1 Antonine University June 17 2019 Preparing University Students - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Antonine University June 17 2019 1

Preparing University Students for Life, Work, and Citizenship

Saouma BouJaoude Department of Education American University of Beirut

The Purpose of Higher Education

§ Should young people become educated

to get prepared to enter the workforce,

• r

§ Should the purpose of education be

focused more on social, academic, cultural and intellectual development so that students can grow up to be engaged citizens?

§ Education should prepare young people

for life, work and citizenship.

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Outline

§ Skills Needed for Living and Working in

the Twenty-first Century

§ Guiding Principles for Learning in the

Twenty-first Century

§ How Can the University Contribute to

Preparing Students for Life, Work, and Citizenship?

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Skills Needed For Living And Working In The 21sts Century

Skills in Demand 2015 and 2020

(Future of Work Report, World Economic Forum, http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Future_of_J

• bs.pdf)

TOP 10 SKILLS IN 2015

§ Complex problem

solving

§ Coordination with

• thers

§ People management § Critical thinking § Negotiation § Quality control § Service orientation § Judgement and

decision making

§ Active listening § Creativity

TOP 10 SKILLS IN 2020

§ Complex problem

solving

§ Critical thinking § Creativity § People management § Coordination with

• thers

§ Emotional

intelligence

§ Judgement and

decision making

§ Service orientation § Negotiation § Cognitive flexibility

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Changing Nature of Work: Needs of the 21st Century Labor Market

§ 21st century skills:

§ Collaboration and teamwork § Creativity and imagination § Critical thinking § Problem solving § Flexibility and adaptability § Global and cultural awareness § Leadership § Civic literacy and citizenship § Oral and written communication skills § Social responsibility and ethics § Initiative § Information and digital literacy

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§Questions?

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Guiding Principles for Learning in the Twenty- first Century

Elements of 21st Century Learning (Partnership for 21st Century Skills)

§ The six elements of 21st century learning

are: § Emphasize core subjects § Emphasize learning skills § Use 21st century tools to develop learning

skills

§ Teach and learn in a 21st century context § Teach and learn new 21st century content § Use 21st century assessments that

measure core subjects and 21st century skills

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Teaching and Learning 21st Century Skills

§ Make learning relevant § Simultaneously develop lower and higher

• rder thinking skills

§ Encourage transfer of learning § Teach students to learn how to learn § Promote teamwork as a process and

• utcome

§ Make full use of technology to support

learning

§ Foster students’ creativity

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Guiding Principles for Learning in the Twenty- first Century

§ Research on learning conducted by L.

Resnick (University of Pennsylvania) at the dawn of the 21st century has resulted in nine principles of learning (https://ifl.pitt.edu/how-we- work/principles-of-learning.cshtml)

§ These could be used as “Guiding

Principles for Learning” in the Twenty- first Century

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Guiding Principles for Learning in the Twenty first Century

I.

Organizing for Effort

II.

Clear Expectations

III.

Fair and Credible Evaluations

IV.

Recognition of Accomplishment

V.

Academic Rigor in a Thinking Curriculum

VI.

Accountable Talk

VII.

Socializing Intelligence

• VIII. Self-management of Learning

IX.

Learning as Apprenticeship

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Or Organ aniz izin ing for Effort

§An effort-based education should

replace the assumption that aptitude/ability determines what and how much students learn with the assumption that sustained and directed effort can yield high achievement for all students.

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II.

• II. C

Clea ear E Exp xpec ectati tion

• ns

§If we expect all students to achieve

at high levels, then we need to define explicitly what we expect students to learn.

§These expectations need to be

communicated clearly.

§Descriptive criteria and models of

work that meet standards should be publicly displayed

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III.

• III. F

Fair a and C Cred edible e Ev Evaluations

§If we expect students to put forth

sustained effort over time, we need to use assessments that students find fair, and that all stakeholders (parents, community, and employers) find credible.

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IV . Recognition of Accomplishments

§If we expect students to put forth

and sustain high levels of effort, we need to motivate them by regularly recognizing their accomplishments.

§Clear recognition of authentic

accomplishment is hallmark of an effort-based education.

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V . Academic Rigor in a Thinking Curriculum (1)

§Cognitive research in learning is

clear that knowledge matters. It is the basis for reasoning. Well-

• rganized knowledge allows people

to learn and use large amounts of information in productive ways.

§The real challenge for educators is

to integrate rigor of content with high-level thinking and active use of knowledge

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V . Academic Rigor in a Thinking Curriculum (2)

§One way to get more learning into

the limited time that we have is by continually combining rigorous content with high thinking demand and active sense making.

§Thinking and problem solving will

be the “new basics” of the 21st century.

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V . Academic Rigor in a Thinking Curriculum (3)

§ Knowledge and thinking are intimately

joined: The common ideas that we can teach thinking without a solid foundation of knowledge and that we can teach knowledge without engaging students in thinking should be abandoned.

§ Active use of knowledge: People only

acquire robust, lasting knowledge if they themselves do the mental work of making sense of it.

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• VI. Accountable Talk

§Accountable talk sharpens students’

thinking by reinforcing their ability to build and use knowledge.

§Teachers create the norms and

skills of Accountable Talk by modeling appropriate forms of discussion and by questioning, probing, and leading conversations.

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22

Accountable Talk (2): Accountability to the Learning Community

§Students actively participate in

classroom talk.

§Students listen attentively to one

another

§Students elaborate and build upon

ideas and each others' contributions.

§Students work toward the goal of

clarifying or expanding a proposition.

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Accountable Talk (3): Accountability to Rigorous Thinking

§ Students synthesize several sources of

information

§ Students construct explanations. § Students formulate conjectures and

hypotheses

§ Students test their own understanding

• f concepts.

§ Students challenge the quality of each

• thers' evidence and reasoning.

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• VII. Socializing

Intelligence

§ Intelligence is a set of problem-

solving and reasoning capabilities along with the habits of mind that lead

• ne to use those capabilities regularly.

§ Intelligent habits of mind are learned

through the daily expectations placed

• n the learner.

§ By calling on students to use the skills

• f intelligent thinking educators can

“teach” intelligence.

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• VIII. Self-management
• f Learning

§ Students need to use an array of self-

monitoring and self-management strategies.

§ These metacognitive skills include: § Noticing when one does not

understand something and taking steps to remedy the situation

§ Formulating questions and

inquiries that let one explore deep levels of meaning. .

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• IX. Learning as

Apprenticeship

§For many centuries most people

learned by working alongside an expert who modeled skilled practice and guided novices as they created authentic products or performances for interested and critical audiences

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Guiding Principles for Learning in the Twenty first Century

I.

Organizing for Effort

II.

Clear Expectations

III.

Fair and Credible Evaluations

IV.

Recognition of Accomplishment

V.

Academic Rigor in a Thinking Curriculum

VI.

Accountable Talk

VII.

Socializing Intelligence

• VIII. Self-management of Learning

IX.

Learning as Apprenticeship

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§Questions?

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How Can the University Contribute to Preparing Students for Life, Work, and Citizenship?

How Can Higher Education Contribute?

§ It is clear from the above that, in

addition to content knowledge and technological skills, there is a growing need for thinking and social skills in the labor market, skills that are acquired in humanities and social science courses in universities.

§ It is also clear that universities need to

consider seriously the results of recent research on learning.

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Ch Changing Na Nature of Ed Education

§ Research suggests that the vast

majority of universities (and schools) are not adapting quickly enough to the change, leaving their students increasingly unprepared for the labor market.

§ Educators seem to be out of step with

the changing needs of the economy -- which are being driven by advanced technology, such as AI, robotics, and data analytics.

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Ch Changing Na Nature of Ed Education

§ The debate over the value of skills

acquired in humanities and social science courses and programs education versus a more applied and content focused university programs presents a false choice.

§ Research suggests that the most

appreciated workers and citizens now and in the future are those who can combine competence in technical and human skills with deep understanding

• f relevant content matter.

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Cu Curriculum Ch Changes

There are those thinkers who believe that the

§ “Hard” skills of science, technology,

engineering, and math (STEM) are most critical to the future, and those who believe the

§ uniquely “human” skills (Skills acquired in

humanities and social science courses and programs)are the ones that will endure in the face of automation.

§ However, most thinkers believe that it is the

integration of human and technical skills that will provide the best preparation for the future of work.

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Cu Curriculum Ch Changes

§Skills acquired in humanities and

social science courses and programs can help students break down barriers to entry to the 21st century job markets. These skills include human and targeted technical skills.

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Cu Curriculum Ch Changes

§Most of the current literature on the

future of work underscores the growing need for human skills such as flexibility, mental agility, ethics, resilience, systems thinking, communication, and critical thinking.

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Cu Curriculum Ch Changes

§ In a book entitled “Robot-Proof: Higher

Education in the Age of Artificial Intelligence, Northeastern University President Joseph Aoun has introduced Humanics which is § “a new model of learning that enables

learners to understand the highly technological world around them and that simultaneously allows them to transcend it by nurturing the mental and intellectual qualities that are unique to humans— namely their capacity for creativity and mental flexibility.”

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Changing Role of the Teacher

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How Can Higher Education Contribute?

§ As indicated above, the needs of the 21st

Century labor market require that students at all levels, but especially at the university level, develop special skills to be able to live work in this century.

§ Consequently, how can education

contribute to the changing needs of the labor Market and to life in the 21st century?

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Implications of Research

• n Learning and the

Needs of the 21st Century

§Emphasis on effort necessitates that

universities require students to achieve at increasingly higher

• levels. This is also important

because of the competitive nature

• f the work environment.

§ It is no more sufficient that

university students just “pass” courses at the lowest levels to get a degree.

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Implications of Research

• n Learning and the

Needs of the 21st Century

§Clear expectations require that

learning outcomes be clearly specified at all levels (course, programs…).

§Fair and credible evaluations

require that we think carefully about the types of evaluations that are used and also the levels at which students are required to pass.

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Implications of Research

• n Learning and the

Needs of the 21st Century

§ Academic rigor in a thinking

curriculum requires that we insure that thinking and content are intimately integrated in teaching.

§ It also requires rethinking

§ the content of courses and the methods

used to teach these courses

§ that faculty members develop the skills

needed to help students become deep and serious thinkers

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Implications of Research

• n Learning and the

Needs of the 21st Century

§Socializing intelligence requires

that students use the skills of intelligent thinking –and by holding them responsible for doing so – educators can “teach” intelligence.

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Implications of Research

• n Learning and the

Needs of the 21st Century

§Accountable talk requires that

classes be places in which students actively use their knowledge in discussions with the teachers and with their peers.

§Self-management of learning

requires that students become autonomous learners and problem solvers.

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Conclusions

§ Preparing students for life, work and

citizenship requires that we § Focus on soft-skills § Realize that Humanities and social sciences

will remain relevant (science can tell you how to clone a tyrannosaurus rex, humanities can tell you why this might be a bad idea”.

§ Encourage faculty members to be innovators § Encourage digital literacy § Use new and emerging technologies § Develop Resilience

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§Questions? Comments?

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Kahlil Gibran Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself. They come through you but not from you, And though they are with you yet they belong not to you. You may give them your love but not your thoughts, For they have their own thoughts. You may house their bodies but not their souls, For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams. You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you. For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday. You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth. The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far. Let your bending in the archer’s hand be for gladness; For even as He loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable.