Making and Modalities: Upending Traditional Teacher Education Course Delivery to Improve 21st Century Teaching and Learning

Introduction

Recently, I asked one of my instructional design students to intern for me on an upcoming project, to which she replied, “I would love to try to put what I have learned into practice even though I am a walking insecurity.” Her words resonated with me, as my colleagues and I have had to rapidly transition our courses and students to online learning environments in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many educators have been struggling with the rapid and immediate transition to the unfamiliar with insecurity, trepidation, uncertainty, and reluctance, but urgency necessitated change. My insightful student recognized the feelings that accompany changing the way we “have always done things” and her words illuminate one of the many reasons education may be slower to adapt to our ever-evolving world. The solution, however, to such insecurity is through proper preparation.

The World Economic Forum’s (2018) recent report indicated that current students will need to be prepared for a rapidly changing, technology-filled world in which their future jobs likely do not yet exist. Students must be adaptable to the disruptions experienced in the workforce and the world, flexible in their capacity for skills development, reskilling, and upskilling, and become committed, agile lifelong learners able to innovate and forge their own future workforce pathways (World Economic Forum, 2018). Their instructors need to be just as prepared and flexible. Numerous researchers have noted that encouraging the development of 21st century skills in students will better prepare them for their future employment (see Bellanca & Brandt, 2010; Chan, 2016; Trilling & Fadel, 2009). Unfortunately, there is speculation as to whether or not the traditional structure of the U.S. educational system and business-as-usual curriculum delivery can meet those needs and requirements (Chan, 2016; McLeod & Shareski, 2018; Prensky, 2016). In response, recent education reform initiatives have focused on preparing the workforce for 21st century jobs by improving literacy in STEM fields and acknowledging the importance of appropriate teacher preparation.

According to Trilling and Fadel (2009, p. XXVI), 21st century skills include: learning and innovation skills (creativity, critical thinking, collaboration, and communication, often referred to as the 4Cs); digital literacy skills (media, information, and ICTs, or information and communication technologies literacies); and career and life skills (flexibility, adaptability, initiative, self-direction, multicultural interaction, productivity, accountability, leadership, and responsibility). Such skills can prepare individuals for the unpredictable, uncertain, and dynamic future they are likely to encounter by allowing them to be agile, creative thinkers that shift directions easily, while working effectively with diverse audiences. However, there is a great deal of concern that students are not and will not be adequately equipped for the future since their educations lack training of these skills necessary to solve problems and think analytically in order to be successful in high-quality, technology-driven jobs (Chan, 2016; Partnership for 21st Century Skills, n.d.). And, “Without high-quality, knowledge-intensive jobs and the innovative enterprises that lead to discovery and new technology, our economy will suffer and our people will face a lower standard of living” (National Research Council [NRC], 2007, p. 1). Preparing the workforce for 21st century jobs by improving literacy in STEM fields has become the crux of recent education reform initiatives.