The Contextualisation Of 21st Century Skills

This open access book is written for educators and policymakers who seek to empower young people with competencies necessary for fulfilling lives in the 21st century. It reports how a large group of educators from government and civil society organisations, together with researchers from universities, used their curriculum, assessment, and social economy expertise to develop contextualised definitions of life skills and values, and associated assessment tools. The book also reports on levels of these competencies of over 45,000 adolescents, from a household-based assessment conducted in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. The results describe how these adolescents vary in proficiency by region, age, and other factors, providing a resource for national education ministries to factor into policy decisions. Given the technical requirements of measuring individuals’ social-emotional and related competencies, how is it possible to capture an adolescent’s life skills across varied contexts? The book provides readers with a pragmatic yet technically robust process for undertaking a large-scale assessment program designed to inform policy.

Great events in history have always brought about great changes in the lifestyles of humans. Every invention, every great war and every discovery has challenged the ways in which people lived up until that point. The 21st century bears the effects of various advancements in several different parts of human life. Sometimes it is called a “space age”, sometimes an “information age”, or a “computer age”. Some people have called it a digital age, or new media age too. However it is named, the time in which we live has challenged the lifestyles of the past and has brought about new requirements in skills and practices. Media literacy, leadership, critical thinking, and problem solving, are among the new skills required by the 21st century. However, the relationship between these skills and education has not yet been fully established. To this end, this book discusses these skills through theoretical and empirical studies in the context of Turkey.

This book highlights the increasing need for people who will be working in professions such as teaching, health, engineering and business management to have the skills for living and working in a global society. Globalisation and the challenges resulting from recent political events in Europe and North America have given rise to a need for training and further and higher education programmes to address the skills young people all need to effectively engage in the current global society. Reviewing the range of theories and debates surrounding skills for the twenty-first century, the author suggests there is a need to directly address the real-world issues of today and move beyond abstract concepts such as team work, critical thinking and problem solving, as important as these concepts are. The author proposes a new framework for global skills using examples from international and national policy-makers and evidence from further and higher educational programmes and training courses. This pioneering yet practical book will be of value to students and scholars of global education as well as practitioners and policy makers.

Great events in history have always brought about great changes in the lifestyles of humans. Every invention, every great war and every discovery has challenged the ways in which people lived up until that point. The 21st century bears the effects of various advancements in several different parts of human life. Sometimes it is called a â oespace ageâ , sometimes an â oeinformation ageâ , and others a â oecomputer ageâ . Some people have called it a digital age, or new media age too. However it is named, the time in which we live has challenged the lifestyles of the past and has brought about new requirements in skills and practices. Media literacy, leadership, critical thinking, and problem solving, are among the new skills required by the 21st century. However, the relationship between these skills and education has not yet been fully established. To this end, this book discusses these skills through theoretical and empirical studies in the context of Turkey.

This book contributes to the understanding of regional and global perspectives on the development and challenges the higher education sector in sub-Saharan Africa faces in the era of globalization. It focuses on the critical aspects of the higher education sector in the Global South, with a particular emphasis on sub-Saharan Africa. It brings together empirical, theoretical and philosophical perspectives from researchers in some of the leading universities in sub-Saharan Africa. The book highlights the higher education sector’s stages of growth and development and the contemporary challenges it faces in aligning its goals and capacity globally, and maintaining its image and public identity locally. This book covers neoliberal educational reforms, leadership and governance, pedagogy, technology, the global knowledge economy, and digital advancement. It delves into how the nature and practice of learning, teaching, research, and community engagement as core functions of higher education are re-oriented to contribute to societal transformation in Africa. Further, the book discusses the implications of contemporary issues in higher education: internationalization, employability, leadership and management, and accountability and autonomy in teaching, research, and community engagement.

This book explores mobile learning as a form of learning particularly suited to our ever more mobile world, presenting a new conceptualisation of the value of mobile devices in education through the metaphor of lenses on learning. With a principal focus on mobile-assisted language learning (MALL), it draws on insights derived from MALL language, literacy and cultural projects to illustrate the possibilities inherent in all mobile learning. In its broad sweep the book takes in new and emerging technologies and tools from robots to holograms, virtual reality to augmented reality, and smart glasses to embeddable chips, considering their potential impact on education and, indeed, on human society and the planet as a whole. While not shying away from discussing the risks, it demonstrates that, handled appropriately, mobile, context-aware technologies allow educators to build on the personalised and collaborative learning facilitated by web 2.0 and social media, but simultaneously to go much further in promoting authentic learning experiences grounded in real-world encounters. In this way, teachers can better prepare students to face a global, mobile future, with all of its evolving possibilities and challenges.

With the rapid changes in the social, political, economic and technological landscape around the world, today’s learners face a more globally competitive job market after leaving school. The 21st century, which is characterized by the emergence of knowledge-based societies, expects learners to be comfortable in dealing with ambiguities and complexities in the real world and to be able to use knowledge as a tool at their workplace. This book will help readers develop an in-depth understanding of authentic problem solving and learning, and how it can be used to make a difference in their school or learning communities for the development of 21st century competencies. Comprising 20 chapters written by Singapore-based and international authors, the book is organized into three themes: authentic problems, authentic practices, and authentic participation. It details innovative school practices (e.g. productive failure) concerning the design of problems, learning activities, learning environments, and ICT tools for authentic problem solving and learning. Along with theoretical explanations of authentic learning processes and outcomes, the book also elucidates how students learn by generating and exploring solutions to complex problems and which cognitive functions are needed at different stages of problem-based learning. Presenting coherent descriptions of instructional design principles, successful cases and challenges encountered in K-12 schools and learning communities, the book provides useful information, new insights, and practical guidance for school directors, parents, teachers and researchers seeking to develop authentic learning environments for 21st century learners.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 7th European Conference on Technology Enhanced Learning, EC-TEL 2012, held in Saarbrücken, Germany, in September 2012. The 26 revised full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 130 submissions. The book also includes 12 short papers, 16 demonstration papers, 11 poster papers, and 1 invited paper. Specifically, the programme and organizing structure was formed through the themes: mobile learning and context; serious and educational games; collaborative learning; organisational and workplace learning; learning analytics and retrieval; personalised and adaptive learning; learning environments; academic learning and context; and, learning facilitation by semantic means.

This book addresses the context-based teaching of science and geography as seen by outstanding specialists from several countries around the world. It starts by providing an updated overview on the relevance of the four main physical and natural sciences (biology, chemistry, geology and physics) as well as geography for educating the public irrespective of whether citizens live (or not) in technologically advanced societies. Afterwards, it discusses unique context-based teaching approaches as well as original context-based curriculum and evaluation material tools. Additionally, the book highlights potential relationships between science and geography, which are often seen as independent areas of knowledge, namely in school. By uncovering the similarities between them and by putting in evidence where both areas deal with issues that are relevant for citizens daily lives, the book explores how contexts act as tools to link and give coherence to science and geography as components of everyday life. The worldwide trend towards providing meaningful science education to all, coupled with the concern raised by students disengagement in sciences, namely in technologically advanced societies, put increasingly high demands on the teachers. As shown in this book, contextualized teaching offers unique insights into how teachers can profit from students complicated and interconnected realities. They can use this knowledge to help them learn about the authenticity and relevance of science and geography. In addition, this book also provides directions for future research if the contribution of geography and science to context-based teaching is to be fully explored. Therefore, it is a book designated for researchers, educators and schoolteachers, as it goes from theoretical perspectives to general research-based approaches and ends with practical applications that may make a difference in the 21st century.