Last week Dr. Robin Horn, the Education Sector Manager of the World Bank’s Human Development Network, posted an interesting article reflecting on the popular discussion themes at the 2012 Education World Forum and British Education Technology Trade (BETT) show held earlier this month in London. In it he gave kudos to the ATC21S project for its innovative approach to conceptualizing standards and developing assessments for 21st century skills. Dr. Horn writes:
As I see it, this remarkable [ATC21S] initiative appears to have succeeded in operationalizing what had been heretofore consigned to rhetoric, and has done so in a truly remarkable way. It has cracked the code on how to set standards for, and assess the acquisition of, 21st century skills. Measuring the so-called 21st century skills, such as critical thinking, problem solving, collaboration and teamwork, ICT competencies, and information literacy, in a rigorous and pragmatic way has been totally out of reach until now. The ATC21S initiative harnesses ICT tools to both present complex, multi-step, cognitively challenging problems to pairs of students in real time, and also to then assess how each and both of these students collaborate and solve these problems, even when separated from one another in different desks, rooms, or even countries. The data generated from these assessments may one day even be in the “big data” category due to their depth, breadth, imagery, and completeness, since they appear to be tracking every step and decision taken, every instant and online communication exchanged, and every character typed. This is time-stamped and recorded digitally, for each participant in every pair, and in comparison with multiple pairs of students taking the same test at the same time. Although this assessment program has only just completed the proof-of-concept stage, it is a harbinger of a wholly new approach to standards and assessment for the 21st century and may lead to schools that succeed in engaging the 21st century “turn on, tune in, and drop out” digitally native generation in exciting new ways to make learning for all a more achievable reality.
Click here to read Dr. Horn’s full post on technology and learning in the 21st century.