The document discusses the integration of 21st-century skills into education through ongoing professional development and the use of digital platforms. It highlights challenges faced by educators in Lebanon and emphasizes the importance of learner autonomy, collaboration, and digital literacy in enhancing student engagement. The narrative also outlines strategies for effective implementation of technology in the classroom and the necessity of continuous adaptation to address evolving educational needs.

1. Integrating 21st-Century Skills
in Education
2011 Updates
An Ongoing Experience: Learning
& Monitoring
Rita Abdelnour
Saint Joseph School
Cornet Chehwan, Lebanon
slaveoflight@gmail.com
https://sites.google.com/site/rabdelnourcv/
http://efleducators.wikispaces.com

2. Basics
Does the way you’ve been taught prepare you for these
days’ challenges?
What are the most memorable or positive learning
experience you’ve had?
 Authentic practical experiences / situations; problem solving; real
audience
 Open-ended outcomes; real risks
 Team work
 Ongoing learning
Move is inevitable: it’s not “if,” it’s “when”

3. Where Did it All Start?
Professional Development (1): Invitation to
reflect and create the needed interventions
 Online Course in 2008:
 reading: educators around the world share the same challenges; exchanging
experiences helps
 Compare, reflect, and adapt
 Act: start by creating interventions with specific objectives that can be
assessed (success or failure) immediately after. For e.g. change instructions,
give more time for oral discussion, give students a chance to choose the
product, etc.
 Understand what a discussion forum / thread means: posting once
(overwhelming) vs. interacting

4. Only Connect: Turn Mirrors
into Windows
Professional Development (2): Building Teaching
Skills Through the Interactive Web
 Online Course in 2009:
 Better web-searching
 Blogging: sharing reflections vs. discussion forums
 Skill-building websites
 Project-based learning; WebQuests
 Using PPT effectively (by students)
 Life-changing idea of learner autonomy
 Web 2.0: wiki, online posters, webquest, ning

5. Ongoing Learning:
Communities
Professional Development (3): Personal
Learning Environments (PLEs)
 2009-2011:
 Classroom 2.0 (Learning Times; Learn Central; Elluminate; Ed Tech)
 Virtual Round Table
 TESOL (e-lists + resources) & TESOL EVO (free online sessions)
 Education Week
 Technology Integration in Education
 Training Magazine Network

6. From learning to Application  More Learning:
“Try it Yourself” Web 2.0
 Web 2.0: the second generation of the web / the read write web
 relies on users’ interaction and collaboration
 tools considered an excellent means to engage learners and enhance learning
 learner at the center; teacher hand in hand with digital natives
 A basic 21st-century literacy...but not an obvious fact in most schools in Lebanon
 Ethical use and digital etiquette
 Try it yourself: Social networking sites (Ning); Wikis (wikispaces; pbworks); Online
surveys (Survey monkey); Twitter; Doodle; Google sites; Blogs (blogger; blogmeister;
edublogs); online quizzes; picture & video sharing (Flickr; youtube; vimeo); sharing
presentations (slideshare); bookmarking (Delicious; Diigo)
Ideas adapted from: LoTI (Levels of Technology Integration): Digital Age Framework
The University of Oregon online course homepage Building Teaching Skills Through the Interactive Web
Reflections collected in a personal blog Only Connect: Turning Mirrors into Windows

7. Becoming a CALL Practitioner
In preparation for TESOL:
TESOL CALL-IS Academic Session 2010 in Boston: invited speaker to
speak on The Emergent Role of Educators in e-learning environments
First Steps in Middle School
Proposal: Targeted Objectives
 Shift from addictive social networking to collaborative learning
 Enhance learners’ motivation through experiencing authentic
contexts employing their “digital” language
 Enhance critical thinking skills through discussion forums
 Acquire digital literacy and practice ethical use and digital
etiquette
 Encourage students to write reflective pieces

8. Practicing CALL:
One Pilot Class: Multiple Attempts
 Grade 7: e-pals (obstacles to matching our
Lebanese students to American students coming
from American parents)
 Grade 8: Blog (difficulties in following students
and troubleshooting)
 Grade 9: the Ning www.callnewbie.ning.com
It was the result of an authentic need – an unfinished
discussion in class was picked up online!

9. CALL Newbie: Grade 9
Ning (2009-2010)

10. Stage 1: Setting up the
scene
 Reactions:
 Administration: Supportive but not assertive
 Parents: No formal communication!!!
 Colleagues: Passively excited & actively resistant
 First-step Challenges:
 Setting the Ning: friendly interface; setting accounts; encouraging pictures;
creating profiles
 Starting interaction: assignment with clear objectives parallel to class; clear
criteria
 Ethical use and digital etiquette
 Students’ security: private space where membership, comments, and blogs are
monitored
 Warning about ads: making students aware that it was a free application and ads
such as match.com have nothing to do with our learning objective!
 The Ning was blocked at school along with other social networking sites
March, 2010

11. The Teacher Monitor &
Digital Natives
 First discussion forum: rate of interaction; kind of interaction; failure to
monitor
 Second discussion forum: more interaction; more tolerance; critical
thinking more activated
 Adding widgets: the map
 Turning the Ning public: more authentic readership activated learners’
motivation; the blog experience
 Conducting a survey: what students enjoyed the most is having a
wider audience and reading comments on their work the most
 Setting a guest space for visitors to write comments
March, 2010

12. The Learners’ e-presence
 Growing interaction
 Better skills at writing emails
 More tolerance & Better insight (active critical thinking) in
discussion forums
 Learn the value of collaboration: sharing their work and building
on each other’s work
 Posting their narratives in blogs to share them with their classmates
and the world
 Writing comments on each other’s blogs
March, 2010

13. Revising Strategies &
Prospects
 Fine-tune goals: baby steps  to have more educators
on board; give chances for a “try it yourself” period /
training
 Better planning: contact with parents ; integration within
school’s website ; integrated activities with clear
outcomes ( in-process)
 Model and monitor consistently: teacher’s e-presence
( in-process)
March, 2010
 Follow up the ticked points on following slides.

14. Digital Etiquette in Action:
Email 1

15. Digital Etiquette in Action:
Email 2
Signature

16. Guest Space
http://msenglishdept.edublogs.org/guestspace-call-newbie/

17. SJS CALL Newbie:
Grade 9 Ning (2010-2011)

18. Development:
 SJS CALL Newbie on the school’s website
 Formal communication with parents
 Upgrading – annual subscription: no longer a free
application / no more ads
 Accessible at school
 WebQuest
 Gradual initiation; more personal space (to avoid
the creepy treehouse effect)
 Class Wiki

19. How is it done?
1. Setting objectives + Product (usually
prepared with students)
2. Posting clear prompt + Criteria
3. Setting a timeline
4. Arranging checkpoints
5. Posting & encouraging comments
6. Editing and improving on

20. What matters the most?
Message to Learners
 To engage you in a learning space outside the classroom
 That way, we prepare you for the technological challenges of the time
where the web is a major platform for interaction, learning, and business
 We fix some misconceptions we might have about the uses of the
Internet and we open up our classroom walls to the world; in other
words, we build up an identity on the web, and we post work that we are
proud to share with the world. This enhances both independence and
responsibility.
 Moreover - as the description of this community indicates - we aim to
promote the value of communication and collaboration. This includes
digital etiquette (respect, etc.) as well as critical thinking (in your
comments on each others' posts for e.g.) and support (exchange of
information & skills and intellectual generosity).

21. What matters most?
Message to Learners
 Most of all, this kind of personalized yet responsible
interaction is meant to be more F.U.N. as more time is
given to everybody and more space to display what
they know best and for others to appreciate that!
 I know it's clear to everybody that we haven't achieved
all these objectives, and we might not do so anytime
this year. The degree of achievement is individual, and
the only measure for success is awareness and
consistency i.e. you should know where you’re
heading and keep at it even when the year is done.
What you acquire here should be the base!

22. What is still the problem?
 Assessment
 Collaboration with other teachers
 Resistance: Exhaustion; Fear of change
 No training / support (problem of professional
development all over in Lebanon)
 School vision
 Not enough time