Developing and Modeling 21st-Century Skills with Preservice Teachers

Today’s youth face a rapidly changing world, requiring them to move beyond basic formulaic knowledge and skills. Current educational policy, such as the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), represents a shift away from rote learning and memorization of facts to the development of the 21st-century skills of creativity: critical thinking; communication; collaboration; and information, media, and technology skills (IMTS). Business and political leaders also recognize the necessity in addressing these core competencies for the 21st-century landscape (Ravitch, 2010). For students to be competent in a global society, K–12 teachers need to develop, model, and assess the 21st-century skills in their students (National Governors Association Center for Best Practices [NGA] & Council of Chief State School Officers [CCSSO], 2010; Partnership for 21st Century Skills, 2016; Rotherham & Willingham, 2009; Truesdell & Birch, 2013). As such, there is a call for teacher education programs to facilitate preservice teachers’ personal development of these skills as well as their application to educational settings (American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, 2010; Michaels, Truesdell, & Brown, 2015)

Reflective Journaling: A Theoretical Model and Digital Prototype for Developing Resilience and Creativity

Reflection is commonly discussed as a tool for personal and professional development that is becoming increasingly important in today’s global and digital world. In this paper, we propose a model that suggests ways in which reflection, in the form of Reflective Journaling, can support the development of creativity and resilience, which are needed to enable individuals to function effectively in a fast-changing environment. In addition, the model proposes ways in which external support and progress monitoring can be used in conjunction with skills in adaptive resilience and structured creativity, to support the maintenance of reflective journaling as a habit, in the longer term, thus creating virtuous cycles of skills and behaviours that can reinforce each other. Based on our model, and additional user research, we describe the design of a first digital prototype that aims to support the use of Reflective Journaling and to develop creativity and resilience through suggested mechanisms. Initial evaluations of our prototype are positive. It has been well-received by early test users, and has the potential to address all the connections defined. We therefore suggest that the theoretical model can be used to develop digital tools, such as the one included, to help those who wish to develop the habit of reflective journaling, and through that a range of other skills associated with resilience and creative thinking. We see this as a starting point for investigating this potential in more depth

Cascading the use of Web 2.0 technology in secondary schools in the United Kingdom: identifying the barriers beyond pre-service training

This paper reports on research that took place at Nottingham Trent University and Sheffield Hallam University, United Kingdom, over two years. The research focuses on the use of Web 2.0 technology, specifically web logs, with pre-service teachers, both during their university programme and the first year of teaching as full-time newly qualified teachers (NQTs). The purpose of this research was to add a developing body of knowledge by identifying whether technology used by pre-service teachers during their training course can be cascaded into their practice once qualified. Key findings identify a number of enablers and barriers to cascading technology in the classroom; these include curriculum time, pupil skills and support. The research concludes that early professional support and development should be on-going and assumptions about new teachers as champions of cascading innovative use of Web 2 technologies into their practice as NQTs may be over optimisti

Promoting transfer and an integrated understanding for pre-service teachers of technology education

The ability of pre-service teachers (PSTs) to transfer learning between subjects and contexts when problem solving is critical for developing their capability as technologists and teachers of technology. However, a growing body of literature suggests this ability is often assumed or over-estimated, and rarely developed explicitly within courses or degree programmes. The nature of the problems tackled within technology are such that solutions draw upon knowledge from a wide range of contexts and subjects, however, the internal organization and structure of institutions and schools tends to compartmentalize rather integrate these. Providing a knowledge base and strategies to enhance PSTs’ awareness of and skills in transferring knowledge may allow for a more integrated understanding to develop. The importance of developing this ability to transfer knowledge is heightened as PSTs will, in turn, be responsible for developing the similar capabilities of their future students. This paper begins by considering problem solving in technology education and some of the issues associated with learning transfer. Thereafter, a framework and strategy for better integrating learning between courses is described and forms the basis for developments in an initial teacher education degree programme for technology education. Provisional data from evaluations and PSTs’ work indicated a positive effect in enhancing their thinking and additional data collected in the form of questionnaires, interviews and course work further illuminate this finding. It is argued that the development framework and approach enhances PSTs’ mental models of teaching technology and offers a significant step forward in promoting skills in the transfer of future learning between subjects; something increasingly critical for 21st century STEM Education

The Teacher as Servant Leader: Revisited

This essay revisits an original conference proceedings chapter from 1997, examining the biblical and educational underpinnings for the concept of teacher and servant leader

Investigating Continuing Professional Development Provided for Egyptian Higher Education Online Tutors

Tutors confront great challenges in their teaching practices, including changes in subject content, new instructional methods, changes laws and procedures and students’ needs. In online learning (OL), more changes can be added, namely, the massive and accelerated advance in technology. Therefore, online tutors need to be provided with CPD that develops their skills and experience to improve the effectiveness of their distance learning courses. This paper investigates how Egyptian Higher Education (HE) online tutors are provided with Continuing Professional Development (CPD) to pursue their work. Data for this paper was collected form 20 online tutors from two major Egyptian universities. This paper explores the current situation of CPD provided for HE online tutors with its affordances, limitations, and proposed recommendations that can help to overcome these challenges

Self-Regulated Learning of Mathematics for Teacher Prospectives in the Development of Student E-Worksheets

This research is motivated by demands for mastery of 21st-century skills as a form of educational reform in the 4.0 era. This study aims to explore the understanding and skills of the prospective mathematic teacher in the development of the student e-worksheet as a form of teacher skills in the 21st-century. A total of 27 math teacher candidates in Banyumas Regency, Central Java, Indonesia, who took part in training teaching material development, was formed into 9 Groups (G) and was given the task to develop student e- worksheet of mathematics of junior high school. Data were collected through observation, interviews, self-reflection, open questionnaires, and portfolios and analyzed using content analysis procedures by reading carefully to understand relevant themes. The coding and labeling are then carried out to find the meanings associated with the research objectives and theoretical framework. This study's results indicate that self-regulated learning of prospective mathematics education teachers in the development of student e-worksheet can encourage motivation to learn, self-confidence, experience, and determination to become professional teachers in the 21st century. From this study, an understanding and skill of the century 21can be explored from self-regulated learning during the development of student e- worksheet, namely collaboration and communication skills, problem-solving, creativity and imagination, innovation, and novelty, literacy, and leadership

The Teacher as Servant Leader: Revisited

This essay revisits an original conference proceedings chapter from 1997, examining the biblical and educational underpinnings for the concept of teacher and servant leader