Re-imagining learning: Meeting the needs of our learners

A 21st-century learner/digital native is an individual who partakes towards a fluid participatory learning environment of co-creation, co-learning, collaboration, and transparency (Bolstad et al.,2012).21st century learners have a constellation of attributes which include autonomy of one's learning, very hands-on, the learner is open to change, the students are very technologically capable, high power belief of fostering collaboration, appreciation towards multicultural awareness, creative and innovative and believes trials and errors are necessary and critical thinking is at the core of their learning.

Creating a learner-friendly centered classroom partnering with technology

The teacher needs to create a learner-centered classroom that is in alignment with the 21st-century learner goals. Gone are the days of rote learning and taking down notes from the blackboard. Students of today should be viewed as ‘producers’ rather than mere passive listeners, there should be a level of student autonomy. Every student is unique in his/her own special way which is centralized on different needs, abilities learning requirements, and goals. Thus, the instruction of the classroom must be altered in a manner that encompasses students’ contributions and choices in a safe haven. A dynamic classroom is where teachers are willing to listen to diverse opinions, support knowledge claims with evidence, engage in critical and creative thinking, and participate in open and meaningful dialogue. There is also a need to understand the cohort of students belonging to the native environment of generation X. InOrder. For the class to be considered a learner-centered environment, there is a need to create diverse classrooms with mass customized technology fingertips. They are digital natives and are comfortable using apps and coding as teachers are flipping pages. Consequently, going digital and understanding the perspective of the students who are ‘digital natives’ is an essential skill that educators must inculcate. thus fostering independent and autonomous learning in a safe and learner-friendly environment.

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Collaborative Learning

Collaboration is about working together to find the best solution. Collaboration plays a huge part in the student’s learning outcomes. It not only refers to refer to projects involving pair work but also entails teacher-student collaboration. Equally important in collaborative learning is creating digital resources, presentations, and assignments together, which can build a new sense of confidence in the students and also help classroom activities resemble the real-life needs of students. Through such activities, various attitudes and values are built and strengthened for example values of team spirit, empathy, and effective communication. Shared knowledge should be coupled with shared authority. This means that teachers should value and build upon the culture, language, strategies, knowledge, and personal experiences that students bring to the learning space.

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(Adaptability/Flexibility for personalized learning

Flexibility and Adaptability in the classroom are two of the most important qualities that every teacher must possess. These two characteristics also go hand-in-hand with one another thinking about the needs of students and how learning can be catered to each individual - ​​The first skill that teachers need to be armed with is adaptability or the ability to mold their teaching according to the learning needs of the students. This can be done by incorporating strategies to sustain the students’ interest, thinking of fresher ways to disseminate content, and also schooling themselves on emerging technologies. ‘A teacher needs to be able to formulate, construct, arrange, modify and make sense of information so that it is understood as knowledge,. Teachers need to be able to be comfortable given a different job responsibility. It is very possible that when teaching in a district, you may be in two different schools in as many years, based on what the district needs. It is extremely important that a comfort level is established for him/herself in order to give the students a proper learning experience. Also, with the ever-changing technology industry, we as teachers must be able to keep up with and understand the new innovations which could be beneficial to students in the classroom. We must know how to use them in the best interest of our students, which could require changing the way that you teach a particular topic, possibly annually. Flexibility however is the ability of educators to change up their teaching styles. Lesson plans are great guides in the classroom, but of course, the class cannot always ]go as smoothly as it is planned. There will always be interruptions due to rowdy students, disadvantaged students, misunderstandings when learning, and (more often now than ever) technical difficulties among many other reasons. When an obstacle arises, you must be able to overcome it smoothly and this could require changing your entire plan for the day on the spot. This can bring up somewhat of a "sink or swim" situation, and knowing how to be flexible in your plans will allow you to swim.

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21st Century-learning-skills© 2021 by Sharon Greenberg is licensed under CC BY-NC -2.0                         

Harnessing a 21st Century Classroom