Today's students have different needs than in the past. They are less prepared for college, more tech-savvy, and juggle more responsibilities outside of school. Effective teaching methods address three competency domains: cognitive skills like critical thinking; intrapersonal skills like self-efficacy; and interpersonal skills like collaboration. Teachers can develop these domains by providing clear goals and models, representing concepts in multiple ways with activities, and engaging students in challenging collaborative tasks with feedback.

1. Are Traditional Teaching Methods
Right for Today’s Students?
8 ways to teach to the domains of competency

2. Who is today’s student?
In order to determine the best way to meet the challenges of teaching
21st Century students, we need to take a closer look at who they are:
Not college ready
37% of first-year students
have a hard time adjusting
to the demands of college
and university
More tech savvy
Want to acquire knowledge
quickly as well as skills that
can be transferred to the
workplace
Less traditional
Leading busy lives, often
with family and work
responsibilities outside of
the demands of school
2

3. Today’s students expect that their college or
university experience will:
• Prepare them for their careers
• Relate to job competencies, job seeking and
success
• Be supported and enhanced by technology
• Focus on application and transferable skills
rather than just acquiring knowledge
3

4. A growing body of research has shown that
meeting the needs of today’s students and
preparing them for education, life, and work
means addressing three domains of competency:
Cognitive
Domain
Intrapersonal
Domain
Interpersonal
Domain
4

5. The
Cognitive
Domain
Creativity
Knowledge
Reasoning &
Argumentation
Critical ThinkingCognitive Processes
& Strategies
5

6. The
Intrapersonal
Domain
Metacognition
(the ability to reflect on one’s
own learning and make
adjustments accordingly)
Intellectual
Openness
Work Ethic &
Conscientiousness
Self-efficacy
(one’s confidence in the ability to
control his/her own motivation,
behavior, and social environment)
Persistence
& Grit
6

7. The
Interpersonal
DomainConflict
Resolution
Communication
Collaboration
Leadership
7

8. How to teach to the domains of competency
1. Provide clearly
delineated learning
goals and a model of
the learning process.
8

9. 2. Represent content and
concepts in various
ways accompanied by
activities.
How to teach to the domains of competency
9

10. 3. Encourage elaboration,
questioning, investigation
and explanation.
How to teach to the domains of competency
10

11. 4. Engage learners in
challenging tasks, while
supporting them with
appropriate scaffolding.
How to teach to the domains of competency
11

12. 5. Teach with examples
and case studies that
bring home real-world
relevance and show
concepts at work.
How to teach to the domains of competency
12

13. 6. Prime student motivation
by connecting with
student interests,
experience and
aspirations.
How to teach to the domains of competency
13

14. 7. Engage students in
collaborative problem
solving or other
collaboration with a
learning purpose.
How to teach to the domains of competency
14

15. 8. Provide meaningful
feedback and invite
students to assess their
own progress.
How to teach to the domains of competency
15

16. References
1. National Research Council. Education for Life and Work: Developing
Transferable Knowledge and Skills in the 21st Century, 2012.
Committee on Defining Deeper Learning and 21st Century
Skills, J.W. Pellegrino and M.L. Hilton, Editors. Board on Testing
and Assessment and Board on Science Education, Division of
Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education. Washington, DC:
The National Academies Press.
2. Education for Life and Work. Developing Transferable Knowledge and
Skills in the 21st Century. National Research Council of the National
Academies of Science, 2012. http://www.nap.edu/catalog/13398/
education-for-life-and-work-developing-transferable-knowledge-
and-skills.
16