Educating the next generation of teachers: 21st century skills, research and ICT competencies through PBL

Abstract

Abstract Living in the 21st century demands from all citizens, but particularly from teachers, the development of specific skills to face the challenges of a society in which information and communication are the key to successful fulfillment of most work and life needs. According to the Partnership for 21st century skills (2011), these skills include learning and innovation skills (creativity and innovation, critical thinking and problem solving, and communication and collaboration), Information, Media and Technology skills and Life and Career skills (flexibility and adaptability, Initiative and Self- Direction, Social and Cross Cultural Skills, Productivity and Accountability, Leadership and Responsibility).At the same time, the improvement and modernization of educational practices in the English as foreign language (henceforth EFL) field require reflective teachers with strong research skills that enable them to observe and analyze their educational contexts in order to propose creative and viable alternatives to traditional methodologies. Project-based learning (hereafter PBL) provides an ideal framework to guide teachers in development towards the acquisition of the aforementioned abilities in an engaging and motivating way and gives them a first-hand experience on the usefulness of this methodology for enhancing language and research competencies as well as 21st century skills. Keywords: 21st century skills, PBL, ICT competencies, teaching foreign languages, research in the classroom. Resumen El siglo XXI exige de todos los ciudadanos, pero particularmente de los docentes, habilidades especificas con las que afrontar los desafios de una sociedad en la que la informacion y la comunicacion son la clave para el exito en la vida y el trabajo. Segun el Consorcio para las Habilidades del Siglo XXI esto implica desarrollar competencias de aprendizaje e innovacion, habilidades para el manejo de la informacion, los medios y la tecnologia, y habilidades para la vida y el trabajo. Al mismo tiempo, la mejora y la modernizacion de las practicas educativas en el campo de la ensenanza del ingles como lengua extrajera requiere docentes reflexivos, con fuertes competencias en investigacion que les permitan observar y analizar criticamente los contextos educativos y proponer alternativas viables y creativas a las metodologias de ensenanza tradicionales. El aprendizaje basado en proyectos (ABP) proporciona un marco adecuado para lograr que los docentes en formacion desarrollen las habilidades anteriormente mencionadas de forma motivadora y les proporciona una experiencia real sobre la utilidad de esta metodologia para incrementar las competencias linguisticas y de investigacion asi como las habilidades del siglo XXI. Palabras claves: Habilidades del siglo 21, ABP, ensenanza de una segunda lengua, competencias en TIC, investigacion en el aula. AbstractLiving in the 21st century demands from all citizens, but particularly from teachers, the development of specific skillsto face the challenges of a society in which information and communication are the key to successful fulfillment ofmost work and life needs. According to the Partnership for 21st century skills (2011), these skills include learning andinnovation skills (creativity and innovation, critical thinking and problem solving, and communication and collaboration),Information, Media and Technology skills and Life and Career skills (flexibility and adaptability, Initiative and Self-Direction, Social and Cross Cultural Skills, Productivity and Accountability, Leadership and Responsibility).At the sametime, the improvement and modernization of educational practices in the English as foreign language (henceforth EFL)field require reflective teachers with strong research skills that enable them to observe and analyze their educationalcontexts in order to propose creative and viable alternatives to traditional methodologies. Project-based learning (hereafterPBL) provides an ideal framework to guide teachers in development towards the acquisition of the aforementionedabilities in an engaging and motivating way and gives them a first-hand experience on the usefulness of this methodologyfor enhancing language and research competencies as well as 21st century skills.Keywords: 21st century skills, PBL, ICT competencies, teaching foreign languages, research in the classroom.ResumenEl siglo XXI exige de todos los ciudadanos, pero particularmente de los docentes, habilidades especificas con las queafrontar los desafios de una sociedad en la que la informacion y la comunicacion son la clave para el exito en la vida yel trabajo. Segun el Consorcio para las Habilidades del Siglo XXI esto implica desarrollar competencias de aprendizajee innovacion, habilidades para el manejo de la informacion, los medios y la tecnologia, y habilidades para la vida y eltrabajo. Al mismo tiempo, la mejora y la modernizacion de las practicas educativas en el campo de la ensenanza delingles como lengua extrajera requiere docentes reflexivos, con fuertes competencias en investigacion que les permitanobservar y analizar criticamente los contextos educativos y proponer alternativas viables y creativas a las metodologias deensenanza tradicionales. El aprendizaje basado en proyectos (ABP) proporciona un marco adecuado para lograr que losdocentes en formacion desarrollen las habilidades anteriormente mencionadas de forma motivadora y les proporciona unaexperiencia real sobre la utilidad de esta metodologia para incrementar las competencias linguisticas y de investigacionasi como las habilidades del siglo XXI.Palabras claves: Habilidades del siglo 21, ABP, ensenanza de una segunda lengua, competencias en TIC, investigacionen el aula.