The Right Honourable Paul Martin to Speak at the 2nd Annual C21 Canada Summit

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TORONTO, Feb. 6, 2013 /CNW/ – C21 Canada – Canadians for 21st Century Learning & Innovation, a not-for-profit organization comprised of education organizations and knowledge sector companies, will host its second annual Summit on 21st century learning, Tuesday, February 12 to Wednesday, February 13 at the Kingbridge Centre in King City.

The Summit, entitled Convening Engaged Minds: Leader to Leader, will feature a Fireside Chat with former Prime Minister Paul Martin on the evening of February 12th. The event will bring together 100 of Canada’s education and business leaders to gather perspectives on Canada’s skill requirements in the knowledge and digital age and on what the related education policy and investment priorities should be for the country.

“Today’s innovation-driven economy and society demands people with 21st century inspired competencies and skills. A key challenge for Canada is to modernize our learning systems and ensure that all Canadians, without exception, are positioned for success on an equitable basis,” states Mr. Martin.

The product of C21 Canada’s inaugural Summit last year was the organization’s Shifting Minds document, a national vision and framework for 21st century models of learning in Canada. The goal of C21 Canada is to support the accelerated and effective integration of 21st century skills and competencies, teaching practices and learning technologies into Canada’s education systems.

“The ‘Arab Spring’ is coming to more than the Middle East. It is coming to education, healthcare, government and every place where the radical democratization of knowledge and power and the culture that comes along with it reaches the public. And that is about everywhere. It is not only necessary to adapt curricula for 21st century needs. It’s necessary to adapt learning technologies and methodologies as well,” states John Abele, co-founder and director of Boston Scientific. Mr. Abele, a well respected and successful innovator, will share the Fireside Chat with Mr. Martin.

C21 Canada is also launching its inaugural National 21st Century Leadership and Innovation Awards. Five people from across Canada will be recognized and honoured for their excellence in 21st Century Leadership and Innovation.

Go to www.c21canada.org for a complete Summit agenda.

About C21 Canada
C21 Canada is a unique blend of national education associations and knowledge sector businesses united in their belief that 21st century models of learning must be adopted in public education on an urgent basis to position Canadians for economic, social and personal success in the high skills, knowledge and innovation based economy.www.c21canada.org

C21 Canada’s Founding Members: Canadian Education Association, Canadian School Board Association, Dell, EF Educational Tours, IBM, McGraw-Hill Ryerson, Microsoft, Nelson Education, Oxford University Press, Pearson, Scholastic Education, SMART Technologies.

Secretariat: 21st Century Learning Associates, MindShare Learning

Summit Twitter hashtag: #C21Summit13

For media inquiries, please contact:

Robert Martellacci
C21 Canada, Vice-president
robert.martellacci@c21canada.org
416.569.2106

 

Changing Perspectives

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This guest post was written by William Kierstead. His career has spanned 27 years in public education in the province of New Brunswick. He has been a classroom teacher, a high school administrator, a District Supervisor and Learning Specialist, and the Director of the 21st Century Research Office for the New Brunswick Department of Education. Most recently he has rekindled an old flame as he assumed the role of Principal at James M. Hill Memorial High School in Miramichi, New Brunswick. Go Tommies! William is married with two daughters and lives in Rexton, New Brunswick.

In the past few years I have undergone several shifts in my career, each one moving me further from the classroom. Viewing education from a long lens gives a very different perspective on education and learning.  From a thousand miles out, I was able to see the bright spots of innovation that were occurring all around me. All across the province teachers were engaging students in project based learning, technology rich curricula, truly authentic experiences and assessment strategies, stretch learning, community based projects and an appreciation for the world and our place in it.

From my vantage point, it was obvious that there were many teachers out there who were already engaging students in the kind of experiences that had come to be known as “21st Century.” The ripples created by these teachers were having a tangible impression on policy makers and stakeholders as the impact of global economies on our workforce and the reality of the technology age created a new set of expectations for public education. In many ways, I believed that the 21st Century movement was well in place before policy and official dogma caught up to it, that it already existed in pockets.

Our job as I saw it was to find those pockets of innovators, nurture them, and use them to create fertile ground for others to follow suit. However, I was also of the opinion that this shift in educational paradigms was going to happen regardless of our intervention. The train had left the station; the toothpaste was out of the tube. No matter how you looked at it, 21st Century learning was here to stay, driven by risk takers and innovative educators. The gaps in best practice would get smaller. Policy and conventional wisdom would always be in catch-up mode.

Recently I was afforded the opportunity to return to an administrative position at a high school and to work directly with teachers and students. I embraced this next phase of my career without hesitation. This move has ultimately given me a fresh perspective on the state of 21st Century Learning in Canada – “nose to nose” as opposed to “from a thousand feet out.” Because my previous view was so distant, I may have been premature in my assessment of the state of 21st Century learning in my province. At ground level, the view was somewhat different.

I have been in this role for a semester now and I see evidence of 21st Century educational practice literally everywhere I look in my school. The gaps that were obvious from orbit seem much smaller and less well defined on the ground.  Indeed most 21st Century practice that I encounter on a daily basis is seamless and not necessarily overt. Educators aren’t nearly as preoccupied with the 21st Century Learning moniker as they are with creating world-class experiences for their students.  Sure there are examples that stand out more than others. There are even examples of practice visible from space. I am convinced however that public education is much further down the road than previously believed. The ground is more fertile than ever before.

My view on policy hasn’t changed a great deal. Society no longer needs convincing that the purpose of education is changing rapidly. Likewise it needs no convincing that education itself must match pace with that change. Policy is not likely to get in front of the 21st Century movement. At best it will keep up. That isn’t to suggest that policy is a waste of time. In a perfect world, policy is needed urgently to encourage and reward innovation. It must cultivate those regions of excellence and create the expectation that the gaps in practice will be filled in to promote a seamless 21st Century landscape across education.

Economic and social factors in the world are conspiring to change the purpose and face of education at a pace that matches that of technological change. The role of C21 Canada, as I see it, is to provide an overarching vision and to exert pressure on the powers that oversee public education in Canada. In the absence of a national authority for education, C21 Canada is destined to provide insight, resources, research and a means for collaboration between educators from all corners of the country. C21 Canada stands poised to provide guidance to jurisdictions across this country so that the inertia remaining in the system can be overcome.

As an administrator and change agent I am excited to play a part in the upcoming symposium. The future demands that we define the next evolution of public education in Canada.

 

A Guide for Facilitating 21st Century Learning

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Brock University professor and C21 Canada supporter Dr. Camille Rutherford contributes this guest post. Check out her blog for insights on leadership, teacher education and technology.

Students do not become 21st century learners on their own. They need learning opportunities that challenge them to utilize 21st century fluencies and integrate the five dimensions of 21st century learning. These dimensions include:

  • Collaboration
  • Knowledge-building
  • The use of ICT for learning
  • Self-regulation
  • Real-world problem-solving and innovation

The following is a set of guidelines developed by the Innovative Teaching and Learning Research program to help educators understand how they can create learning opportunities that will facilitate the development of 21st century skills. In addition to a brief description of each of the five dimensions of 21st century learning, the guidelines include a scale/rubric which educators can use to determine the degree to which each dimension is present during a specific learning opportunity.

Similar to Bloom’s Taxonomy, educators should seek to create learning opportunities that challenge their students to demonstrate the highest level on each scale. While educators may strive towards the highest levels of each dimension, it is important to note that these scales/rubrics should be applied to a sequence of lessons or unit plan and not individual lessons. Even though an individual lesson could focus on a single dimension,  it is not possible to achieve the highest level on all of the scales/rubric within a single classroom lesson.
For the full description of the Innovative Teaching and Learning Research: Learning Activity Rubrics and Sample Student Work Rubrics please visit: http://www.itlresearch.com/home.

Collaboration

To challenge students to the highest level of collaboration, students need to have shared responsibility for their work, and participate in learning activities that requires students to make substantive decisions together. These features help students learn the important collaboration skills of negotiation, agreement on what must be done, distribution of tasks, listening to the ideas of others, and integration of ideas into a coherent whole.
1 = Students are NOT required to work together in pairs or groups.
2 = Students DO work together: BUT they DO NOT have shared responsibility.
3 = Students DO have shared responsibility; BUT they ARE NOT required to make substantive decisions together.
4 = Students DO have shared responsibility AND they DO make substantive decisions together about the content, process, or product of their work.

Knowledge Building

Knowledge building happens when students do more than reproduce what
they have learned: they go beyond knowledge reproduction to generate ideas
and understandings that are new to them. Activities that require knowledge building ask students to interpret, analyse, synthesize, or evaluateinformation or ideas.
1 = The learning activity DOES NOT REQUIRE students to build knowledge.
Students can complete the activity by reproducing information or by
using familiar procedures.
2 = The learning activity DOES REQUIRE students to build knowledge by
interpreting, analysing, synthesizing, or evaluating information or
ideas; BUT the activity’s main requirement IS NOT knowledge building.
3 = The learning activity’s main requirement IS knowledge building; BUT the learning activity DOES NOT have learning goals in more than one subject.
4 = The learning activity’s main requirement IS knowledge building; AND the knowledge building IS interdisciplinary. The activity DOES have learning goals in more than one subject.

Use of ICT for Learning

Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) is becoming increasingly
common in the classroom, but ICT is often used to support practice on basic skills rather than to build knowledge. This dimension examines how students use ICT—whether or not the use of ICT helps students build knowledge, and whether or not students could build the same knowledge without using ICT.
1 = Students do not have the opportunity to use ICT for this learning activity.
2 = Students use ICT to learn or practice basic skills or reproduce information; BUT they are not building knowledge.
3 = Students use ICT to support knowledge building; BUT they could build the same knowledge without using ICT.
4 = Students use ICT to support knowledge building; AND the ICT is required for building this knowledge.

Self-Regulation

In 21st century workplaces, people are expected to work with minimal supervision, which requires them to plan their own work and monitor its quality. Learning activities that give students the opportunity to acquire self-regulation skills last for a week or more and require students to monitor their progress. Teachers can foster self-regulation skills by giving students working in groups responsibility for deciding who will do what and on what schedule.
1 = The learning activity can be completed in less than a week.
2 = The learning activity lasts for one week or more; BUT students ARE NOT given the assessment criteria before they submit their work and; DO NOT have the opportunity to plan their own work.
3 = The learning activity lasts for one week or more AND students ARE given the assessment criteria before they submit their work OR DO have the opportunity to plan their own work.
4 = The learning activity lasts for one week or more AND students ARE given the assessment criteria before they
submit their work AND DO have the opportunity to plan their own work.

Real Problem Solving and Innovation

In traditional schooling, students’ academic activities are often separate from what they see and do in the world outside school. True problem solving requires students to work on solving real problems, and challenges them to complete tasks for which they do NOT already know a response or solution. For the result of this problem solving to be considered innovative it must require students to implement their ideas, designs or solutions for audiences outside the classroom.
1 = The learning activity’s main requirement IS NOT problem-solving.
Students use a previously learned answer or procedure for most of
the work.
2 = The learning activity’s main requirement IS problem-solving; BUT the problem IS NOT a real-world problem.
3 = The learning activity’s main requirement IS problem-solving AND the problem IS a real-world problem; BUT students DO NOT innovate. They are NOT required to implement their ideas in the real world.
4 = The learning activity’s main requirement IS problem-solving AND the problem IS a real-world problem AND students DO innovate. They ARE required to implement their ideas in the real world.

Here are some learning activities to review and determine where they would rank on the five dimensions:


Consider ways to revise these learning activities so that students would be challenged to demonstrate the highest level of each dimension.

A National Conversation?

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Guest blogger Chris Kennedy, Superintendent of Schools and CEO with the West Vancouver School District, writes about the need for national engagement in education. He regularly writes at Culture of Yes.

In reading the Programme for International Students (PISA) results, Canada is broken up by province, while all other nations report as countries. Of course, this speaks to the responsibility of education in Canada as a provincial matter while in most countries, it has some Federal coordination. While it is a provincial matter in Canada, there are times where some national engagement is important.

We often look to Finland (guilty as charged with these posts 1 and 2) as a possible model for the way forward, and look to the United States as a model we dare not, or want to, emulate (Many in Canada worry that Texas curriculum or online learning from Florida will make its way north). Yet, we spend very little time learning from other provinces. We know far more about reform in New York than we do in Winnipeg, and about improvements in Helsinki rather than Ottawa. It is quite interesting how we look outside of BC (and I think across Canada) for learning partners, examples to follow or avoid, without fully engaging in conversations across this country.

There are some efforts and organizations trying to bridge this gap. The Canadian Education Association (CEA) has been in existence since 1891, bringing together educators from a variety of roles across the country and advancing ideas for greater student and teacher engagement. This past week CEA’s Chief Executive Officer, Ron Canuel, launched a challenge around Why Do We Need Innovation in Education? The CEA has a series of projects to link jurisdictions across the country including several awards programs and a series of national research reports.

Other nationals include C21 Canada, shaped somewhat after the P21 Organization in the United States, is a not-for-profit organization advocating for the 21st Century models of learning in education, and has recently released Shifting Minds: A Vision and Framework for 21st Century Learning in Canada. Another organization, is The Learning Partnership, a national charitable organization dedicated to championing a strong public education system in Canada through innovative programs, credible research, policy initiatives, executive leadership and public engagement. Two of their more recognizable programs include Take Your Kid to Work Day in November and Welcome to Kindergarten.

There are also a number of other national organizations including the Canadian School Board Association (who will host their national conference this coming July in Vancouver), Canadian Association of Principals, the Canadian Teachers Federation and the Canadian Association of School Administrators. Clearly, there are no shortage of education organizations working at a national level.

So, returning to my original question, and my interest in writing this — somehow, we need to have more conversations linking education work across the country. There are huge learning opportunities from other jurisdictions and while there is value in learning from Finland, Singapore, or New Zealand, there are also great possibilities in learning from our fellow provinces, many of which join BC at the top of the PISA scales. Whether it is the Inspiring Education efforts in Alberta, the work in assessment and evaluation coming out of Manitoba or the early learning lessons from Ontario, among many others, there is a lot to share.

I have also noticed another shift in the BC Education mindset in recent years –our schools are becoming less competitive with one another, and I also think the same holds true for our districts. There is no pride taken when one community in BC struggles, while others flourish; we do need to move this to a national conversation and a real sense of national ownership. This is more challenging, but is a laudable goal.

We should/will keep learning and networking with countries around the world, because that is what one needs to do as part of a global conversation, but this should be alongside rich, national conversations on the same topics.

I am part of a free event this coming Friday morning (November 30), that will try to view education through a national lens. The Action Canada Public Dialogue: Challenges and Change in Canada’s Education Systems is at the Work Centre for Dialogue in Vancouver. The event, moderated by Tom Clark, Chief Political Correspondent, and Host of the West Block on Global TV, hosts three panels: Standardized Testing in Canada: Real Accountability or an Illusion of Success?, Teaching Questions Not Answers: Adapting Canada’s Education System for the 21st Century, and Who Cares About Young Caregivers: Children’s Rights and Education. I will be part of a five-member panel on the 21st century system question. Full details are available here including registration information.

Shifting Minds: Education System Re-Design Priorities

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C21 Canada is pleased to present our third blog in our series on Shifting Minds, our vision for 21st Century learning in Canada. Over the past few months we have sought public feedback on our draft document which can be found here.

Our first blog focused on the nature of 21st Century models of learning and the principles that underlie Shifting Minds. The second blog introduced Shifting Mind’s seven 21st century competency themes. This third blog highlights the systemic changes required to position Canada’s education systems for 21st century models of learning.

If the penultimate goal of 21st century models of learning is to produce creative, innovative and collaborative global citizens well versed in using modern technologies, then educators and the systems within which they function must emulate these traits. Fostering an innovative learner is more likely to be achieved by an innovative teacher. Similarly, an innovative teacher is more likely to flourish within an innovation oriented education system.

The first priority in redesigning education systems for 21st century models of learning is to recruit the right people. Faculties of Education across Canada must adopt appropriate selection protocols and learning standards for aspiring new teachers. Faculty staff should also be recruited and remunerated on their capacity to emulate 21st century instructional practices to pre-service teachers. Education systems must then focus their in-service training efforts to augment 21st century teaching competencies and skills on an ongoing basis. Alignment of purpose between pre-service and in-service recruitment and training would certainly accelerate the overall process.

Canada’s education curricula must be relevant to today’s student and learning outcomes designed to fully engage students in their own learning. Today, learning must be about fostering the ability to create knowledge, find innovative solutions to complex problems, and fostering global citizens. The plethora of learning outcomes that has infiltrated curricula over time must be reduced to give teachers more instructional time to ensure learners have a depth of understanding of complex subjects. Curricula must also be re-designed to infuse the 21st century competencies and skills identified in Shifting Minds.

Teaching practices must also evolve to align with the needs of today’s students. Project based learning, personalized learning opportunities, and professional learning communities must become the norm. Teachers must also be prolific at integrating technology with pedagogy.

Today’s learning environments must be flexible and offer opportunities for both personalized and collaborative learning opportunities. Individualized access to the internet and a diversity of ICT tools and digital learning resources by both teachers and students must be ubiquitous.

Governance models must also evolve. If educators and schools are to be innovative by design, central agencies must be less prescriptive in how learning is achieved. Providing supportive policy frameworks for front line educators must be the focal point of central agencies. However, along with the enhanced autonomy of front line educators comes an enhanced level of accountability for student achievement results.

Citizen engagement in the re-design process is a pre-requisite to success. Societal support for the required changes will only be achieved if communities and parents are made aware of the imperative for and benefits of change, both for their children and for society at large.

In the knowledge and digital era, the adoption of 21st century models of learning in Canada’s education system is an economic and social imperative. The questions are no longer what do we need to do and how do we do it. We have these answers. The questions today are when do we start and how quickly can we make it happen. Indeed, what we really need is leadership!

Shifting Minds: Our vision and framework for 21st Century learning in Canada (Pt 2)

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C21 Canada is pleased to present our second blog in a series on Shifting Minds, our vision and framework for 21st Century learning in Canada. The document in its entirety can be downloaded here. Over the next few weeks we will be presenting a series of blogs that introduce the key elements of Shifting Minds. Our first blog  focused on the nature of 21st Century models of learning and the principles that underlie Shifting Minds. This second blog focuses on 21st Century competencies.

First, it is important to emphasize that students will still require a firm foundation in literacy, numeracy and science to succeed and C21 Canada firmly believes that these areas of learning must remain a focal point for Canada’s education systems. The question is whether student achievement in literacy, numeracy and science can be substantially improved if Canadian schools adopt modern teaching and learning methodologies and technologies. The answer is yes, if we change what and how we teach. What we teach must be relevant to students and how we teach must engage them in their own learning. Adopting modern instructional practices will lead to higher levels of student engagement which in turn will lead to deeper levels of understanding and higher levels of achievement. Schools and teachers currently using 21st Century instructional practices and information and communication technologies are witnessing higher levels of student performance, increased levels of student engagement, and enhanced levels of teacher satisfaction.

However, in today’s world being highly skilled in literacy, numeracy, and science is merely a prerequisite for attaining the higher order thinking skills that world experts are calling for to meet growing economic, social and environmental requirements. A key element of 21st Century models of learning is the need to infuse 21st Century competencies into the mainstream curricula of Canada’s education systems. These higher order thinking skills are often referred to in modern education literature as 21st Century competencies. They are not entirely new learning concepts. However, two things have changed. First, they are profoundly different by definition and they are far more important than ever before.
What are these competencies?

C21 Canada has conducted extensive research on 21st Century competencies and the learning frameworks for these competencies that currently existing worldwide. While there is a high degree of consensus on the nature of these competencies, various jurisdictions and authors have depicted them in different ways, often to reflect local priorities and realities.

C21 Canada has consulted widely within Canada with a view toward offering Canadians a summary of the global work on 21st Century competencies but in a manner that reflects Canadian learning priorities and societal values.

C21 Canada has condensed this enormous body of knowledge into what Shifting Minds calls the 7 C’s of 21st Century learning. The 7 C’s are listed below, with brief descriptors. Readers will need to review the document in its entirety to benefit from a fuller description.

  1. Creativity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship: The ability to apply creative thought processes to create something of value. The capacity to create and apply new knowledge in innovative and entrepreneurial ways to create new products or solve complex problems.
  2. Critical Thinking: The ability to acquire, process, interpret, rationalize and critically analyze large volumes of often conflicting information to the point of making an informed decision and taking action in a timely fashion.
  3. Collaboration: The ability to interact positively and respectfully with others in creating new ideas and developing products;
  4. Communication: The capacity to communicate using a variety of media technologies and social networks and to access, analyze and managing large volumes of information.
  5. Character: The attainment of life skills, such as being a life-long and self directed learner proficient in managing personal relationships and resolving conflict.
  6. Culture and Ethical Citizenship: The capacity to comprehend Canada’s political, social, economic and financial systems in a global context, appreciate Canada’s cultural and societal diversity and understand society’s dependence on our natural systems.
  7. Computer and Digital Technologies: The capacity to use computers and digital resources to access information and create knowledge, solutions, products and services; the capacity to use social media for learning.

Although C21 Canada has identified Computer and Digital Technologies as a distinct competency, technology is quickly becoming ubiquitous in society and needs to be the same within Canada’s learning systems.

Imagine an education system focused on educators working with students to attain the above competencies. Imagine learning systems where students are encouraged to be as creative as they can be, and rewarded for using and creating knowledge in innovative and entrepreneurial new ways. Imagine a system where students are encouraged to collaborate and communicate with other students, educators and societal leaders located in other countries, virtually.

The reality is that this is where the world is going at an ever faster pace. It is essential that Canada’s learning systems begin to position our youth for success in a world we can only imagine.

John Kershaw
C21 Canada

Shifting Minds 2.0 New and Improved Thanks to your Support! Your Feedback Means the World to Us!

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C21 Canada is pleased to present Shifting Minds 2.0, framework for 21st Century learning in Canada. The document in its entirety can be downloaded here. Over the next few weeks we will present a series of blogs that introduce the key elements of Shifting Minds. This blog focuses on the nature of 21st Century models of learning and innovation and the principles that underlie this relevant and engaging learning framework for Canada.

To begin, it is important to state that 21st Century learning is applicable to public and private sectors of education, and to Aboriginal band schools located on reserve.

This is the knowledge and digital era, characterized rapidly shifting economic and social landscapes and the need for highly skilled, innovative and creative people. While digital technologies have touched on and transformed virtually every facet of the economy and society in general, most education systems remain rooted in the agrarian and industrial education models of past generations.

The OECD, EU, UNESCO and many global learning experts are citing the need for highly skilled people to meet the demands of this new era. A report recently released by the OECD re-emphasizes the need for highly skilled people to position people and societies for success (see: http://www.keepeek.com/Digital-Asset-Management/oecd/education/better-skills-better-jobs-better-lives_9789264177338-en)

Global leaders in education and other sectors of society have identified a number of competencies and skills that are now critical for personal and societal success in the knowledge and digital era. These competencies and skills are global in nature, and as such are critical for both Canadians and Canada as a whole. C21 Canada has summarized these competencies in Shifting Minds as follows:

  • Creativity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship
  • Critical Thinking
  • Collaboration
  • Communication
  • Character
  • Culture and Ethical Citizenship
  • Computer and Digital Technologies

Each of the above competencies will be explained further in our next blog. However, by way of example two important elements of the competencies are creativity and innovation. In this context creativity means the ability to create something of value, and innovation means the ability to extract economic and social value from knowledge.

At the same time, Canada’s public education systems are witnessing a crisis of disengagement. The results of the Canadian Education Association’s report on student engagement in learning, entitled What Did You Do In School Today http://www.cea-ace.ca/programs-initiatives/wdydist should serve as a clarion call for action from educators, parents and governments. The CEA surveyed over 60,000 Canadian students to obtain their views on the level of their intellectual engagement in school. Less than half of all high school students surveyed reported that they felt intellectually engaged in school.

In the above context, the goal of C21 Canada, as reflected in Shifting Minds, is to witness an accelerated pace of 21st competencies, instructional practices, and digital resources and services being integrated into Canada’s learning systems.

Shifting Minds provides an in depth overview of the nature of 21st Century models of learning. However, in the interest of brevity we will identify four key elements: 1) Relevancy: This means re-designing curriculum to ensure learning outcomes are relevant to positioning student for success in the 21st Century knowledge and digital era; 2) 21C Instructional Practices: This means ensuring teachers are trained in teaching 21st Century competencies and integrating technology with pedagogy; 3) ICT Rich Learning Environments: This means ensuring schools have high quality connectivity capacity and both students and teachers have access to a variety of classroom technologies; and 4) Global: This means students are provided opportunities to connect with the world around them, from a local, regional and international perspective.

The principles underlying 21st Century models of learning and C21 Canada’s Shifting Minds framework are:

Principle 1
All Canadians have a universal right to reach their full learning potential and to have a voice in their learning needs.

Principle 2
The primary focus of Canadian education is to position learners for fulfillment and success in the modern world.

Principle 3
Literacy, numeracy, science, life skills and 21st Century competencies must now be the foundational learning outcomes of Canada’s public education systems.

Principle 4
Instructional, assessment practices and learning environments must be modernized to personalize the learning experience and better engage Canadian students.

Principle 5
Personalized access to teachers highly skilled in 21st Century learning skills and research-based learning environments is a universal right of every Canadian learner.

Principle 6
Public education is a community and societal enterprise where all Canadians share both the responsibility for and benefits of providing high quality and modern learning opportunities.

Principle 7
Canadians must engage in and support their education leaders in offering today’s students – creative, innovative, authentic, dynamic and modern learning experiences and environments.

In schools where 21st Century models of learning have been introduced student engagement, student achievement and teacher satisfaction increase. Most importantly, the students are being positioned for success in a world where the ability to create and use knowledge and connect with the world are the driving forces of success for individuals, companies, governments and virtually every facet of global society.

In Canada we are already witnessing excellent examples of 21st Century models of learning and teaching within our education systems. Unfortunately, these inspiring examples exist only as pockets of innovation when we need a systemic transformation of our education systems.

Shifting Minds is offered as a framework for Canadians to follow in creating 21st models of learning in our education systems. Our next blog will outline in more detail the seven 21st Century competencies identified in Shifting Minds and the rationale for infusing them into education curriculum outcomes for our youth.

Best!

John Kershaw
President
C21 Canada

C21 Canada enters the next phase

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C21 Canada will be discussing their Shifting Minds 21st Century learning policy statement and how to relate to the growing interest in membership when they meet in Toronto tomorrow. Shifting Minds was the centrepiece of C21 Canada’s Summit held at the Kingbridge Convention Centre on February 15th, 2012. Shifting Minds: A 21st Century Vision of Public Education for Canada, has received positive reviews and has been even further refined based on the feedback received both at the Summit and through the organization’s website.  C21 Canada intends to keep the policy statement dynamic and will continue to seek public feedback to ensure it reflects both international learning research and Canadian values and learning priorities.

C21 Canada will also be reviewing its membership strategy given the growing interest from individual educators, school districts and private businesses who are signalling they wish to become active members.  A Membership Strategy will likely be released via the organization’s website within days of tomorrow’s meeting.

– John Kershaw, President, C21 Canada

C21 Summit Interview with Catherine Fife, President, OPSBA and VP, CSBA

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Catherine Fife, President of the Ontario Public School Boards’ Association (OPSBA) and Vice President of Canadian School Boards Association (CSBA) is interviewed by Robert Martellacci, President & Publisher, MindShare Learning about her experience at our first annual C21 Summit: Shifting Minds that took place in Kingsbridge, Ontario on February 15, 2012.

 

Shifting Minds: 21st Century Learning Summit

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C21 Canada successfully hosted their inaugural forum on 21st Century learning February 15th at the Kingbridge Centre in King City, Ontario. The event allowed the founding members of Canadians for 21st Century Learning and Innovation Summit (C21 Canada) to benefit from the advice of 50 education and business leaders from across Canada. The delegates discussed and provided feedback on C21 Canada’s draft position paper on 21st Century, entitled Shifting Minds and also identified the key actions C21 Canada should pursue to further the 21st Century learning agenda in Canada.

The Summit commenced with an introductory presentation on global economic, social and learning trends in by Charles Fadel, author of 21st Century Skills and founder of the Centre for Curriculum Re-Design located at Harvard University. The delegates also discussed the Canadian Education Association’s recent findings relating to how Canadian students were disengaging from learning and how new evidence on how people learn combined with modern instructional practices will improve student engagement and performance.

C21 Canada also took the opportunity to officially launch their organization and unveil their new website www.c21canada.org.

C21 Canada’s Shifting Minds draft document identifies the key elements of a 21st Century learning framework, including the need for today’s students to be highly skilled in literacy and numeracy, as well as learning competencies such as creative and innovative thinking, collaboration, communication and other skills that world leaders in learning have determined to be of increasing importance in the knowledge economy and era.   Modern instructional practices designed to better engage students and help them improve their levels of understanding and achievement are also identified in the draft position paper while building on the relevancy of local content and themes  from core ccurriula. Delegates supported C21 Canada’s position that while the global movement toward 21st Century models of learning in public education is a positive development for students, it was important to have a framework and model that reflects Canadian values and culture.

C21 Canada welcomes feedback on the Shifting Minds draft document, posted  on this website. The document will then be revised based on the advice received and eventually form the base for C21 Canada’s efforts to see an accelerated pace of 21st Century competencies, instructional practices and digital resources being integrated into Canada’s learning systems. Anyone interested in commenting to C21 Canada on the draft Shifting Minds document is encouraged to send their remarks to feedback @ c21canada.org or below in the comment section.

The feedback from the delegates on the event was very positive and the members of C21 Canada were very pleased with the level of engagement and quality of advice received.

To that end….would selected participants be invited to submit a short blog or statements about their feedback to provide a hint of flavour as to the culture present…and to capture an authentic positive voice…..some of the comments made by participants during the lightening round provided optimisn and a positive voice to the process.

– John Kershaw, President, C21 Canada