21st Century Fluency Skills

Technology and information are changing society and how we operate, yet schools have had little change in their pedagogy, structure, operation curriculum and assessment models. This is an issue, as our students are neurologically different than the generation of students before them. What needs to happen is to move from literacy to fluency. This is illustrated by a study performed by the Bertelsman Foundation in 1998. Two groups of grade 8 social studies students were taught using differing pedagogy; one with a traditional manner (primarily lecture & traditional testing), the other learned through a process-based approach using collaboration, technology, group activities and a blend of teacher and peer assessment. Both classes wrote the state exam for the grade level and the results were virtually the same. However, when the same test was given a year later, the traditional class scored significantly lower than the class who learned through collaboration and project and process learning.

Ian Jukes suggests five fluencies that are essential for today's students for functioning in life:

1. Solution fluency - requires the ability to problem-solve in real time using the 6D system (define the problem, discover a solution, dream up a process, design the process, deliver the plan, debrief and evaluate the process.
2. Information fluency - the ability to unconsciously interpret the avalanche of data in order to extract the essential and perceive its significance. 
3. Creativity fluency - requires both hemispheres of the brain to work together to add meaning through design, art and storytelling.
4. Media fluency - has two components, input (listen actively and decode the communication) and output (leverage the most appropriate media for your message)
5. Collaboration fluency - the ability to successfully work and interact with virtual and real partners.

To move our students from graduating as highly educated people, but we need them to be able to do much more than to recall facts and information on provincial or state exams. We need to work with them to develop these five fluencies so that they move beyond literacy to be adequately prepared for life, their life, not ours.

Download a pdf version of the presentation at http://www.fluency21.com/perspectives/LNE_perspective.pdf.


Based on the Literacy is Not Enough keynote presentation at Learning Forward 2011, presented by Ian Jukes - July 18, 2011 - Indianapolis, Indiana