21st Century Thinking Skills that Promote College and Career Readiness (Grades K-12)

Do the phrases college and career ready and 21st century skills keep popping up on your radar? Are you wondering exactly what they mean and what you can do as a teacher to help your students become better thinkers and learners? This online course is designed for K-12 teachers who are looking to explore strategies for incorporating students’ higher-order thinking skills into their classroom practices. In doing so, students become critical and creative thinkers and communicators who are able to work collaboratively while embracing others’ diverse cultural perspectives in a global community of 21st century learners. This course begins by discussing how the age of acceleration has shifted how students are taught so that their very important social-emotional skills are embraced, skills which are essential to college and career readiness in the 21st century. Teachers will learn how to create a culturally relevant and globally accessible classroom environment that embraces the “6Cs of education.” Teachers will take a deep dive into these six components of 21st century learning (critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, communication, culture, and civic and global readiness).

ADDITIONAL NOTES: 

PDI courses receive letter grades. You can register and begin the course at any time and have until the end of Ashland University’s academic year to complete it. This course is web-based so you can access it from any computer with internet access. It is also self-paced, so you can work entirely at your own pace, when it is convenient for you. There are no specific times you must be online and no individual deadline dates for assignments. They can be submitted any time, so long as everything has been submitted by the end of the academic term.

HOW TO ACCESS YOUR COURSE MATERIALS: 

Within 1-2 business days of your Ashland registration, you will receive an email from your course content provider, Professional Development Institute, containing instructions on how to access your course materials. A note, their emails are sometimes forwarded to junk or spam folders. 

You will be working with PDI through their Learning Management System, to complete the course, after which, your instructor will record your grade on your AU transcript. We will notify you by email once this is done, with instructions on how to view and order transcripts. 

Ashland Professional Development: pds@ashland.edu