about pedagogy

Barriers to Integrating 21st Century Learning and Skills

There are many barriers to integrating 21st century learning and skills, including little or no access to technology, unqualified teachers, a lack of time, and kids with urgent needs. Technology is one of the development milestones that define the 21st century. Technology has developed to be a vital component of education and to play important roles in instruction and the management of a learning environment (Lee, Tsai, Chai & Koh, 2014). Since most rural schools lack access to technology, students in these institutions may perceive the 21st century as existing on “a foreign planet.” The availability of technology makes learning easy through improved communication channels, however, in an event technology is inaccessible, promoting 21st century skills and learning is still possible.

The Role of Teachers in Shaping Students’ Lives

Teachers have the mandate to shape students’ lives even with demotivating circumstances like lack of access to technology in a dispensation where technology runs almost all activities (Lee et al., 2014). Teachers can be trained on how to support 21st century skills and learning to be aware of the resources that support the integration of 21st century skills into learning. With the adequate knowledge on how to use the available resources to holistically mold students for future success as they pursue their goals, teachers thus know what should be learned in the classroom to improve students’ creativity and technological know-how. Teachers should additionally understand their students, work hard to build their critical thinking skills, help them embrace uncertainties, and albeit the absence of technology, teachers can still train students on how to use technological resources to enhance their information, technology, and media skills, which are part of 21st Century skills. Learning in this context thus brings students closer to understanding technology and its resources.

Reference

Lee, K., Tsai, P., Chai, C., & Koh, J. (2014). Students’ perceptions of self-directed learning and collaborative learning with and without technology. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 30(5), 425-437. doi:10.1111/jcal.12055