Who is the 21st Century Learner and what are the skills they require?
A 21st-century learner is a communicator, collaborator, and creator as well as an observational digital citizen (Qatar Academy, 2009). Teaching and learning in the twenty-first century must prepare learners for engaging in a complex and dynamic community heavily influenced by globalisation and acceleration of digital technology (Strawser & Kaufmann, 2019, p. 41; OECD, 2018, p. 2; Brown, et al., 2020; Jones, 2018; Joyce, 2019; Seet, et al., 2018, p. 11; Gekara, et al., 2019, p. 21). The heterogeneous student population of the twenty-first century are expected to rise to the challenge of thriving in this competitive world (Wong, 2020, p. 186; Placklé, et al., 2018, p. 29; Charteris, et al., 2018, p. 20). Understanding the implications of digital technology on the 21st-century learner is imperative to the development of skills, attitudes, and actions to be a successful participant in the digital economy (Qatar Academy, 2009, p. 3). Inevitably, the education and training that sustains some traditional skills will be rendered obsolete, however, demand for digital skills and capabilities is rising sharply, requiring vocational education and training providers to rapidly adjust to meet this change (Seet, et al., 2018, p. 8).
Foundation for Young Australians (2017) identify that learners need a set of transferable skills, the necessary skills with the highest increase in demand over the past three years in Australian internet job postings were digital literacy (up by 212%), critical thinking (up by 158%) and creativity (up by 65%) (Foundation for Young Australians, 2018, p. 10; Payton & Knight, 2018, p. 6). Additionally, (Qatar Academy, 2009) have identified that the development of skills such as creativity, innovation, problem-solving, collaboration, leadership and communication is necessary. Seet et al. (2018) suggest that in consideration of technological advancements, digital skills are clearly a fundamental skill, and their demand is expected to rise. However, Gekara et al. (2019) note that not every worker will require the same level of digital skills or expertise in the use of technologies, but most will need the skills to work with technology (Reeson et al. 2016). Based on this, Gekara et al. (2019) detailed the four levels of workforce digital skills required:
Level 1: having a basic understanding of digital devices and their operation, enabling data and information to be searched, captured, retrieved and transmitted
Level 2: understanding and applying digital knowledge to the management and application of digital systems to process, analyse and manage data and information in order to facilitate efficient organisational operations
Level 3: innovatively using digital technologies to create and enhance organisational systems and capabilities
Level 4: having a broad and general digital culture and mindset to operate confidently, comfortably and safely within an entrenched digital environment (p.12).
References
Brown, M., McCormack, M., Reeves, J., Brooks, D. C., & Grajek, S. (2020). 2020 EDUCAUSE Horizon Report. EDUCAUSE. Retrieved from https://library.educause.edu/
Charteris, J., Smardon, D., & Nelson, E. (2017). Innovative learning environments and new materialism: A conjunctural analysis of pedagogic spaces. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 49(8), 808-821. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131857.2017.1298035
Gekara, V., Snell, D., Molla, A., Karanasios, K., & Thomas, A. (2019). Skilling the Australian Workforce for the digital economy. Adelaide: NCVER. https://www.ncver.edu.au/
Jones, A. (2018). Vocational education for the twenty-first century. Melbourne: The University of Melbourne. https://melbourne-cshe.unimelb.edu.au/
Joyce, S. (2019). Strengthening Skills. Expert Review of Australia’s Vocational Education and Training System. Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. © Commonwealth of Australia. https://www.voced.edu.au/
OECD. (2018). The Future of Education and Skills: Education 2030. Paris: General of the OECD. https://www.oecd.org/
Placklé, I., Könings, K., Jacquet, W., Libotton, A., van Merriënboer, J., & Engels, N. (2018). Students embracing change towards more powerful learning environments in vocational education. Educational Studies, 44(1), 26-44. https://doi.org/10.1080/03055698.2017.1331840
Reeson, A., Mason, C., Sanderson, T., Bratanova, A., & Hajkowicz. (2019). The VET Era; Equipping Australia’s workforce for the future digital economy. CSIRO.
Seet, P.-S., Jones, J., Spoehr, J., & Hordacre, A.-L. (2018). The Fourth Industrial Revolution: the implications of technological disruption for Australian VET. Adelaide: NVCER. https://www.ncver.edu.au
Strawser, M., & Kaufmann, R. (2019). Intergenerational Learning Styles, Instructional Design Strategy, and Learning Efficacy. In S. Hai-Jew, Form, Function, and Style in Instructional Design (pp. 40-51). Kansas: IGI Global. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-5225-9833-6.ch003 ·
Wong, S. L. (2020). Affective Characteristics for 21st Century Learning Environments: Do They Matter? INternational Journal of Interactive Mobile Technologies, 14(12), 186-194. https://doi.org/10.3991/ijim.v14i12.15567
