About

As the world becomes available to students literally at their finger tips, some skills become more and more important.  Our children's generation have a life style that we couldn't even imagine.  I'm of the age where it was a huge deal when I was in my 20's to get a "cell phone" -- it fit in a very large bag and would travel in my car.  I could call people on it (for lots of money) as long as it was plugged in.  Its battery life was about 3 minutes.  I was thrilled.  It meant all those long cross country drives I made were safer -- I could call someone if I broke down or let people know if I'd be late.

This generation not only has communication available 24/7, they can use email, Facebook, texting, tweeting, Google+ (not a verb yet), Skype, or a myriad of other options to anyone in the world who has the same access -- and get a reply within seconds.  All of a sudden many people can be brought in on decisions in real time. Makes those decisions more helpful but also brings into play huge new collaborative and communication skills that have to be considered.

Information to an extent that our generation never dreamed of is available with just as much ease.  When I was in school, I would try to write a 3 page essay for some topic in history based on one paragraph from World Book Encyclopedia and 2 paragraphs from Britannica.  This generation can type in their exact thesis statement and have thousands of pages pop up on a screen with a vast amount of information.  Their challenge is not creating a story out of a handful of facts, but synthesizing and weighing an overwhelming amount of information to figure out the validity of what's presented and choosing what to include.

It opens up a whole new world but also requires a huge new set of skills for this generation.  The "4 C's of the 21st Century" are critical thinking/problem solving, communication, collaboration and creativity/innovation.  Add to that new, flexible, dynamic needs for leadership and you've got a new challenge for this generation.

As an alternative educator and the president of a non-profit dedicated to promoting an interest in the technologies of the 21st century and helping both students and adults develop stronger skills in the areas of leadership, business, teamwork and communication, it's fascinating to explore some of those topics and resources available.  Hope you enjoy some of the resources posted here as well.

Linda