Educating the next generation of teachers: 21st century skills, research and ICT competencies through PBL

Educating the next generation of teachers: 21st century skills, research and ICT competencies through PBL

Abstract

Living in the 21st century demands from all citizens, but particularly from teachers, the development of specific skills to face the challenges of a society in which information and communication are the key to successful fulfillment of most work and life needs. According to the Partnership for 21st century skills (2011), these skills include learning and innovation skills (creativity and innovation, critical thinking and problem solving, and communication and collaboration), Information, Media and Technology skills and Life and Career skills (flexibility and adaptability, Initiative and Self- Direction, Social and Cross Cultural Skills, Productivity and Accountability, Leadership and Responsibility).At the same time, the improvement and modernization of educational practices in the English as foreign language (henceforth EFL) field require reflective teachers with strong research skills that enable them to observe and analyze their educational contexts in order to propose creative and viable alternatives to traditional methodologies. Project-based learning (hereafter PBL) provides an ideal framework to guide teachers in development towards the acquisition of the aforementioned abilities in an engaging and motivating way and gives them a first-hand experience on the usefulness of this methodology for enhancing language and research competencies as well as 21st century skills.

Keywords: 21st century skills, PBL, ICT competencies, teaching foreign languages, research in the classroom.

Resumen

El siglo XXI exige de todos los ciudadanos, pero particularmente de los docentes, habilidades específicas con las que afrontar los desafíos de una sociedad en la que la información y la comunicación son la clave para el éxito en la vida y el trabajo. Según el Consorcio para las Habilidades del Siglo XXI esto implica desarrollar competencias de aprendizaje e innovación, habilidades para el manejo de la información, los medios y la tecnología, y habilidades para la vida y el trabajo. Al mismo tiempo, la mejora y la modernización de las prácticas educativas en el campo de la enseñanza del inglés como lengua extrajera requiere docentes reflexivos, con fuertes competencias en investigación que les permitan observar y analizar críticamente los contextos educativos y proponer alternativas viables y creativas a las metodologías de enseñanza tradicionales. El aprendizaje basado en proyectos (ABP) proporciona un marco adecuado para lograr que los docentes en formación desarrollen las habilidades anteriormente mencionadas de forma motivadora y les proporciona una experiencia real sobre la utilidad de esta metodología para incrementar las competencias linguísticas y de investigación así como las habilidades del siglo XXI.

Palabras claves: Habilidades del siglo 21, ABP, enseñanza de una segunda lengua, competencias en TIC, investigación en el aula.

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