21st century learning

To begin with, the first thing that comes to my mind when I heard 21st century learning is the remarkable change in the teachers’ position. We learnt a lot of methods from the past which mostly puts the teacher in the center of learning. However, in this century we use mixed methods in planning regarding students needs, skills and various different factors. This led a huge difference in teacher position which can be metaphorically named as a guide. In our education at Marmara University our teachers emphasized on four main skills in this century which are critical thinking, communication, collaboration and creativity. We have created a lot of various lesson plans covering them. As a teacher candidate I believe that teacher guidance is one of the major parts in teaching. People believe that AI can replace teachers. However, in this century there have been different technological developments which affected ELT. Back then, also people believed that computers would replace teachers. Today we still have our faculties and people are still trying to be teachers. However, methods and teachers’ position have been changing. In this century teacher candidates should know how to create autonomous learners in the AI era. Moreover, we need to be aware culturally and digitally to become well rounded teachers for our students.