012 2:46 AM
 Subject: [pakgrid] Nine Lessons on How to Teach 21st Century Skills and Knowledge
  
"As Thomas Friedman put it in a recent New York Times column, globalization compounds the urgency for students to develop the skills and knowledge they need for economic and civic success in the 21st century. Yet despite widespread agreement among parents, educators, employers and policymakers worldwide that students need skills like critical thinking, problem solving, teamwork and creativity, these skills are stubbornly difficult to teach and learn.

The "transmission" model, through which teachers transmit factual knowledge via lectures and textbooks, remains the dominant approach to compulsory education in much of the world. Students taught through this method typically do not practice applying knowledge to new contexts, communicating it in complex ways, solving problems or developing creativity. In short, as our new paper lays out, it is not the most effective way to teach 21st century skills.

Decades of empirical research about how individuals learn, however, provide valuable insight into how pedagogy can address the need for 21st century skills. Indeed, the research suggests nine lessons that inform how to teach these skills:

1. Make it relevant. The relevance of learning specific knowledge and skills is much clearer to students—and much more motivating—if they understand how a given topic fits into "the big picture," or a meaningful context.

2. Teach through the disciplines. Students develop their 21st century skills and knowledge as they learn why each academic discipline is important, how experts create new knowledge, and how they communicate about it.

3. Develop lower and higher order thinking skills—at the same time. Students need to comprehend relationships between given variables and how to apply this understanding to different contexts.

4. Encourage transfer of learning. Students need to develop the ability to apply skills, concepts, knowledge, attitudes and/or strategies they develop in one context, situation or application to another, reflexively (low-road transfer) or after deliberate thought and analysis (high-road transfer).

5. Teach students to learn to learn (metacognition). Since there is a limit to how much students learn through formal schooling, they also must learn to learn on their own.

  6. Address misunderstandings directly. People have many misunderstandings about how the world works that persist until they have the opportunity to develop alternative explanations.

7. Promote teamwork as a process and outcome. The ability to work collaboratively is an important 21st century skill, not to mention an important condition for optimal learning of other key skills.

8. Exploit technology to support learning. Use of technology is another critical 21st century skill, essential to help develop many of the other skills mentioned here.

  9. Foster students' creativity. Creative development requires structure and intentionality—the ability of the mind to form representations—from teachers and students, and can be learned through each of the disciplines, not just through the arts.

Progressing from the outdated "transmission" model to the "21st century" model will involve entire educational systems. As educational purposes change, curriculum frameworks, instructional methods and assessments must also. The changes demand increased teacher and administrator capacity and affect many facets of human capital, including teacher training, professional development, career mobility and the teaching profession's cultural standing.

While there has been progress in preparing students for the 21st century, the remaining work will require of teachers, administrators and policymakers precisely the skills that we deem critical for students—as well as the political will to ensure that educators directly involved in transitioning to the 21st century model have the time, support and resources they need."

http://www.rand.org/blog/2012/10/nine-lessons-on-how-to-teach-21st-century-skills-and.html
    -Shiraz