Oracle Education Foundation
Oracle Education Foundation| Think.com and ThinkQuest | Rationale and links
Transforming
teaching and learning
Education is the preparation for work and life and education must transform to meet new 21st Century demands. We need Schools of the Future today, as students starting school today must be prepared for an even more dramatically different future world 20 years from now.
There is a growing worldwide consensus as to the key skills needed for success in 21st Century work and life. The summary list can be called the “7Cs”:
- Critical thinking and problem-solving
- Creativity and innovation
- Collaboration, teamwork and leadership
- Cross-cultural understanding
- Communications and media fluency
- Computing and ICT fluency
- Career and learning self-reliance
Combining the effective use of technology, a collaborative project approach to learning, an emphasis on innovation and creativity, and teachers committed to learning in this 21st Century approach, are what is needed now.
The Oracle Education Foundation (OEF)
The Oracle Education Foundation is an independent, philanthropic organization funded by Oracle Corporation and as part of its mission; the Foundation provides ThinkQuest and Think.com as free services to the global primary and secondary school community. These programs are designed to connect students around the world and engage them in collaborative, project-based learning using technology. The programs enable teachers to easily integrate project learning into their curriculum, and students to develop critical skills for life and work. In a world where cross-cultural understanding is more important than ever, these programmes facilitate learning that spans borders, both real and imagined. OEF programs support nearly 300,000 students and teachers from 73 countries.
The OEF has also recently launched a teacher professional development programme called the 21st Century Learning Institute to assist teachers in adopting a project based learning approach integrating technology.
Think.com and ThinkQuest
A protected online environment for schools worldwide, providing a suite of tools for email, website publishing, research, discussion, and project collaboration. It's 100% free and contains no advertising. More...
An international competition in which students and teachers are challenged to create the best educational websites. These sites are hosted in the ThinkQuest Library, a rich resource used by millions worldwide. Winners receive a trip to ThinkQuest Live and other valuable prizes. More...
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