What are 21st centry learning skills?

Trilling and Fadel (2009) defined 21st century learning skills as 
- Learning and Innovation skills (creativity and innovation, critical thinking and problem solving, and communication and collaboration)
- Digital Literacy skills (information literacy, media literacy, and ICT literacy)
- Career and Life skills (flexibility and adaptability, initiative and self-direction, social and cross-cultural skills, productivity and accountability, leadership and responsibility). 


Due to the proliferation of multimodal ways of making meaning in the 21st century, the way students are instructed and learn in school should change and evolve in responseto the changing landscape of literacy teaching and learning.  

 

Returning to blogging

Starting today, I will be returning to blogging after a long absence.

Stay tuned for more!

2010 e-Learning Open House

Efficiency of Video Components for Student Learning

A Short Video Presentation: http://openhouse.sites.olt.ubc.ca/2009/efficiency-of-video-components-for-student-learning/

In order to understand family violence and to be able to produce effective responses to it, it is useful to have visual representation of the dynamics of violence as well as models of effective interventions. Furthermore, visual representation of experienced social workers explaining their approach can facilitate student learning. For a Graduate cross-listed online course at UBC,Violence in Families: Advanced Understandings and Responses, SOWK 570E/NURS 586, the leading course instructor, Dr. Mary Russell, has developed a number of video components through collaboration with the Office of Learning Technology. These video clips have made extensive use of the expertise available in the local community. All the video clips are incorporated into the lessons for students’ discussion and assignments.

With Colton

Colton is good company that always makes me happy and peaceful even though he already invaded most of my territory on my bed. But everything is alright with Colton.

Do you want to take a photo of me? How about this pose? My tail looks a bit longer than usual but it is OK as long as my mom is happy. Meow...

Making Kimchi

I have demonstrated how to make Kimchi for our OLT staff members as a representative of our Health and Culture Committee. I successfully taught basic Korean expressions and how to make Kimchi. After making Kimchi, we enjoyed the Kimchi. The four small heads of Kimchi were surprisingly gone soon. I deeply appreciate all the participants' active participation and their open minds to learn about different cultures.

Thanks to my children's help, Julie and Alvin, I was able to put the Kimchi making process onto Youtube. My son's patience in holding the digital camera for many hours without any complaints was greatly appreciated. Whenever I made mistakes, he gently offered another shot. Also, he let me borrow his attractive apron he made himself. My daughter helped me to publish the video on Youtube. In the midst of her busy schedule, she is always ready to help her mom. Special thanks to my cat Colton, who wouldn't stop meowing during the video shooting. But it's okay Colton, we still love you.

Here is the Kimchi video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aix3Ztyeg40). I hope you enjoy it.

Canadian e-Learning Conference, 2009 (June 17)

I worked with my good colleague, Donna Scalzo, and we finally presented our paper at Canadian e-Learning Conference.

Title: Use of Needs Assessment for the Evaluation of Online Education in Higher Education

Despite extensive discussion (Frydenberg, 2002; MYU, 2002; OCEP, 2006; The Sloan Consortium, 1997) on the topic of evaluation of online education during the last decade, little attention has been paid to the significance of the use of a needs assessment. Distance education educators often hastily come to a conclusion without thorough reviews, effective identification of gaps, careful plans and optimal implementation. It is important to identify and assess the gaps in existing practices in the evaluation of online education in order to ensure the high-quality of education in an online environment. A needs assessment helps ask the appropriate questions in order to get the necessary answers because a needs assessment “identifies gaps in results, places them in order of priority and selects the most important for closure or reduction.” (Watkins and Kaufman, 1996) As a result of a needs assessment, a realistic and measurable solution should be put into place. In this paper we examine three major components in regards to the quality of online program management, evaluation of learning management systems, and evaluation of the processes used for existing instructional design models.

http://celc.sites.olt.ubc.ca/2009/04/22/use-of-needs-assessment-for-the-evaluation-of-online-education-in-higher-education/

Links

1. Voice it out with Wimba: UBC OLT (http://olt.ubc.ca/spotlight/feature/learning_techno/?CA=41498)

2. China International Distance Education, 2008 (http://news.xuexigang.com/special/jchg/2008/12/1652332615.html)