Today’s students are Digital Natives, ready to plug into just about anything that involves technology AND requires that they interact socially with their peers. How much better could cooperative learning fit with today’s learners than almost any other instructional strategy? According to Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, and Malenoski, “to be prepared for the fast-paced, virtual workplace that they will inherit, today’s students need to be able to learn and produce cooperatively” (2007, p. 139).
Cooperatively learning is “a teaching strategy which allows students to work together in small groups with individuals of various talents, abilities, and backgrounds to accomplish a common goal” (Orey, 2001). This seems like reality-based learning to me! In today’s workplace, an individual is usually part of a team that works together to accomplish a task or series of tasks, and the success of the team depends on all of the members of the team. After all, “cooperative learning is not so much learning to cooperate as it is cooperating to learn” (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, and Malenoski, 2007, p. 143). The integration of web resources, such as WebQuests, shared bookmarking, Blackboard, and simulation games, as well as communication software such as blogs and wikis, reinforce collaborative skills that students in today’s schools must learn in order to be prepared to enter the workforce and network effectively as adults (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, and Malenoski, 2001). It is better that students develop and practice these 21st century skills now, rather than later, when they are in a competitive workforce and it really counts!
References:
Orey, M.(Ed.). (2001). Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/index.php?title=Main_Page
Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
Posts
I agree with your post. I want to point out one key thing that you said at the very end of your post that is critical, it is better to develop students understanding of the 21st century skills now to get them ready for the workforce. It is my understanding that we are preparing the students for a future in the real world. If we do not get them ready by using various evolving technologies, then we are not getting them ready for the real world.
ReplyDeleteI agree as well, as you both mentioned, "they need to understand the 21st century skills today to be ready for the workplace." I strongly support this idea because as teachers today we are learning these skills while we are in the workplace and I think our job is to give the students something they can acquire now so that they will be prepared before and not during their career.
ReplyDeleteGreat posts!
Veronica
Absolutely to both of you! I also feel like we, as teachers, are often working to understand and develop skills while we are teaching content and it is very difficult to apply them while learning them. If we can make it easier for our students to have the skills they will use as adults, then how much better for them! Thanks for your comments!
ReplyDeleteHolly
Exactly Holly!!! We are shaping them into adults which today means to make them aware of the world of technology!
ReplyDeleteVeronica