In the Skills Students Need For Their Future, Wagner suggests it is essential for students to acquire the following 7 skills in order to have successful futures: critical thinking and problem solving, collaboration across networks and leading by influence, agility and adaptability, initiative and entrepreneurialism, effective oral and written communication, accessing and analyzing information, curiosity and imagination. Because routine jobs are being moved offshore and automated, both parents and educators realize that it is now more important than ever for students to develop more cerebral and social skills to increase future marketability in the workforce (Wagner, 2009). Ironically, however, the education system’s focus on “teaching to the test” does not promote the development of these skills. Therefore, it is up to us educators to take accountability and begin teaching in a new way (Wagner, 2009).
In the The Seven Essential Life Skills, Galinsky further supports Wagner’s argument by suggesting that educators create new ways of teaching that focus on how students learn. According to Galinsky (2013), engagement is one of the major predictors of productivity. In other words, this is how students learn best. Therefore, if we want our students to learn and develop the skills for future success laid out by Wagner, we have to give them opportunities to engage with these skills in their assignments. By allowing learners to regularly participate in self-directed learning opportunities that allow them to engage in the essential life skills of focus and self-control, perspective taking, communication skills, making connections, critical thinking, and taking on challenges (Galinsky, 2013), learners’ abilities to perform these skills will increase.
Watching both of these videos and thinking about their messages has given me a clearer view of how I should move forward in choosing the best activities to use for my action research plan. My action research plan involves determining the impact of students’ engagement in computer-based, home lectures on their acquisition of knowledge-based course content. In order to decide which activities may be the best to use for the computer-based, home lecture component, I think I may use both Wagner and Galinsky’s 7 Skills as a way to vet my activities. Because these skills are connected to increasing productivity, they give me a lead to asking the right questions in order to determine the best activities to use. As I consider each activity, I can ask myself if the activity allows students the opportunity to practice critical thinking and problem solving, collaboration across networks and leading by influence, agility and adaptability, focus and self-control, initiative and entrepreneurialism, effective oral and written communication, perspective taking, accessing and analyzing information, curiosity and imagination, making connections, and taking on challenges. If I have lecture activities that address each of these areas, I know they will more than likely give me the best picture of the effectiveness of the lecture component itself. If my lecture activities do not address each of these skills, I can either add more lecture activities for the unaddressed skills or decide against using that activity completely.
References:
Asia Society. (2009, October 1). 7 Skills Students Need For Their Future. [Video file]. Retrieved from http://youtu.be/NS2PqTTxFFc
BigThink. (2013, July 17). The Seven Essential Life Skills, With Ellen Galinsky. [Video file]. Retrieved from http://youtu.be/SdIkQnTy6jA
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