21st Century Skills and Lifelong Learning

21st Centruy Skills will definitely include media literacy. Media literacy has been dubbed the new digital divide. The new line of demarcation is drawn between people who know how to create, edit, and manipulate media products, and those who don’t. In the article “Kids attack digital divide” it is stated that people who use the internet at work make on average $100.00 per week more than those who do not. Students will have to have a skill set that includes the ability to learn quickly, and to create and analyze products. By the time the students in classrooms today enter the workforce they will change jobs often during their working years, and will often enter positions that are unrelated and completely different than the jobs they held before. It is important that we teach our students how to learn, and to analyze and filter the information that they find.

Students today are often classified as digital natives. Educators must remember that although students are more comfortable and familiar with technology applications than ever before, most students still need to be taught how to use them. Just because students know how to find information using digital tools and applications, does not mean they are aware of all of the tools they will need to know how to use in the future. Technology will continue to develop at warp speeds, with applications morphing and technologies becoming obsolete quickly. The tools we use in class today will be obsolete when our students enter the workforce. What is important is that we introduce our students to the digital world of work and collaboration. It is important to expose them to the many ways technology can be used to collaborate and solve problems. Students that become comfortable using technology at school will progress with the developing and changing technology, and lead the changes in the future.

http://www.medialit.org/reading_room/article540.html
The Media Literacy website provides resources for teachers on inquiry-based media education, including a free media literacy curriculum and articles for teachers.