HMSS114 – Trends, Networks, and Critical Thinking

In The 21st Century

21ST CENTURY SKILLS

3Rs
Reading
Writing
Arithmetic

21st Century Skills Are 12 Abilities That Today’s Students Need to Succeed in Their Careers during
the Information Age.

21st CENTURY SKILLS: How today’s Students can stay competitive in a changing job market

These skills are intended to help students keep up with the lightning-pace of today’s modern
markets.

Each skill is unique in how it helps students, but they all have one quality in common: THEY ARE
ALL ESSENTIAL IN THE AGE OF THE INTERNET.

Three Categories:
4C - teaches students about the mental processes required to adapt and improve upon a
modern work environment.

IMT - focuses on how students can discern facts, publishing outlets, and the technology behind
them. There’s a strong focus on determining trustworthy sources and factual information to
separate it from the misinformation that floods the Internet.

FLIPS - take a look at intangible elements of a student’s everyday life. These intangibles focus on
both personal and professional qualities.

CRITICAL THINKING
> Finding solutions to problems
> It’s the mechanism that weeds out problems and replaces them with fruitful endeavors.
> It’s what helps students figure stuff out for themselves when they don’t have a teacher at their
disposal.

CREATIVITY
> Thinking outside the box
> This skill empowers students to see concepts in a different light, which leads to innovation.
> requires someone to understand that “the way things have always been done” may have
been best 10 years ago — but someday, that has to change.

COLLABORATION
> Working with others
> means getting students to work together, achieve compromises, and get the best possible
results from solving a problem.
> The key element is willingness. All participants have to be willing to sacrifice parts of their own
ideas and adopt others to get results for the company.

COMMUNICATION
> Talking to others
> It’s crucial for students to learn how to effectively convey ideas among different personality
types.
> That has the potential to eliminate confusion in a workplace, which makes your students
valuable parts of their teams, departments, and companies.
> When employees communicate poorly, whole projects fall apart. No one can clearly see the
objectives they want to achieve. No one can take responsibility because nobody’s claimed it.

INFORMATION LITERACY
> Understanding facts, figures, statistics, and data
> More importantly, it teaches them how to separate fact from fiction.
> In an age of chronic misinformation, finding truth online has become a job all on its own. It’s
crucial that students can identify honesty on their own.

MEDIA LITERACY
> Understanding the methods and outlets in which information is published
> the practice of identifying publishing methods, outlets, and sources while distinguishing
between the ones that are credible and the ones that aren’t.
> This is how students find trustworthy sources of information in their lives. Without it, anything that
looks credible becomes credible.

TECHNOLOGY LITERACY
> Understanding the machines that make the Information Age possible
> gives students the basic information they need to understand what gadgets perform what
tasks and why.
> This understanding removes the intimidating feeling that technology tends to have. After all, if
you don’t understand how technology works, it might as well be magic.

FLEXIBILITY
> Deviating from plans as needed
> someone’s ability to adapt to changing circumstances.
> This is one of the most challenging qualities to learn for students because it’s based on two
uncomfortable ideas:
* Your way isn’t always the best way
* You have to know and admit when you’re wrong
> Flexibility requires them to show humility and accept that they’ll always have a lot to learn —
even when they’re experienced.

LEADERSHIP
> Motivating a team to accomplish a goal
> is someone’s penchant for setting goals, walking a team through the steps required, and
achieving those goals collaboratively.

INITIATIVE
> Starting projects, strategies, and plans on one’s own
> This is one of the hardest skills to learn and practice. Initiative often means working on projects
outside of regular working hours.
> Regardless, initiative is an attribute that earns rewards. It’s especially indicative of
someone’s character in terms of work ethic and professional progress.

PRODUCTIVITY
> Maintaining efficiency in an age of distractions
> The common goal of any professional — from entry-level employee to CEO — is to get more
done in less time.
> By understanding productivity strategies at every level, students discover the ways in which
they work best while gaining an appreciation for how others work as well.

SOCIAL SKILLS
> Meeting and networking with others for mutual benefit
> proper social skills are excellent tools for forging long-lasting relationships. Etiquette, manners,
politeness, and small talk still play major roles in today’s world.
> Connections

NETWORKS AND LINKAGES

Network is comprised of at least two entities that are interrelated or interconnected with one
another.

Linkage is that which connects these entities together within a network.

Is NETWORK the same as GROUP?

One characteristic of networks is that it enables flow – flow of information, flow of resources, and
flow of exchange.
Thus networks serve as links connecting nodes (points) to each other.

The TIES explain that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. And the specific pattern of the
ties is crucial to understanding how networks function.

Unconnected Group - There are NO ties.

Bucket Brigade - Every person is connected to two other people by a mutual tie

Telephone Tree - Everyone is connected to three other people, with one inbound tie and two
outbound tie. There are no mutual ties; the flow of information is directional and so are the ties
between people.

Military Squad - Each member of each squad knows every other member of the squad very well.
The ties within the squads are much tighter than the ties between the squads.
A network community can be defined as a group of people who are much more connected
people found in other parts of network.

The communities are defined by structural connections, not necessarily by any particular share
traits.

NEURAL NETWORK

The biological neural network is the nervous system.

Central and Peripheral nervous system

This system generally consists of the brain, the neuron, and the receptor cells.

The brain is the control room. It is linked to the rest of the body by a peripheral nervous system
comprised of multitudes of nerves that run through the spinal cord.

The neurons are networks within the brain that control the relay of information from input to
output.

The parts of a neuron include the dendrites, the soma, the axon, and the axon terminal.

The dendrites are responsible for collecting information that it receives from different parts of the
body through a special connection called the synapse.
The collected information is then transferred to the soma, which stores these stimuli until it
reaches a "tipping point" where it would then send signals as outputs to other connecting
neurons in the form of an electric pulse.

The axon serves as the connection through which these electric pulses are transferred to other
neurons.

Receptor cells or sensory cells are specialized cells that receive stimuli that are very particular to
each receptor cell.

SOCIAL NETWORKS

Social Network are networks that extend outside the self, yet totally involve the person as
opposed to the impersonality of social media networks.

Human beings are wired to be social.

Our ability to manage social relations to enhance our chances of survival makes us different
from other species.

Human social networks are basically used as a leverage for survival.

The establishment of social networks is deeply rooted in our struggle for existence, which has
proven to be an effective survival tool for the past 2000 years.
Social networks is categorized into three:
family
peers
contacts

The family is the first sphere. Our family is the one that ensures survival after we were born up to
this point in our lives. This is where we first experience how social relationships are beneficial and
necessary for our survival.

Peers are the second shell. These offer us help that cannot be readily provided by our families.

The outermost sphere is contacts. Our contacts provide those things that neither families nor our
peers can provide. (Doctors, Lawyers, Teachers, Mailman, LPG Provider, Water Station Provider)

STRATEGIC ANALYSIS
> The individual’s capacity for thinking conceptually, imaginatively, systematically, and
opportunistically with regard to the attainment of success in the future.
* Strategic Analysis is a logical, procedural, and systematized way of looking at parts of the
whole in order to come up with plans of action for the future.

INTUITIVE THINKING
> is “quick and ready insight”. Intuitive decision making is far more than using common sense
because it involves additional sensors to perceive and get aware of the information from
outside. Sometimes it is referred to as gut feeling, sixth sense, inner sense, instinct, inner voice,
spiritual guide, etc.

* Intuitive Thinking is an immediate apprehension of truth that is based on familiarity and

The formation of organizations or networks are the result of strategic analysis and intuitive
thinking.

Networks are characterized by a cooperative relationship wherein the members help each
other to survive.