Educator provides evidence

of their understanding of communication and outlines and provides evidence of a lesson that uses technology to support students’ use of communication in learning.

Method Components

What are the 4Cs?

The 4Cs for 21st century learning are Creativity, Critical Thinking, Communication, and Collaboration. They are part of the framework for 21st Century Learning and are designed to support student learning in today’s world and are skills they can use in college and career.

What is communication (and what isn’t it)?

The P21 framework emphasizes effective use of oral, written, and nonverbal communication skills for multiple purposes (e.g., to inform, instruct, motivate, persuade, and share ideas). It also focuses on effective listening, using technology to communicate, and being able to evaluate the effectiveness of communication efforts—all within diverse contexts (adapted from P21). Note that working in partners is a great way to collaborate or build shared understanding but a critical part of communication is sharing with an authentic audience.

Example strategies that use technology to support communication in the classroom:

• Host a TED-style conference or showcases for your students to present original ideas on a topic of interest to them to an authentic, external audience. Record and post the videos to a youtube stream.
• Provide opportunities to listen and ask questions through back channel tools like Today’s Meet or even Twitter.
• Have your students publish their work through blogs, by creating websites, and by building other online resources that are shared with authentic audiences.
• For other ideas see the resources below.