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Developing 21st-Century Skills in a Digital World (6-12)
Online and Blended Learning | 6-12
Digital literacy is just one dimension of the kinds of skills students need to succeed in the 21st century. Critical thinking, collaboration, creativity, communication—these are all important skills for students to develop. But how does the prevalence of technology impact students’ ability to learn these skills? Is technology merely competition for students’ attention, or can teachers use it for pedagogy? And how can teachers keep up with the ever-changing technology landscape?
In this course for middle and high school teachers, you will learn how to use technology to develop and refine 21st-century skills in older students, who may or may not already be quite tech savvy themselves. You’ll take a close look at 21st-century learning and literacy skills, their relevance to students’ development, and their connection to the use of technology. In addition, you’ll explore resources and strategies for how to make your lessons fun, hands-on, and relevant and how to grab students’ attention through the use of some of their favorite technology.
With the knowledge and techniques from this course, you will be equipped to support your students in developing the 21st-century skills they need to succeed in our tech-focused world and workforce.
Note: If you have taken the Advancement Courses online course Developing 21st-Century Skills in a Digital World (K–5), we advise you not to take this course because its contents are similar. You may, instead, take one of our other courses in technology.
Connections to Practice
This course provides the following classroom connections:
- Exercises to connect 21st-century skill development to technology
- Best practices for teaching 21st-century learning and literacy skills
- Activities and resources to use students’ interest in technology to foster engagement
- Strategies and tools for creating a 21st-century–focused classroom environment
- Tools to anticipate and overcome challenges when incorporating a technology focus
Course Objectives
In this course, participants will:
- Evaluate 21st-century skills and their relevance to middle and high school student development.
- Create a classroom environment that fosters students’ interest in technology to support learning.
- Design and plan for the implementation of hands-on, inquiry-based learning using technology.
- Examine connections between 21st-century learning skills, literacy skills, and technology.
- Examine classroom lessons and activities for teaching 21st-century skills that make use of technology.
Interested in School/District PD?
Request a Free ConsultationWhy Partner With Us
- Train your staff in as little as eight hours or delve deeper into complex topics in our longer courses.
- Replace in-person PD days with 100% online, self-paced training teachers can complete virtually.
- Get PD tailored to your school's unique needs with our customizable content and flexible solutions.
- Offer higher education rigor and quality designed to give your teachers targeted, relevant training they can apply immediately.
- Increase buy-in and morale by providing teacher choice while maintaining school/district oversight and strategic alignment.
Interested in School/District PD?
Request a Free ConsultationCourse Design
We intentionally plan and build our course offerings to solve real problems in education. We regularly update our existing catalog and develop new courses based on schools’ needs, trends in K–12 education, and continual feedback from educators. Depending on your needs, you can train your staff in as little as eight hours with our short courses, or delve into complex topics in our longer ones.
Our course writers are content experts with extensive subject matter credentials and classroom experience. They work closely with our development team to build an experience that is relevant, highly practical, and aligned with industry standards. Courses are not just filled with innovative techniques, but also illustrate how to apply these tools in practice. With each course, teachers develop tangible products such as lesson plans or assessments that they can use immediately in their classrooms.
Click below to learn more about our course design and unique features:
