The majority of countries and educational organizations have introduced the concept of learning outcomes and the related key competences or skills into their policy, programs, instructional planning, curricula and activities. The chapter, after an overview on knowledge processes, personal-social competences and significant related models (Frameworks of Twenty-First Century Learning, Key Competences for Lifelong Learning, Social and Emotional Learning, Approach to Learning), is focusing on digital literacy models (Digital Competence Framework for Citizens, ICT Competency Framework for Teachers, ICT Standards for Students), and finally is synthesizing two new 3D competency-based models: a specific one for the individual children's rights for the digital world (“Open Sesame”) and a general one for the educational community (“School of the Future International Academy”), respectively accompanied by examples.
In order for the educational system to meet its future needs, several requirements must be fulfilled. There is a need to be an efficient and effective teaching and learning operating system, an appropriate to the future conditions teaching environment, an acceptable set of methodological tools and, because of these, a suitable classroom environment. These requirements represent the major components of the education paradigm been in effect every time, which, in the last few years, has shifted from the Individual/Traditional, to the Group/Progressive, and finally to the Community/School on the Cloud paradigm. In addition, changes in the components of each paradigm have resulted in changes in the corresponding school model, from the Traditional, to the Progressive and finally to the School on the Cloud model. The goal of this chapter is to present and evaluate all these shifts, which are of paramount importance to future teaching and learning.
Educational technology is influenced by and closely related to the fields of generative epistemology, Artificial Intelligence, and the learning sciences. Relevant research literature refers to the term constructionism (Papert, 1993) and exploratory learning (diSessa et al, 1995). Constructionism and exploratory learning are a synthesis of the constructivist theory of Piaget and the opportunities offered by technology to education on thinking concretely, on learning while constructing intelligible entities, and on interacting with multimedia objects, rather than the direct acquisition of knowledge and facts. These views are based on the approach that learners can take substantial control of their own learning in an appropriately designed physical and cultural environment (Harel, 1991). In parallel, most of the studies of the Vygotskian framework focus on the role of language in the learning procedure, considering conceptual thought to be impossible outside an articulated verbal thinking. Moreover, the specific use of words is considered to be the most relevant cause for childhood and adolescent differentiation (Vygotsky, 1962)
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