Eric
Sheninger in his book Digital Leadership
identifies seven essential skill sets that 21st century schools must
provide students: creativity, communication, collaboration, critical thinking,
problem solving, technology proficiency, and global awareness.
Creativity is using a wide range of idea
creation techniques to create new and worthwhile ideas and demonstration of
originality and inventiveness (National Education Association). Students need to be able to think and work
creatively to be able to develop unique and useful solutions. Creativity is necessary in our economy and
when students learn to be creative they become adaptable which prepares them for
life after the classroom.
Communication
is the ability to articulate thoughts and ideas orally, written, and
nonverbally. It is also the ability to
effectively convey meaning through various media on both personal and
professional levels (National Education Association). Students will communicate all of their
lives. For today’s workplace, students
must learn complex communication that can involve explanation, negotiation, and
intense interactions. In addition,
communication is vital for relationships with customers, fellow employees, and
supervisors.
Collaboration
is the ability to work efficiently and respectfully with diverse teams
(National Education Association).
Students must learn to be flexible, make compromises, and to be helpful
to accomplish a commons goal. Collaborative efforts are necessary for people
working together to produce valuable resources.
Collaborative efforts create more holistic results than individual
efforts and are necessary in today’s world due to globalization and
technology. Students must also be able
to collaborate in both the physical and virtual world for the modern workplace.
Critical thinking
is the ability to use various types of reasoning and analyzing parts of a whole
(National Education Association.
Critical thinking is important because it leads to development of higher
level concentration, deeper analytical abilities, and improved thought
processing. Students need to develop
critical thinking skills to be a citizen, family member, and employee that can
make sensible decisions.
Problem
solving is the ability to analyze data and arrive at a logical and defensible
conclusion (Crockett, 2016). Students
need to develop this skill set to solve problems, resolve conflicts, and
discover alternatives. Problem solving
skills are vital to preparing students for challenges after graduation. Employers look for people with strong problem
solving skills.
Technological
proficiency is the ability to apply technical knowledge and skills. Students must be exposed to and be familiar
with current technology in order to compete in the world market place
(Crockett, 2016). Also, it is important
for students to be proficient in evolving technology to compete and flourish in
society and the workplace.
Global
awareness is the appreciation of relationships and differences in values,
customs, and norms of diverse global communities (Crockett,2016). Students need to understand and address
global issues to be a productive member of today’s society. It is advantageous for a person to be able to
learn from and work with individuals of diverse cultures, religions, and life
styles with mutual respect and open dialog.
In
the school setting, students at any age can begin learning these valuable
skills. Adding these skills in the
classroom as early as pre-K and Kindergarten allows students to build on these
skills as they mature. Adding more complexity
of the skills at each grade level will allow the student to be proficient in these
vital skills upon graduation.
References
Crockett, L.W. (2016 August 02). The critical 21st
century skills every student needs and why. Global
Digital Citizen. Retrieved from https://globaldigitalcitizen.org/21st-century-skills-every-student-needs
National Education Association (n.d.). Preparing 21st
century students for a global society: An educator’s guide to the four Cs. Retrieved from http://www.nea.org/assets/docs/A-Guide-to-Four-Cs.pdf
Sheninger, E. (2014). Digital leadership: Changing paradigms for changing times. Thousand
Oaks, CA: Corwin
