User:Lfib21/sandbox

21st Century Fluencies
The 21st Century Fluencies are six different essential skill sets conceptualized and developed by Lee Crockett, Andrew Churches, and Ian Jukes and were first presented in the book Literacy is Not Enough. They have been adopted by schools in several countries including Canada, United States, Australia, New Zealand, China, and Brazil.

Development

The Fluencies are comprised of six main areas: Solution Fluency, Information Fluency, Creativity Fluency, Media Fluency, Collaboration Fluency, and Global Digital Citizenship. The main focus of these fluencies is to help instill in today's students a set of unconscious skills to help them survive and thrive in the 21st century and beyond.

Lee Crockett, in his books and keynote presentations, stresses such things as InfoWhelm, digital media expansion, social networking, exponential change, and the globalization of modern marketplaces as the catalysts that have facilitated the need for these essential skills to become part of students' educational development.

Each Fluency, along with Global Digital Citizenship, is presented as a learnable and applicable process, defined by its own unique stages (similar to the scientific method, writing process, or media development).

Solution Fluency—Solution Fluency is the ability to think creatively to solve problems in real time by clearly defining the problem, designing an appropriate solution, delivering the solution, and then evaluating the process and the outcome. This is about whole-brain thinking—creativity and problem solving applied on-demand.

This particular fluency is the most crucial of all the fluencies. It is the basis of every other Fluency, and its stages can be found within the processes for each. The 6Ds of Solution Fluency are designed to be a cyclical process as opposed to a linear one, and mirror well-known practices such as the scientific method, and the processes for writing and media development.

Stages


 * Define—provide a clear and concise definition of the problem or challenge one is addressing.
 * Discover—obtain the background information that gives the problem its context, and identify what you need to know and what you need to be able to do to solve the problem.
 * Dream—visualize a creative and appropriate solution.
 * Design—starting form the future, design the process backwards to the present to complete the visualized solution in measurable, achievable steps.
 * Deliver—implement the design to complete the solution to the problem in two separate steps:
 * 1) * Produce—creation—actually creating the solution in its working format.
 * 2) * Publish—application—applying the product in an effort to solve the problem.
 * Debrief—review and analyze the product and process, identifying areas for potential improvement.

Information Fluency—Information Fluency is the ability to unconsciously and intuitively interpret information in all forms and formats in order to extract the essential knowledge, authenticate it, and perceive its meaning and significance.

Stages


 * Ask—compile a list of critical questions about what knowledge or data is being sought.
 * Acquire—access and collect informational materials from the appropriate digital and non-digital sources.
 * Analyze—authenticate, organize, and arrange the collected data.
 * Apply—apply the knowledge within the original context of the purpose of the information quest.
 * Assess—revisit critically both the product and the process thoroughly.

Creativity Fluency—Creativity Fluency is the process by which artistic proficiency adds meaning through design, art, and storytelling. It is about using innovative design to add value to the function of a product though the form.

Stages


 * Identify—distinguish the elements and the criteria of the desired outcome; determine what you need to create and what limitations or restrictions you face.
 * Inspire—stimulate your creativity with rich sensory information.
 * Interpolate—search for clear patterns and higher level abstractions within the sensory input.
 * Imagine—the synthesis between inspiration and interpolation, the unification of which results in the birth of your idea.
 * Inspect—measure the idea against the original criteria and determine its feasibility.

Media Fluency—There are two components of Media Fluency. First, the ability to look analytically at any communication to interpret the real message, and evaluate the efficacy of the chosen medium. Second, to create original communications that align the message with its intended audience using the most appropriate and effective medium.

Stages


 * Listen—listen actively to decode the communication by separating the media from the message, concisely and clearly verbalizing and verifying its authenticity, and then critically analyze the medium for form, flow, and alignment with the intended audience and purpose.

From this Listening stage, media fluency branches off into the careful consideration of both the medium and the message, as follows:


 * 1) Message: All the distractions of the medium are removed, such as the images, sound effects, etc., and the viewer considers what is specifically being communicated. You must first be able verbalize that message in clear and concise terms, and think analytically and critically about what the message is trying to tell you. From there, the message is verified using skills that help the viewer analyze and authenticate information contained in the message, and by separating fact from opinion, and detecting any bias that may be present.


 * 1) Medium: Now that the message is understood, the medium—the method of delivery of the message—is then considered. There are three aspects to evaluating the medium. The first is form, which takes into account the design elements such as fonts used, colour schemes, lighting, consistency, unity, and so on. The next aspect is flow, and this considers how the message plays out. Is there a logical progression to the story, guiding your attention in the right direction in order to convey the message effectively, or is there a disjointedness and confusion in the delivery? Finally we consider the third aspect, alignment. This is about seeing the connection between medium, message, and audience, and whether or not that connection is effective.

From this stage, we again consider the medium and the message separately, but using different criteria. We are now looking at these two elements as the creator, as opposed to being the viewer:
 * Leverage—select and apply the most appropriate media for the message considering content, purpose, audience, individual abilities, and any predetermined criteria.


 * 1) Message: When deciding on what message you want to convey, there are two things you must be clear on. The first is your content—what exactly is it that you want to say to your audience, and what does that message content include? You must then consider what you want the outcome of delivering this message to be. What is your intention with the content? What we say is often less important than how it is said, so the outcome must be carefully considered.


 * 1) Medium: Once you have clarified what you want to say, the medium for delivering the message must be chosen next. In choosing the correct medium for your message, you consider three different things. The first thing you take into account is your intended audience. Your message may be intended for a specific group or age level or culture or gender, and it may also be intended for a wider demographic that encompasses all these things and more. The next thing you consider when choosing appropriate media are your own abilities. This means what media you're familiar with and are capable of using properly, and what skills you are willing and able to learn if choosing a medium you're not too familiar with. Finally, you must pinpoint specific criteria. For example, is there a deadline for delivery which may place time constraints on you? Or are there specific components—such as in creating a keynote or slideshow—that you must adhere to? Do you have a limited or unlimited budget to work with? These are examples of criteria you must consider.

Collaboration Fluency—Collaboration Fluency is team-working proficiency at its highest level. It is the ability to work cooperatively with virtual and real partners in both digital and non-digital environments to solve problems and create original products.

Stages


 * Establish—select and organize the collective group, and determine the best role each team member would be suited for.
 * Envision—as a group, examine the issue/challenge/goal together, and conceive the intended outcome.
 * Engineer—work together to synthesize a workable plan to achieve the desired goal.
 * Execute—put the plan into action and manage the process, with each team member remaining personally accountable for their contribution (this also means devising a method for ensuring other members are held accountable).
 * Examine—study and review the process and the end result for areas of constructive improvement.

Global Digital Citizenship—All the 21st Century Fluencies are learned within the context of the Global Digital Citizen using the guiding principles of leadership, ethics, altruistic service, environmental stewardship, global citizenship, digital citizenship, and personal responsibility. The global digital citizen respects and protects themselves, respects and protects others, and respects and protects intellectual property.

The Five Tenets of Global Digital Citizenship


 * Personal Responsibility—Personal responsibility is about shifting the responsibility for learning away from the teacher and more to the student. The aim of this approach is to develop a sense of responsibility and accountabilty for lifelong learning within the student. Fostering personal responsibility includes demonstrating how one governs oneself in matters of finance, ethical and moral boundaries, personal health and fitness, and relationships of every definition.


 * Global Citizenship—Global Citizenship involves recognizing and respecting how 21st-century technology and digital media have eliminated boundaries between citizens of the world by enabling communication, collaboration, dialogue, and debate across all levels of society. It encourages the people of this generation to realize that we are no longer isolated—that we are all global citizens. This leads us to become more aware of the issues, traditions, religions, and core values and cultures of our fellow citizens. Global citizenship also promotes tolerance and understanding, linked intimately with acceptance, sensitivity, and humility.


 * Digital Citizenship—Digital citizenship means engaging in appropriate and exemplary behavior in an online environment. While carefully-crafted acceptable use policies can be an appropriate solution, this tenet is meant to develop a change in mindset about what it means to be safe in a transparent digital world. The essence of Digital Citizenship is about a shifting of accountability for appropriate behavior to our students, which fosters independence and personal responsibility.


 * Altruistic Service—Altruistic Service focuses on a healthy concern for the well-being of the people with whom we share our world. The ideals behind altruism apply not only to the people we know but also to those we don’t. It includes embracing the opportunity to exercise charity and goodwill for the benefit of others. Altruistic Service provides an excellent opportunity to create relevance and meaningful connections to the real world for our students.


 * Environmental Stewardship—Environmental Stewardship is a demonstration not only of common-sense values, but also of an appreciation for the beauty and majesty that surrounds us every day. This facet of Digital Citizenship encourages exploring how we can manage our use of Earth's resources, taking responsibility and action on personal, local, regional, national, and international levels.

Applications in Workshops

Lee Crockett begins his workshops (called 21st Century Fluency Institutes) with an introduction to these fluencies and their specific processes. This gives workshop attendees a chance to deepen their understanding of how the processes work. Later on, participants learn how to incorporate these fluencies into a classroom setting by applying them in ways that make learning environments more dynamic and relevant to 21st-century teaching and learning. This is done by teaching participants how to develop learning scenarios and full unit plans for use in their classrooms. After the workshop, participants continue to develop unit plans through the Fluency21 Unit Planner, which includes hundreds of complete units. In this way, workshop participants can co-author, share, and source unit plans with a global community of educators of the same subject and grade levels.

Resources

The 21st Century Fluencies are covered in detail in the book Literacy is Not Enough—http://www.amazon.com/Literacy-Is-NOT-Enough-Fluencies/dp/1412987806/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1395070106&sr=8-1&keywords=literacy+is+not+enough Publication Date: October 28, 2011 ISBN-10: 1412987806 ISBN-13: 978-1412987806

Vimeo Channel of the Fluencies presented by Lee Crockett https://vimeo.com/album/2210034

Fluency21 Unit Planner http://app.fluency21.com