As I am slowly making my way through an analysis of the mission statements and strategic technology plans of the United States’ largest K-12 public school districts, one thing is becomingly increasingly clear to me — nearly every district is striving to prepare students to be “21st century ready,” but none define what exactly this means. Instead, what they are doing is throwing around terms like “global citizenship” or “21st century economy” to stress the necessity of new investments in pedagogical models (e.g. blended learning) and digital infrastructure.
I’ve realized that education policy discourse (particularly when it comes to education technology) is operating under the assumption that the key feature of the 21st century is a borderless society. This discourse proclaims that borders are becoming increasingly irrelevant when we have digital tools that can connect us to anyone anywhere, and that young people need to be ready to use these tools to work in a globally interconnected context.
Tags: 21st Century Learning • Borders • edtech • globalization • Reimagining Learning