With the emergence and infusion of new technologies in school curricula, school leaders and educators are beginning to reexamine all facets of data in the classroom. New, creative strategies for collecting information are relentlessly being developed, which provide new alternatives for continuing formative, alternative and summative assessments. Even though difficulties may emerge in educational programs design because of the integration of modern technology, schools are embracing what's to come. Students today access significantly more knowledge than what their folks once found on maps and on encyclopedias. With the click of a mouse and without leaving the classroom, they get access to a collective knowledge of all humankind by means of the Internet. The question is, what exactly drives this and change?
Key factors driving changes in education
Globalization
Education is experiencing persistent changes due to globalization. Its impacts bring rapid advancements over the world as knowledge, values and ideas, changing the roles of educators and students, and creating a change in the society to an information-based one. It mirrors the impact on culture and lead to a new type of cultural imperialism. The advent of this new social dominion is driving students to apply to a competitive, data based society (Louise Hainline, Michael Gaines, Cheryl Long Feather, Elaine Padilla, & Esther Terry, 2014). Globalization is conveying and expanding access to the world and subjects have been changed to mirror this global outlook.
The internationalization of higher education can be connected to different external and internal shifts in the global system. Externally, there have been labor market changes which have brought about calls for more skilled and knowledge workers, and those with deeper understandings of cultures, languages and business techniques across the world (Al-Jama, 2008). Thus, education is turning to be invaluable to many people. Education gives people better employment opportunities, which thusly prompts to a better way of life, status and power. The commodification of knowledge as an intellectual property has happened especially in terms of interfacing the intellectual work of universities with business, community, and government priorities and interests.
Technology
Technology has significantly changed education. Basically, it has significantly increase access to education. In the past, books were rare and accessible to only the few elites. People needed to travel to learning centers to access education (In Spector, In Ifenthaler, In Sampson, & In Isaias, 2016). Today, huge volumes of content (videos, images, audio, books) are available through the Internet, and the opportunities for formal learning are accessible through the internet. Thanks to technology, today access to learning is exceptionally easy.
Technology has also expanded opportunities for collaboration and communication. Traditionally, classrooms were isolated, and collaboration was limited to many students in the same building or classroom ("Shifting to 21st Century Thinking » 21st Century Learning," 2009). Today, technology empowers collaboration and communication undreamt of before. Students in a rural classroom in the U.S., for instance, are able to learn about the Arctic by following the activities of researchers in the area, view photos, read scientists’ blog posting, email inquiries to the researchers, and so forth. Students may also share what they have learnt with others in others classrooms, states and countries who are following a similar expedition (Lee Watanabe-Crockett, 2016).
Changing role of education
The 21st century schools are becoming nerve centers, a place for both students and teachers to interact with people around them and their locale (Al-Jama, 2008). Educators in this new environments have turned to be less instructors but rather more orchestrators of information, enabling students to transform information into intelligence.
So as to education in the twenty first century, administrators and teachers have had to develop and maintain the interest of students in the material by demonstrating how this knowledge applies in reality. They have also tried to build their students interest, in order to enable them to become lifelong students (Lee Watanabe-Crockett, 2016). They educators have also had to be flexible with how they instructs and give students the assets to keep learning outside of school. Moreover, Success appears to be different now than it did previously. High-achievers are much of the time exiting the traditional job market, seeking self-employment.
Changing curriculum and pedagogy
Our knowledge on learning is changing institutions of education, student populations, and roles of faculty in the 21st century. The traditional educational techniques such as tests and lectures are getting outdated in an environment that urges individuals to think creatively and critically. New types of pedagogy, group work, self-guided coaching and active learning are changing educational approaches, shifting them from conventional lectures to a form of passive audience (In Spector, In Ifenthaler, In Sampson, & In Isaias, 2016). In light of this transformation, teachers are starting to discard the concept of "one size fits all," and have begun reexamining standard metrics. For instance, the Circles Program at the University of Texas, gives early gatekeeper courses that are performed in relatively small modules through which the students may advance at various rates, if necessary, repeating some units before moving on to the next. This form of self-guided instruction takes into consideration the issues of outside responsibilities and preparation duties without trading off objectivity, since it permits a well-prepared student to excel through many units and even graduate earlier ("Shifting to 21st Century Thinking » 21st Century Learning," 2009). The key to success of such programs is utilizing mastery as opposed to standard referenced grading to assess learning.
Also, Student–faculty collaborations are shifting to accommodate the new pedagogies. The educator is not the sage in front of an audience in lecture halls and classrooms any more, and frequently serves many roles by interacting with students through various ways such as advising, mentoring, and teaching (In Spector, In Ifenthaler, In Sampson, & In Isaias, 2016).
There is new emphasis being placed on active learning and this is mirrored in various innovations. Individual response systems (clickers) are common in lecture courses now than they were before. Strategies, for example, peer-led team instruction and supplemental instruction have been successful at the engaging students through a cooperative kind of learning (Al-Jama, 2008). As a major aspect of active learning development, students are urged to be explorers instead of knowledge receptacles. Subsequently, there is greater contribution by personnel in undergrad research mentoring. Distinctive methods of teaching are exploiting the students’ different learning styles as the student populations turn out to be more economically and ethnically diverse. Thus, Instructors are becoming sensitive full range of diversity that students and communities provide.
Another rapidly changing element is integration of various disciplines. A recent push to incorporate science educational curriculum in entry-level courses in response to the intrioduction of Bio2010 is an example. These efforts are being initiated by financiers, including the National Science Foundation’s Division of Undergraduate Education and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute ("Shifting to 21st Century Thinking » 21st Century Learning," 2009).
A challenge in the development and institutionalization of inventive pedagogy and educational program is receiving support from three unique segments: students, administrators and faculty. Professional recognition for effective and innovative instruction have to be part of the organizational culture. Innovative pedagogy ought to be a critical element in decisions regarding promotion and tenure (Lee Watanabe-Crockett, 2016). This requires connecting effective teaching to outcomes evaluation. The traditional course evaluations at the end of semester are being be supplanted with more student centered mechanisms, for example, self-assessment for students.
There is purposeful attention given to workforce development to prepare teachers in new instructional methods using educational technology and active learning. Furthermore, staff from various disciplines are now urged to collaborate to create team-instructed interdisciplinary courses. Majority of students fell some inconvenienced when they are in charge of their own learning ("Shifting to 21st Century Thinking » 21st Century Learning," 2009). This "incidental learner" mentality is being supplanted by a constructivist learning approach. Faculties are not offering the conceptual framework in studies to empower students to engage in critical thinking and find new types of knowledge.
Why should education keep changing?
The world is driven to a great extent by business interests. This has turned out to be such a typical piece of our lives that we barely even notice the everyday bombardment by advertisers, and the inescapable, inconspicuous pressures to own property, or behave in specific manner. Nothing is particularly amiss with society since these pressures are there and has largely account for the luxury and richness life (Al-Jama, 2008). However, there is something else to life than simply business interest, and majority business interests are shallow, and have a shallow purpose. Besides, society and business for the most part has a tendency to stress novelty, and keeping in mind that, there's nothing wrong with new things, there is considerably more to life than the novel. Consequently, education provides depth of understanding, history, context, art, and perception that many people would not generally be exposed to. This is a conventional role of education as it accomplishes parts of the purposes of culture, being the transmission of values held by the society.
However, the world is constantly changing. Also, the bubbles that commerce and novelty offer are progressively designed to be addictive or "sticky." If at all education is to get student’s attention, and convince them of the value of knowledge, what we have, where were are coming from, and our identity, it must thus compete with the undeniably efficient enticement of commercial offerings (Al-Jama, 2008).
Conclusion
In the 21st century, in order to prepare students for the new world, there should be a change in the way teaching is done. There are various changes that have occurred in education, however, with the changing world, administrators, teachers and policy makers must create a curriculum that will enable students to interface with the world and understand the issues our world is facing. Preparing children to be productive individuals in the workforce today necessitate institutions have to walk the tightrope between the liberal arts and sciences and preprofessional subjects in order to ensure that student meet workforce demands and master the pragmatic use of their knowledge.
References
Al-Jama, N. (2008). Educational outcomes and industry needs. Higher Education in the Twenty-First Century, 21-21. doi:10.1201/9780203885772.ch4
In Spector, J. M., In Ifenthaler, D., In Sampson, D. G., & In Isaias, P. (2016). Competencies in Teaching, Learning and Educational Leadership in the Digital Age: Papers from CELDA 2014.
Lee Watanabe-Crockett. (2016, December 8). Changes in Education: The 21st Century Classroom. Retrieved from https://globaldigitalcitizen.org/changes-in-education-the-21st-century-classroom
Louise Hainline, Michael Gaines, Cheryl Long Feather, Elaine Padilla, & Esther Terry. (2014, December 29). Changing Students, Faculty, and Institutions in the Twenty-First Century. Retrieved from https://www.aacu.org/publications-research/periodicals/changing-students-faculty-and-institutions-twenty-first-century
Shifting to 21st Century Thinking » 21st Century Learning. (2009, November 13). Retrieved from http://www.shiftingthinking.org/?page_id=182
