A Study of West Virginia Teachers: Using 21st Century Tools to Teach in a 21st Century Context

Technology integration is reinforced not only by the National Educational Technology Standards but also the West Virginia Technology Standards, making teachers more accountable to use technology in their daily teaching practice. Because West Virginia has established a partnership with the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, West Virginia teachers are being encouraged to change instruction to meet the needs of 21st century learners. This includes being more student-centered by integrating instructional technologies to more actively engage students. By determining the frequency of integration of 21st century technology tools to create a 21st century context for learning and the factors that influence them, West Virginia has valuable information for promoting systemic change. This study found that West Virginia teachers frequently use few 21st century technology tools, seldom use 21st century technology tools to create a 21st century context for learning, and identified supports and barriers that enable or prohibit their use of technology. In addition, the teachers provided examples of technology activities in which they frequently engage their students. The results provide the foundation on which to build professional development that will lead transformational change in technology integration in West Virginia schools

Information Ecology for effective Knowledge Management in 21st century

Abstract: This paper is an opinion paper design to provides a conceptual framework on information ecology for effective knowledge management in 21st century. itconsiders the creation of knowledge, and the flow of information within the society and organization. The paper hopes to encourage readers of any organizational setting on how to become accustomed to the information ecology to survive in knowledge management and competitive atmosphere. For that, based on literature review, the main elements of the information ecology in 21st century, knowledge and knowledge management, information ecology and technology, challenges of information ecology and knowledge management in 21st century and how-to bring prosperity in an organization was discussed. Key words: Information Ecology, Knowledge Management and 21st century

Developing the 21st Century Skills of Creativity, Collaboration and Information Fluency in a Kindergarten Classroom

The research question addressed in this project was, how can kindergarten students develop the 21st Century Skills of creativity, collaboration and information fluency through technology integration? It documents one teacher’s creation of a literacy based curriculum unit that gives kindergarten students opportunities to grow their 21st Century Skills, using the iPad as the learning tool. Key influences for this capstone include the National Association for the Education of Young Children’s new standards for technology integration in early education classrooms, as well as the International Literacy Association’s new standards for literacy education. Richardson’s research on the change in learning and teacher’s roles with the influx of technology in the 21st century is also an important influence. The author describes the reasoning behind the curriculum unit developed, as well as the significance of teaching the skills of creativity, collaboration and information fluency to 21st Century learners

Training of Library and Information Professionals for the 21st Century Job Market in Nigeria: Implications for Curricula Re-Design

The paper examines the curricula of Library schools in Nigerian Universities in view of the realities of 21st century job market.  The paper submits that curricula of these Schools are overdue for re-design if they are to train library and information professionals that will suit the job openings in the 21st century and beyond. Notable shortcomings in the curricula of most of the Library Schools in Nigeria are in the areas of application of information and communication technology in library and information services, entrepreneurship,  as well as non realization of these schools that their products could also be employed in non library related organizations. The paper among other things recommends collapse of most traditional courses in librarianship and introduction of new courses that are information technology driven that will enable products of these universities to fit into the 21st century library and information science jobs. The paper concludes that there is the need for harmonization and standardization of curricula of Nigerian Universities and it calls on National Association of Library and Information Science Educators (NALISE), Nigerian Library Association and Nigerian Librarian Registration Council and other stake holders in ensuring that library and information professional could be able to compete favorably for the jobs of 21st century anywhere in the World

Partnerships for information fluency

Using faculty-librarian partnerships to ensure that students become information fluent in the 21st century In the 21st century educators in partnership with librarians must prepare students effectively for productive use of information especially in higher education. Students will need to graduate from universities with appropriate information and technology skills to enable them to become productive citizens in the workplace and in society. Technology is having a major impact on society; in economics e-business is moving to the forefront; in communication e-mail, the Internet and cellular telephones have reformed how people communicate; in the work environment computers and web utilizations are emphasized and in education virtual learning and teaching are becoming more important. These few examples indicate how the 21st century information environment requires future members of the workforce to be information fluent so they will have the ability to locate information efficiently, evaluate information for specific needs, organize information to address issues, apply information skillfully to solve problems, use information to communicate effectively, and use information responsibly to ensure a productive work environment. Individuals can achieve information fluency by acquiring cultural, visual, computer, technology, research and information management skills to enable them to think critically

Designing a 21st Century Assessment in EFL Learning Context

Success in a digital world requires more than the ability to turn on a computer or use a smart phone. It requires creativity, innovation, communication, critical thinking, digital citizenship, information fluency and other important 21st century skills. Even though most students can interact with apps on their mobile device, they are not born with these necessary 21st century skills. The present paper addresses the ways of designing a 21st century assessment in English as a Foreign Language learning context The assessment is aligned to the six strands, namely creativity and innovation, communication and collaboration, research and information fluency, critical thinking, problem solving, and decision making, digital citizenship, and technology operations and concepts. There are several mostly-used types of assessment. They include structured interviews, situational judgment tests, role plays, group exercises, in basket exercises, work samples, and performance standards/appraisal. The purposes of assessments designed to measure 21st century skills, such as to provide information for school accountability, to evaluate individual student progress, to focus public attention on educational concerns, or to change educational practices by influencing curriculum and instruction. In addition, the different purposes require different sources of evidence to evaluate the validity of the assessment. Furthermore, computer-based technology can support the development, administration, and scoring of large-scale assessments of 21st century skills.     Keywords: 21st century assessment, EFL context, EFL learnin

Astrotech 21: A technology program for future astrophysics missions

The Astrotech 21 technology program is being formulated to enable a program of advanced astrophysical observatories in the first decade of the 21st century. This paper describes the objectives of Astrotech 21 and the process that NASA is using to plan and implement it. It also describes the future astrophysical mission concepts that have been defined for the twenty-first century and discusses some of the requirements that they will impose on information systems for space astrophysics

Enhancement of the 21st Century Skills for Thai Higher Education by Integration of ICT in Classroom

AbstractThis research studied the effect of integration of information and communication technology (ICT) in classroom for enhancing 21st century learning skills which included collaboration, communication, information literacy, media literacy, and ICT literacy. In this study, based on learning theories and student-centered approach, integration of ICT included four effective functions; dynamic content presentation, information access, creation and sharing, interaction and reflection. Seven educational technology experts evaluated these functions by an assessment tool. The evaluation showed that the integration was appropriated. The integration was then applied into teaching and learning process throughout the course to study the effect. 69 undergraduate students and 22 graduate students in two different 4-months courses were target studied. The students were assessed themselves by a 21st century learning skill assessment tool before and after courses. The results showed that integration of ICT in classroom could enhance the 21st century learning skills for both undergraduate and graduate levels significantly with high effect size