21st Century Skills Roadshow
February 13 2014, from 13.00 – 17.00, at United Arab Emirates University (UAEU), Al Ain
The Roadshow concept represents a partnership between the British University in Dubai (BUiD), in
conjunction with the Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT), the United Arab Emirates University
(UAEU) and Zayed University (ZU). This series of seminars aims to provide a platform to
examine 21st century skills focused on critical thinking and problem solving, creativity and
innovation, collaboration, teamwork and leadership, cross-cultural understanding,
communications, information and media literacy, computing and ICT literacy, Career and
self-reliant learning.
There will be four 21st Century Skills Roadshows in the UAE during the 2013/2014 academic year
which will be held in Dubai, Al Ain, Abu Dhabi and Furjairah: This second Roadshow will be held at
the UAE University in Al Ain. A finger food lunch will be served from 13.00, and refreshments will
be available throughout. Each Roadshow will finish with a panel discussion where participants can
put questions to the presenters, and attendance certificates will be provided for those who register in
advance.
13.00–
13.30
13.30 –
13.35
13.35 14.30
Room
14.30 –
15.30
15.30 16.30
16.30 –
17.00
Auditorium
Building E1
(Male Side IT ) G020
Building E1
(Male Side IT ) G020
Opening Address
Chris Morrow - The Impact of
English-Medium Instruction on
Developing 21st Century Skills
H4 1068
E1 1036
Sean Dowling
(HCT)
E1 1038
Innovating
Pedagogies to
enhance 21st
century skills
21st Century Skills: a
graduate identity
perspective
Debra McDermott John McKenny
(Zayed University) (BUiD)
To what extent can
psychometric
tests measure
the learning styles and
study and work aptitudes
of participants? (Max
22)
Clifton Chadwick (BUiD) G020 Auditorium
A Conceptual Model for Teaching Critical Thinking
G020 Male Side - IT Building
Christopher Morrow, John McKenny, Clifton Chadwick, Debra
McDermott & Sean Dowling
Registration and
light lunch
Official welcome
INTRODUCTION
AND PLENARY 1
E 1027
Michael Pazinas &
Ann Akin (UAEU)
Workshop:
Evaluating the
Collaborative
Classroom
PLENARY 2
PANEL
DISCUSSION
The link to the Research Roadshow website can be found at www.buid.ac.ae . To attend,
please register at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/inter-institutional-research-roadshowtickets-8949176227 - Attendance is free, but early registration is recommended.
1
Dr Christopher Morrow
United Arab Emirates University (Plenary)
The Impact of English-Medium Instruction on Developing 21st Century Skills
The movement to foster 21st Century skills in education challenges teachers in new ways to
go beyond content mastery and prepare students for the demands of the modern
workplace. Some of the 21st Century skills (e.g., communication) correspond closely to the
emphases of traditional education while others (e.g., media literacy) require teachers to find
appropriate bridges to the “real world” so that students can apply their learning in relevant
ways. Many teachers in the UAE are already being challenged to adopt more integrated
approaches in their instruction because of the prevalence of English-medium instruction
(EMI). The demands of EMI in the UAE are formidable when students with low English
skills are placed in content courses that have high linguistic and cognitive
demands. Immersing students through EMI methods is problematic in several ways but it can
prompt teachers to approach their courses in a more holistic sense that reflects some of the
underlying principles of 21st Century skill development. This presentation will explore some
recent methodologies can concepts in curriculum planning, assessment and instruction that
are amenable to integration with 21st Century education trends. Some possible policies for
avoiding the unrealistic demands of curriculum overload will also be considered.
Dr. Christopher Morrow has been an Assistant Professor of English Language Education in
the College of Education at UAE University since 2008. His current research project
involves teaching science in English to fourth graders in the UAE. His website is
iteach.co.nr, and his email is [email protected].
Sean Dowling, Higher College of Technology, Sharjah
Innovating Pedagogies to Enhance 21st Century Skills
Most computer-based learning being delivered at institutions of higher education is still based
on models developed in the 1990s, when the enterprise-level learning management systems
(LMS) such, as BlackBoard and WebCT, became ubiquitous in higher education in Europe
and North America. In a typical LMS-based course, educators upload materials to online
courses, run tests and collect assignments, and occasionally allowed students to take part in
online discussions.
However, there is now a growing demand from both industry and government for educational
institutions to better prepare our students for the 21st workplace. Students and parents are also
expecting more use of technology as part of the teaching and learning process. To satisfy
these demands, educators have started to question traditional computer-based learning and
have started to use newer technologies, such as web-based tools and mobile devices. But
simply using these tools and devices is not enough. New pedagogical models and pedagogies
2
must be developed that use new technologies to engage students at a deeper level and provide
them with more social/collaborative learning opportunities. These need models and
pedagogies need to be incorporated into curricula to achieve this.
In this session, the presenter will outline some of these models and pedagogies and give
examples of how they have been incorporated in some of his learning materials.
Sean Dowling is the eLearning and Educational Technology Coordinator at the Sharjah
Higher Colleges of Technology in the United Arab Emirates. Over the last few years, he has
published widely in both EFL and educational technology journals. Currently, his areas of
interest are web-based learning, lifelong learning and open eLearning management systems.
To find out more about Sean and his work, please see his blog at http://web4learning.net/.
Debra McDermott (Zayed University)
21st Century Skills: a graduate identity perspective
Are the 21st Century Skills that students need the same as those needed by graduate employees? Do
professors conceptualise and interpret 21st Century skills in the same way as employers do? This
session explores the notion of 21st Century Skills from an employability and graduate identity
perspective drawing on Holmes’ (2001,2013) practice-identity and claim-affirmation models of
graduate employability. It is suggested that in order to improve the employability of our graduates,
instead of talking about 21st Century ‘Skills’ we should be thinking about 21st Century ‘Ways of
Behaving’. The aim of the session is to promote discussion and raise questions about these important
issues.
Debra McDermott has more than twenty years’ experience in higher education and corporate
training in the UK, South America and the Middle East. She is currently supervisor of the male
Academic Bridge Program at Zayed University in Abu Dhabi. Her research interests include learner
motivation, youth transitions and employability.
Dr John McKenny
(BUiD) Workshop – Laptops/tablets required
To what extent can psychometric tests measure the learning styles, study and work
aptitudes of participants?
Participants of the workshop will be offered the opportunity to take a fifteen-minute online
psychometric test with instant feedback.
The test will measure participants’ aptitude for work and study. The test also measures
participants’ interests and affinities and the feedback generated immediately on their
laptop/tablet screens will provide a participant report outlining their strengths and weaknesses
in relation to work and study. This Participant Report will be the basis of a discussion of the
credibility, validity and reliability of such tests. Later participants will receive by email a
more in-depth Shapes Measurement of Competencies Report.
3
I’d like to finish with a discussion on ‘Language tests of the future’. It might be conjectured
that in English language proficiency examinations like IELTS and TOEFL and high-stakes
university achievement exams the human examiner may soon be superseded thanks to
breakthroughs in AI and computational linguistics, particularly in automated speech
recognition and production and automated text analysis.
John McKenny is an assistant professor with the Faculty of Education at the British
University in Dubai. He previously worked for twelve years as Associate Professor at Viseu
Polytechnic Institute (Portugal), as Senior Lecturer at Northumbria University for 5 years
and at the University of Nottingham Ningbo China (six years). His Ph.D. thesis at Leeds
University was entitled A corpus-based investigation of the phraseology in various genres of
written English with applications to the teaching of English for academic purposes. He coedited with Tometro Hopkins a volume entitled World Englishes: Englishes of the British
Isles, published this year by Bloomsbury. This book is the first of a 15-volume series on
World Englishes. His main research interests are corpus linguistics, construction grammar,
the teaching of writing, TESOL methodology and teacher education.
Ann Akin & Michael Pazinas UAE University (Workshop)
Evaluating the Collaborative Classroom
This hands-on workshop will examine the notion of collaborative learning in the 21st Century
classroom. Participants will be using 21st Century Learning design rubric to evaluate
classroom activities and tasks to determine how collaborative our classrooms are.
Ann Riddell Akin is the Professional Development Coordinator in the UAE University
Foundation Program. She has been involved in teaching, teacher training and educational
management for over 20 years.
Michael Pazinas is the Curriculum and Assessment Coordinator at the UAE University
Foundation Program. His main areas of interest are graphic and instructional design and
integrating technology with best practices in teaching. He has consulted on and written ematerial for Cambridge University Press and is an advocate of a context based approach to
challenge-based learning.
Clifton Chadwick
(BUiD)
A Conceptual Model for Teaching Critical Thinking (Plenary)
There is evidence, both from research and considerable anecdotal evidence that teachers in
public schools in the MENA region and India do not effectively teach children how to think
critically, how to ask questions, how to search for answers on their own rather than to simply
memorize what they are told or what is in their textbook. The use of rote memorization is
predominant in this region, yet the development of world class schools for the knowledge
economy requires that students be able to use reasoning to think critically.
4
Critical thinking, viewed as rational and analytic thinking is crucial for participation in a
knowledge economy and society. This presentation suggests a conceptual model for teaching
thinking based on six components,






structured content,
cognitive learning strategies,
metacognition
affective learning variables including motivation, attribution of control, self-image
dispositions, and
problem-solving skills.
The presentation further examines research on the historical role of teachers in the
development of critical thinking, and, outlines the roles of students, parents and teachers in
the improvement of thinking, including what should be done by each and which are the main
impediments to successful development.
Keywords: Critical Thinking, Cognitive Strategies, Metacognition, Problem-Solving Skills
Dr. Chadwick has advised Ministries and Ministers of Education throughout the world with
particular reference to educational reform issues. He has developed education and health
projects for World Bank, USAID and private foundations (including preparation of several
successful proposals), through the OAS and UNDP and other organizations. He is an
energetic, well-known Educational Psychologist involved in a wide range of educational
issues, in North, Central and South America, Africa, Middle East and Asia.
An early innovator in distance education, he developed and implemented the largest distance
teacher training project ever done in South America with over thirty-two thousand
participants.
He has researched and developed innovative methods for teaching reading of English to
Spanish-speaking primary school children, and developed innovative and creative textbook
and page-layout concepts to improve learning and increase metacognition as well as criteria
for evaluating and choosing textbooks.
Dr. Chadwick has extensive experience in curriculum, evaluation of learning, project
evaluation, textbooks and educational materials and instructional design, educational
technology, teacher training and evaluation and has been a decisive leader in South America
in the development of the concepts of cognitive strategies, metacognition and affective
variables in learning. Dr. Chadwick has performed wide-ranging work in teacher training
including much graduate-level University teaching investigating new methods to improve
teaching.
5