What are 21^st Century Skills?

Learning to collaborate with others and connect through technology are essential skills in a knowledge-based economy.

21st-century skills are internationally divided into four broad categories:

• Ways of thinking. Creativity, critical thinking, problem-solving, decision-making and learning
• Ways of working. Communication and collaboration
• Tools for working. Information and communications technology (ICT) and information literacy
• Skills for living in the world. Citizenship, life and career, and personal and social responsibility

 

Putting Concepts Into Practice

The ATC21S project has now moved from conceptual to practical, working with two skills that span all four categories:

·         Collaborative problem-solving. Working together to solve a common challenge, which involves the contribution and exchange of ideas, knowledge or resources to achieve the goal.

·         ICT literacy — learning in digital networks. Learning through digital means, such as social networking, ICT literacy, technological awareness and simulation. Each of these elements enables individuals to function in social networks and contribute to the development of social and intellectual capital.

Continous Comprehensive Evlauation

Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation

(CCE) refers to a system of school-based evaluation  of  students  that  covers  all  aspects  of  a  students’  development.  It  is  a developmental  process  of  a  child  which  emphasizes  on  two  fold  objectives.  These objectives  are  continuity  in  evaluation  on  one  hand  and  assessment  of  broad  based learning and behavioral outcomes on the other.

The term ‘CONTINUOUS’ is meant to emphasize that evaluation of identified aspects of students’ ‘growth and development’ is a continuous process rather than an event.

It is built into the total teaching-learning process and spread over the entire span of academic session.

It means

• regularity of assessment,
• diagnosis of learning gaps,
• use of corrective measures
• feedback of evidence to teachers and students for their self evaluation.

The second term ‘comprehensive’ means that the scheme attempts to cover both the

scholastic  and  the  co-scholastic  aspects  of  students’ growth  and  development.  Since abilities,  attitudes  and  aptitudes  can  manifest  themselves  in  forms  other  than  the written word, the term refers to application of a variety of tools and techniques (both testing  and  non-testing)  and  aims  at  assessing  a  learner’s  development  in  areas  of  learning like:

•         Remembering

•         Understanding

•         Applying

•         Analysing

•         Evaluating

•         Creating

Objectives of CCE are:

•         To help develop cognitive, psychomotor and affective skills.

•         To lay emphasis on thought process and de-emphasise memorization.

•         To make evaluation an integral part of teaching-learning process.

•         To  use  evaluation  for  improvement  of  students’  achievement  and  teaching  –learning  strategies  on  the  basis  of  regular  diagnosis  followed  by  remedial instruction.

•         To  use  evaluation  as  a  quality  control  device  to  maintain  desired  standard  of

performance.

•         To  determine  social  utility,  desirability  or  effectiveness  of  a  programme  and

take  appropriate  decisions  about  the  learner,  the  process  of  learning  and  the

learning environment.

•         To make the process of teaching and learning a learner-cantered activity.