Session notes:

"Within the information age, using the Internet to find information is not enough. You have to think about what you find."

This quote from Edward de Bono was the opening mark of our 27th session in which we had the wonderful opportunity to have Dr. Fatma Tanrıverdi-Köksal as our lovely guest and looked deeper into 21st Century Skills as well as how to become change agents as teachers. As educators, we should ensure that students, rather than just passively consuming what is out there, can question, analyse and use their critical thinking skills on the received output.

Tanrıverdi-Köksal expressed her concerns regarding AI with a thought bubble she provided. She mentioned, "Have you ever found yourself frustrated when you ask a question to your students about something, and they return with 'I have no idea,' and you ask yourself 'Why?' Nowadays, it is a little bit challenging for our students to develop critical thinking skills now that everything is ready for them due to AI." She also highlighted that although the positive impact of AI is frequently talked about, several recent studies also show that AI also has an effect on the development of critical thinking skills.

"Sometimes it is difficult to keep up with the updates because of the curriculum plans. This is why we need to align ourselves; this is a must, no matter the institution's policies. To begin, I always question myself regarding what I teach and why I teach it. Do I need to spare precious class time for this or not? This brings us to the construct of transformative change agent identity. The key thought-provoking quote here is, 'Do we need to teach the curriculum all the time, or do we teach the students?' There is a big difference here."

When AI is asked about the teacher's role, Tanrıverdi-Köksal shared that the answer provided included keywords such as lifelong learning, growth, role models, and change. For the case of English teachers' role, some keywords were language proficiency, critical thinking, communication skills, creativity, and self-expression, further demonstrating Tanrıverdi-Köksal's emphasis on the multilayered mission of English teachers. "It is obvious that our only responsibility is not language proficiency. We have other things on our plate as well. That is why we should ensure that we are preparing our students with a holistic approach."

According to Tanrıverdi-Köksal, in this age of information, where information comprehension is becoming more significant than access to it, as well as a teacher's mission, is considered, human agency is also another concept to mention. She touched upon the three forms of agency: personal, proxy, and collective agency. If we were to place the efforts of someone in the personal agency, proxy agencies would be having a supervisor who provides different types of support. Tanrıverdi-Köksal explains that AI can also be considered a great proxy agency role. However, we should be cautious as research suggests that too much dependence on proxy agencies may hinder people's skills development. Finally, collective agency would be represented via the power of teamwork and collaboration.

Imagine a scenario where we are in the year 2035, where your students are now professionals, actively working in different fields; what kind of skills would they need to thrive? As Tanrıverdi-Köksal stated, the way we teach today will shape the type of thinkers, problem-solvers, and innovators they become. However, especially based on the regular calls from the job market over the past couple of years, the required skills do not match the graduate's available skills. "A clear mismatch regarding skill acquisition and development," as she mentions.

According to a recent report from 2023 by the World Government Summit, cognitive, digital, and interpersonal skills, as well as self-leadership, are determined to be the most important skills to have. Similarly, as the World Economic Forum reveals, skills such as analytical and creative thinking, lifelong learning, creativity, and technological literacy are placed quite high as the core skills needed. "While these skills are what students need to learn before graduation, what we provide in schools is way more theory and even exam-based. Unlike those, skills such as creative thinking cannot be learned in a day, a week, or a month. They need to be practised again and again. Then, the question becomes this: As teachers, do we provide students with enough opportunities to practice these skills?"

As Tanrıverdi-Köksal explained, to be able to implement 21st Century Skills, a well-structured concept to utilise would be Bloom's Taxonomy. When we take a look at the list of skills, they are grouped under three different categories: learning (critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, and communication; also known as the 4Cs), literacy (information, media and technology), and life (flexibility, leadership, initiative, productivity, and social) skills. "We always talk about Bloom's Taxonomy as a pyramid, but actually, it is not really like a pyramid. It does not mean that you need a lot of remembering and very little creativity. In the lower-order thinking levels, where the required cognitive processing is low, especially novice teachers may think that utilising these levels often in classroom activities would create a more frequent sense of achievement. However, Tanrıverdi-Köksal asks, are you really helping your students to think this way?

To begin with, learning skills are concerned with analysing and evaluating aspects. To give an example from Tanrıverdi-Köksal, students can analyse biases in particular texts, or they can compare different perspectives from the same event displayed in the media. Several tools, such as NotebookLM, can also be utilised, as Tanrıverdi-Köksal mentioned. Continuing with the second, which is literacy skills, she highlights how the foundational use of technological tools such as Dropbox or Google Drive for storing important files or even how to write a proper email might be lacking for some students. Being able to detect bias, fact-check, assess credibility, and verify can all be given as example activities for improving these skills. Last but not least, life skills are the most challenging ones to acquire, according to Tanrıverdi-Köksal, based on their requirement to practice. Even as teachers, we might choose the comfort of our own bubble instead of challenging it. Nevertheless, we should encourage our students to focus on their time management, flexibility, and productivity through various tasks such as collaborative writing tasks.

"Do not think that this is not your job or this is not English language teaching. Actually, nobody is taking the necessary responsibility to improve these skills, and I think English classes are the perfect opportunities to practice these skills."

To summarise, we would love to share a real-life scenario that has taken place between ChatGPT and Tanrıverdi-Köksal as a concluding remark, which showcases the importance of thinking critically instead of just receiving information. While creating an image via ChatGPT about Maslow and Bloom, Tanrıverdi-Köksal noticed the usage of differently coloured lotus flowers. Thinking that they might mean more than just a visual, she did some research, only to find out that they actually do represent significant aspects of Bloom and Maslow's concepts. Although this is just an example, we should keep in mind that in today's information age, it is going to be us, teachers, to prepare the future generations so that they can evaluate instead of observe, question instead of blindly accept, and change instead of settle. "When it comes to AI," as Tanrıverdi-Köksal puts it, "the sky is the limit."