What it takes to be an Effective Teacher in the Year 2010 & Beyond...

A New Dawn

At the stroke of midnight, January 1^st 2000, the 21^st century learner was born.  Considering today’s 21^st century learner debate, it would seem that upon that one fateful tick of the clock, from 1999 to 2000, everything in education needed to change.  No, students had not instantly become different, however, the framework in which 21^st century students were to be taught was starting to be questioned.  Fast-forward eleven years to 2011, and we can now see that debate in full voice, in every corner of the Web, being the impetus for this website.

Welcome to 21st Century Education

Firstly, this introduction will shed some light on the reasoning for the creation of this site.  It will then provide a general overview of the site’s contents.  Finally, it will focus on 21^st century teacher training, identifying some of the education streams current University students are encountering—but first, the reason for another website of this nature.

This site was created as a course requirement of Curtain University’s (Western Australia) School of Education.  Students enrolled in this course—future teachers—were divided into collaborative groups of five and asked to investigate What it takes to be an effective teacher in the year 2010 and beyond.  Attention should also be brought to the fact that all the students involved in this project were online, distance learners.  This entire project was done collaboratively, and online, indentifying the push to have the next generation of Australian teachers cyber literate and technology savvy. 

It is our group’s intention to provide a website, which will enable future, pre-service teachers to have a guide, or reference, which will allow them to gauge the mood of the 21^st century learner debate as of January 2011—a digital, educational time capsule, if you like.  The next paragraph will walk the reader through the catacombs of this time capsule. 

In educational circles, it is well know that that the 21^st century learner debate is wide spread, with many twists and turns, and of course, tangents.  This website will focus on the 21^st century learner, the nature of today’s students; the 21^st century teacher, the skills required to deliver a quality education; traditional and constructivist approaches, which one, and when; technology in the classroom, exploring possibilities; and an account of our group’s, individual, experiences at school, leading into a vision of what we would like our classrooms to be, when we do, finally, become teachers.  The next paragraph will indentify some of the skills that are being cultivated at University level, in Australia, hoping to equip the next generation of teachers with the skills they need, to prepare 21^st century students for a world that has been labelled uncertain. 

Anyone interested in doing so could take a quick lap around the Internet to find that most major teacher training programs are indentifying that there is now a need to extend upon traditional teaching practices, in a digital word.  Curtin University has accommodated for this within their curriculum.  Nearly all of the assessments up to this point, in year one, have challenged students to link traditional teaching practices and possible 21^st century approaches.  Weekly assignments have also been heavily aligned with challenging students to present material in creative multimedia formats, in an online environment—essential skills for 21^st century teachers.

Enjoy perusing the information presented on this site, while keeping in mind that it was published, to the web, in January, 2011.  Some views, information and ideals may have changed, depending upon the time of viewing.

 A final thought:

In the perpetually, exponential word in which we live, it could be confidently concluded that flexibility, accommodation and the expectation of change shall become the nature of future generations.

Adam Lesniak, 2011

Education Student, Curtin University