Overview

Information literacy is not the only new skill students need to master to be successful in their future. With the increasing pace of change and innovation in the world, it has become important to prepare students to learn skills educators cannot even anticipate they will need. Students must be able to adapt to their world, manage their goals despite the complexity of their lives, and take appropriate risks in order to learn things outside their comfort zones. Perhaps more importantly, educators must be able to do these things in order to offer such an education to their students. None of us, students or educators, can afford to live in the comfort of having mastered skills taught in the 20st century.

Therefore, this week you will explore in depth the 21st century skills of Adaptability and Risk Taking, including what they mean and their importance to the students of today. You will then explore a wide variety of existing resources, including professional development frameworks, articles about how video games encourage risk taking, and educational blog posts addressing the complexity of these issues. Finally, you will complete an exercise in which you take a measured risk in your professional life, reflect upon it, and share your reflections with your classmates.

Module Three Activity Checklist

Open the Learning Activity Checklist (pdf).

The Checklist can be saved to your local drive by clicking Save on the toolbar. As you complete Module Assignments, check them off on this electronic copy. Alternatively, you can print a copy to complete.

Module Three Objectives

At the completion of this module, you will be able to:

• Define adaptability and risk taking as 21st century skills and explain their importance in education.
• Evaluate your own adaptability and willingness to learn through risk taking.