| | September - 20208IN MY OPINIONPreparing Today's Students for Tomorrow's WorldBy Rolfe Kolbe, Digital Learning Leader, Wenona According to the Foundation for Young Australians, the demand for digital skills, combined with creativity and critical thinking skills, has risen exponentially since 2012. So, as we teach and prepare our students for life beyond Wenona, we must equip them with the digital skills and competencies they will need to thrive in the complex world they will live and work in.As part of the Digital Learning team at Wenona, a leading girls' school in North Sydney, I'm at the coalface of new and emerging educational technologies. My aim is always to leverage the latest in technology in order to better support our staff and students to keep pace with change. Harnessing appropriate technologies to amplify our teaching is also a great way to motivate and engage our students, and deliver better teaching and learning experiences for all.Not so digital nativesThe current generation of young people are often referred to as `digital natives'. However, in my view, this term is misleading as it implies that our young people already understand how to use technology effectively. While many students are competent when it comes to using social media or playing games on devices, they require significant instruction, support and guidance to use technology in a way that enhances their learning. Looking ahead at the global job market, it is clear that people with advanced digital skills will be highly sought after. We need to be developing their ICT skills and competencies, within our curriculum to prepare our students for the workplace of the future. In doing so, we can also enhance, enrich and extend their learning, enabling them to better embrace creativity and innovation. Developing explicit skillsUtilising technology to build soft skills such as communication and collaboration, will prepare our students to flourish in an evolving job market. It is imperative therefore, that across the curriculum, we include the development of explicit technology skills rather than viewing them as an `add on' to teaching. Interdisciplinary learningIncreasingly at Wenona, we are utilising digital technology and skill development to enhance and enable interdisciplinary learning. Skills that may be developed in one subject often can be utilised and built upon in other subjects. Collaborating across the curriculum and being aware of skills they can leverage, allows students to develop richer more relevant content.A great example of this is perhaps in our approach to working with data and spreadsheets across a range of subjects, supporting them to analyse, interpret and present their findings in new and compelling ways. Taking an interdisciplinary approach allows staff to set more authentic tasks, which in turn, increases the depth of skill development and improves soft skills such as communication. Learning by creatingEmpowering students to create their own content helps them to achieve deeper learning. In order to create content, students usually need to demonstrate a higher level of understanding in a set topic in order to be able to explain it. Therefore, giving them opportunities to create their own content is a logical way to engage them, as well as building a greater sense of pride and responsibility in their work. As technologies continue to advance, content creation is evolving to enable multiple forms of input and output.
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