Edward Bowen and Carol Gering presented at the WCET Annual Conference in 2009. Their presentation focused on 21st century skills and tools, and whether higher education is prepared to teach students these skills. They discussed skills like life skills, core subjects, learning and thinking skills, and information and communications technology literacy. They also addressed the concept of tools as a cultural feature that shapes how users understand the world.

1. Edward Bowen, Executive Dean, Distance Learning, Dallas TeleCollege
(TX) and Carol Gering, Design Team Manager, University of Alaska,
Fairbanks

3. pistil
petals
stems
leaves
stamen
sepal

5. Learning How To Learn
Caring
Human Dimension
Integration
Application
Foundational Knowledge

6. Be interested in other places of the world and want to continue learning about
those places via reading, the Internet, and travel.

7. Transactional Distance
more more
S
T
R
U
C
T
The level of autonomy (self-motivated
U
R
E
learning) increases as the transactional
less distance increases.
To decrease transactional distance,
more Dialog less
increase dialog.

8. Are we in the right
Sandbox?
Ed Bowen and Carol Gering
WCET Annual Conference 2009
Friday, October 23, 2009

9. 21 st Century Skills
Friday, October 23, 2009

10. 21 st Century Skills
• life skills
• 21st century content
• core subjects
• learning and thinking skills
• information & communications technology literacy
• authentic assessment
—Partnership for 21st Century Skills
Friday, October 23, 2009

11. Friday, October 23, 2009
Information Fluency

12. Tools share several signi cant features
with knowledge: they can only be fully
understood through use, and using them
entails both changing the user's view of
the world and adopting the belief system
of the culture in which they are used.
Situated Cognition and the Culture of Learning
John Seely Brown; Allan Collins; Paul Duguid
Educational Researcher, Vol. 18, No. 1. ( Jan. - Feb., 1989), pp. 32-42.
Friday, October 23, 2009

13. Tools of the Culture
Friday, October 23, 2009

14. Friday, October 23, 2009
Tools of the Culture

15. Are we prepared to
teach students?
Friday, October 23, 2009

16. or do students think
WE’RE ILLITERATE?
Friday, October 23, 2009

17. image by Eric Gaba – Wikimedia Commons user: Sting
Complexity, Diversity, Scale
Friday, October 23, 2009

18. Friday, October 23, 2009
Tools of the Culture

19. carol.gering@alaska.edu
ebowen@dcccd.edu
Friday, October 23, 2009