DIGITAL TAXONOMY

Bloom's Digital Taxonomy and Collaboration. In Drawing  , Collaboration is included as a separate element as well as some elements being shared. Collaboration can take many forms (see above) and value of the collaboration can vary hugely. This is often independent of the mechanism used to collaborate. Also collaboration is not an integral part of the learning process for the individual, you don't have to collaborate to learn, but often your learning is enhance by doing so. Collaboration is a 21st Century skill of increasing importance and one that is used throughout the learning process. In some forms it is an element of Bloom's and in others its is just a mechanism which can be use to facilitate higher order thinking and learning. Collaboration is not a 21st Century Skill, it is a 21st Century Essential. In a recent blog post from the official google blog, Google identified the following as key traits or abilities in 21st Century Employees: “... communication skills. Marshalling and understanding the available evidence isn't useful unless you can effectively communicate your conclusions.” “... team players. Virtually every project at Google is run by a small team. People need to work well together and perform up to the team's expectations. ” [9] Source: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/our-googley-advice-to-students-major-in.html If we look at UNESCO's publication “The four pillars of Education, Learning: The Treasure within” Collaboration is a key element of each of the four pillars. • Learning to know • Learning to do • Learning to live together • Learning to be (http://www.unesco.org/delors/fourpil.htm) [10] So to prepare our students, our teaching should also model collaboration. A vast array of collaborative tools are available; wikis, classroom blogs, collaborative document tools,social networks, learning management systems - Many are available at no cost. If you have not yet tried them, look at: ● wikis – wet paint and wiki spaces ● Classroom blogs – edublogs, classroomblogmeister, blogger ● Collaborative document tools – Google documents, zoho documents, adobe Buzzword ● Social Networks – ning ● learning managements systems – Moodle, Blackboard, Web CT, First Class. These tools are enablers of collaboration, and therefore enablers of 21st century teaching

Is knowledge or content important? The answer to this question is of course YES. While a goal we often hear is for our students to create knowledge, we must scaffold and support this constructivist process. The knowledge we give them forms the foundation of their learning cycle or process. The process was aptly described in a recent presentation by Michael Stevenson VP Global Education from Cisco on Education 3.0 [12].

We need to teach knowledge or content in context with the tasks and activities the students are undertaking. Our students respond well to real world problems. Our delivery of knowledge should scaffold the learning process and provide a foundation for activities. As we know from the learning pyramid content or concept delivered without context or other activity has a low retention rate. Thinking skills Thinking Skills are key. While much of the knowledge we teach may be obsolete within a few years, thinking skills once acquired will remain with our students for their entire lives. Industrial age education has had a focus on Lower Order Thinking Skills. In Bloom's taxonomy the lower order thinking skills are the remembering and understanding aspects. 21st Century pedagogy and learning focuses on moving students from Lower Order Thinking Skills (LOTS) to Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS).

The 21st Century Teacher scaffolds the learning of students, building on a basis of knowledge recall and comprehension to use and apply skills; to analyse and evaluate process, outcomes and consequences, and to make, create and innovate. [11]