Innovate and Collaborate: The 21st Century Classroom

The “21st Century classroom” is an idea that is gaining ground among teachers and administrators around the world. Gone are the days when a teacher would stand in front of thirty to forty students, and lecture for an hour at a time.  Now, the focus is on the students, on group-based and pod-based learning strategies, and having the students take a more active role in their learning. The “21st Century classroom” does not necessarily use more advanced technologies; it means that teachers integrate information in different ways, and challenge the students. It also looks at how to encourage students to explore and experiment with their new information and to connect with their peers. In essense, the “21st Century classroom” is an area where students can engage in self-directed learning with their peers, either face-to-face or via groupware, and receive guidelines and feedback from their instructor.

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Groupware is a part of the “21st Century classroom”, and is one of the many ways to communicate with other people using highly advanced, yet simple, technologies. Groupware, like Flickr or a SMART Table, is a software or hardware tool that facilitates communication between its members. Groupware designed for schools allows all of the students, their parents, and the one or two teachers to meet, share and review their work. Groupware for students’ allows students to create, review share and publish their information. The teacher’s groupware will allow for the collecting of all student work for marking, and then releasing it back to the community of students and their parents. From there, the students can share their work with one another, and the parents can review the students’ work, and facilitate communication with the teacher, if necessary. Groupware is an exciting prospect for the “21st Century classroom”, and will continue to offer better and more simplistic means for communication, innovation and collaboration.