Is your school looking for ways to prepare learners for the future workforce? I am excited to share that the 21st Century Learning Design (21CLD) learning path has been updated.

If you are unfamiliar with 21CLD, it is a research-based methodology that helps educators redesign their existing learning activities to build learners’ 21st century skills. 21CLD bridges the gap between theory and practice by providing a framework for learning design in six dimensions researchers have identified to be critical in today’s workforce:

  • Knowledge construction which requires learners to go beyond memorizing information to analyzing, interpreting, synthesizing, and evaluating information. They must then apply their new knowledge in new contexts to make connections across multiple disciplines.
  • Collaboration involves learners working together, sharing responsibility, and making substantive decisions together. At the deepest level of collaboration, learners’ work is interdependent.
  • Real-world problem solving and innovation involves a task with a defined challenge for learners. The problems must be authentic situations that exist outside of an academic context so that learners may implement their solutions in the real world.
  • Skilled communication requires learners to produce extended or multi-modal communication using evidence to support their ideas. At its deepest level, learners craft their communication for a specific audience.
  • Self-regulation requires learners to work on an activity for an extended period. It requires learners to plan their work by breaking up their responsibilities. They must also have opportunities to revise their work based upon their own reflection and feedback from others (peers, educators, or experts).
  • ICT for learning examines learners’ use of technology to support knowledge construction and encourages learners to become designers of ICT products that others use.

Check out the updates of the 21st Century Learning Design Learning Path on MS Learn

Understanding the 21st Century Learning Design

The 21CLD learning path consists of tools and resources that help educators develop a deep understanding of 21st century skills. By integrating rubrics and decision trees, it also provides a framework to analyze (or code) learning activities to evaluate how deeply the skills are embedded in an activity. Through this framework, educators develop a common language for 21st century skills, allowing for easier collaboration with colleagues from mixed disciplines to design learning activities at the deepest levels.

Throughout the learning path, you will

  • Learn about the research behind 21CLD
  • Learn about the six 21CLD dimensions
  • Explore and code lessons for each dimension of 21CLD
  • Redesign your own learning activities according to the 21CLD rubrics

You are also encouraged to take one of your own learning activities and code it according to the 21CLD rubrics. You can then decide how you would like to modify the lesson to incorporate some of the 21st century skills at a deeper level.

The 21st Century Learning Design (21CLD) learning path is designed for independent study; however, a school could use the trainer guides to work through the course together. Educator teams would benefit greatly from the collegial conversations sparked during the training and would gain a common language that would help them design future learning activities.

Be sure to check the learning path out and share what you learn on social media and hashtag #MicrosoftEdu so others can benefit from what you learn. Learn more about how we can support your school with 21CLD training and more at Professional Development – insight2execution (i2e LLC) (i2e-llc.com).