Roles and functions of educational technology in the 21st Century Education

1. By: Shiela Mae C. Caminos

2.  Student-Centered Instruction (SCI) is a
teaching strategy that fundamentally breaks
many of the traditional boundaries governing
the manner in which students have—by and
large—been conditioned and expected to learn
for centuries.

3.  Collaboration encourages one to consider and
resolve cognitive issues in order to participate
effectively. One must make sense out of one’s
existing knowledge and information, struggle
with disparities, resolve difficulties and then
state it to another. Before communicating one’s
plans and strategies, one needs to explicitly
wrestle with the generation of a number of
strategies (or not!) and select one to pursue.

4.  One then needs to attend to the monitoring of
one’s progress on the task. Finally, one may be
required to express reflections on the task or
suggest application of learned knowledge to
other domains. Conversation allows for others
to share in this, unlike personal journal writing
which is often designed for the individual to
engage simply in self-resolution.

5.  Learning context is an area which must be
addressed if meaningful learning is to take
place. All learning must be placed in the
learners context if it is to have meaning.
 There is actually no such thing as "new"
knowledge. In order to acquire new information,
the brain must place it in the context of
something that is already known. You can't
learn what you don't already know.

6. 1. Technology allows for 24/7 access to
information
2. Constant social interaction, and
3. Easily created and shared digital content

7.  Knowledge of core content is necessary, but no
longer sufficient, for success in a competitive
world. Even if all students mastered core
academic subjects, they still would be woefully
underprepared to succeed in postsecondary
institutions and workplaces, which increasingly
value people who can use their knowledge to
communicate, collaborate, analyze, create,
innovate and solve problems.

8.  To keep pace with a changing world, schools
need to offer more rigorous, relevant and
engaging opportunities for students to learn –
and to apply their knowledge and skills in
meaningful ways.

9.  The term "21st-century skills" is generally used
to refer to certain core competencies such as
collaboration, digital literacy, critical thinking,
and problem-solving that advocates believe
schools need to teach to help students thrive in
today's world.