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21st Century Skills refer to a collection of skills that are required for success in the 21st century economy. Broadly 21st Century Skills include: Life & Career Skills, Learning & Innovation Skills, and Information, Media, & Technology Skills.

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21st century skills are necessary for new generations entering a workforce with demands that have changed rapidly. As technology and communication have evolved, the skills required to make students college and career-ready have also changed.

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Critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity encompass the Learning & Innovation section of 21st century skills. The 4 C's should prepare students for a workplace that is increasing complex in our current information age. They encourage students to innovate in the face of challenges and focus on the process as much as the end result.

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ISTE*S.7 - Global Collaborator

ISTE*S.7.D Students use collaborative technologies to work with others, including peers, experts or community members, to examine issues and problems from multiple viewpoints.

Students will work within groups to investigate a topic of interest effecting their community. The community could be large, like the University of Memphis student population, or smaller, such as a single community. Students will conduct research with peers and community members who hold different viewpoints on the issue to formulate possible solutions.

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21st century workers need to not only know how to use a variety of technology but also think critically about them and use them creatively. Technology has expanded students access to information and media, requiring literacy skills to accurately interpret and evaluate sources.

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ISTE*S.3 Knowledge Constructor

ISTE*S.3.A Students plan and employ effective research strategies to locate information and other resources for their intellectual or creative pursuits.

Within groups students are assigned different types of resources or search strategies to use for their research topics. Resources and strategies might include JSTOR, digital repository, newspaper, .gov website, open Google search. Each group will report to the class on the merits and/or weaknesses of each source and how it could be responsibly use in researching their topic.

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21st century skills were created in part from an acknowledgment that students are entering a workforce that requires more than skills and domain knowledge for success. Adaptability in ambiguous situation, flexibility with changing priorities, self direction, time management, and accountability are "soft skills" that must be developed through experience.

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ACRL Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education: Scholarship as Conversation

Communities of scholars, researchers, or professionals engage in sustained discourse with new insights and discoveries occurring over time as a result of varied perspectives and interpretations.

The typical student experience of turning in an assignment, receiving a grade, and moving on is not indicative of the workplace experience where work is iterative and builds upon itself. Accepting criticism professionally and incorporating feedback is an important skill for 21st century learners. In the classroom students  can practice providing and accepting feedback on a project throughout the semester. Quality of engagement with their peers will be assessed as with the same weight as the end product. By incorporating peer feedback students will learn about professionalism, and that work doesn't happen in vacuum and often doesn't have an end date.

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Piirto, Jane. Creativity for 21st century skills: How to embed creativity into the curriculum. http://ezproxy.memphis.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=cat06917a&AN=uml.b2405217&site=eds-live&scope=site
Kim, S., Raza, M., & Seidman, E. (2019). Improving 21st-Century Teaching Skills: The Key to Effective 21st-Century Learners. Research in Comparative and International Education, 14(1), 99–117. http://ezproxy.memphis.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eric&AN=EJ1209658&site=eds-live&scope=site

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Check out this video which illustrates visible thinking in the classroom through activities that promote a culture of thinking!
https://sk-sagepub-com.ezproxy.memphis.edu/video/visible-thinking-in-the-classroom

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American Library Association. (2016). Framework for Information Literacy for

Higher Education. Retrieved June 15, 2019 from: http://www.ala.org/acrl/standards/ilframework

Battelle for Kids. (2019). “Frameworks & Resources.” Battelle For Kids. Retrieved from: http://www.battelleforkids.org/networks/p21/frameworks-resources

Hagler, G. M. (2018). 21st Century Skills. Salem Press Encyclopedia. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ers&AN=100039063&site=eds-live&scope=site
ISTE. (2016). ISTE Standards for Students. Retrieved from

https://www.iste.org/standards/standards/for-students

Kim, S., Raza, M., & Seidman, E. (2019). Improving 21st-Century Teaching Skills: The Key to Effective 21st-Century Learners. Research in Comparative and International Education, 14(1), 99–117. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eric&AN=EJ1209658&site=eds-live&scope=site
Maguire, M. (Academic). (2015). Visible thinking in the classroom [Streaming video]. Retrieved from https://sk.sagepub.com/video/visible-thinking-in-the-classroom
Piirto, J. (2011). Creativity for 21st century skills. [electronic resource] : how to embed creativity into the curriculum. SensePublishers. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=cat06917a&AN=uml.b2405217&site=eds-live&scope=site