In addition, they should have critical thinking and discernment. They need to be able to safeguard their core values even as they explore and embrace a new world opening up ahead of them.

Cameen:

They should be able to defend their "positions" in writing assignments that requires some debating skills. The latter can be developed by engaging them in such academic debates as shown in the following conference paper that was presented at last years Scholarship of Teaching and Learning conference in South Bend, Indiana, U.S.

many thanks,

Debra

Conference Paper Debating: A Dynamic Teaching Strategy for Motivating Student...

I think a core skill they should have or develop is curiosity.  Learning goes down so much better if the student is willing to really find out new things.   I don't know how to teach curiosity, but believe it is possible to infect a student with it.

In addition, they should have critical thinking and discernment. They need to be able to safeguard their core values even as they explore and embrace a new world opening up ahead of them.

Dear Dr. Ferdinand, Dr. O'kennon, and Dr.Uchem,

Thank you very much for kindly sharing your opinion about the issue. Also thank you, Dr. Ferdinand, for the paper; it's very interesting. 

Sincerely,

Cameen

The list is as good as any list but I supposed I wonder where some basic skills are listed. 

Writing, mathematics, statistics, and programming form the constellation of literacies to improve one's chances for success in the next 50 years. It seems like they could be listed as well. 

Be aware that resources need to be checked and that the ability to defend one's position should include a link to those sources.

Critical thinking. They will be swamped by information and need to be able to not oinly weed out the trash from the reliable, but also balance the opposing views and quality of sources.

Creativity and imagination. The leap from the known to the possible but yet unknown. Seeing the link between disparate data that leads one down  a new path of discovery.

Dear Cameen,

Thanks for the interesting question and the list of critical skills. I appreciated the additional skills from my colleagues. 

I particularly resonated with the skills of critical thinking, discernment, curiosity, creativity and imagination mentioned by R. N., Martha, and Mark. I think colleges should help the students to develop them (Brookfield, 1987; Svinicki & McKeachie, 2014).

In addition, I hope the college graduates have learned how to learn in their respective academic/professional discipline and from life; they have also learned some "soft skills" including people skills, grit, teamwork, professional, and planning and organizational skills, etc.

Creativity and ability to integrate in work-life balance.

I have developed a taxonomy of future skills. Here are a couple papers describing it.

Article A Taxonomy of Future Higher Thinking Skills

Article Melioration as a higher thinking skill of future intelligence

I think a critical attitude, based on knowledge, skills and abilities properly trained, must allow a new college graduate wondering what is the real purpose of the article by Jeffrey J. Selingo in the Washington Post ?, What pursues the use of the adjective 'critical' related to learning programming or computer science, (see the article))? (1) or the role of the worker submissive to the point of giving up the copyright granted by law (5)?

Why it applies ‘critical’ to a concept like resilience, in terms of acceptance of a competitive situation or given struggle, but without question? What about critical skill in the proper application of mechanical procedures at denotative level? And finally, why Selingo lose the opportunity to deepen on the concept of "critical skills", when it proposes ‘Being the animal learning’. Unfortunately, curiosity, as he mention, by itself does not imply the ability to select, evaluate, analyze and delve into the sources of knowledge and learning. Rather, these skills are aimed to feed the interests of those who perceive the greatest danger in a truly focused education on developing the srudents critical skills.

Information literacy skills are critical such as  credibility and reliability of sources and information,ability to select what is necessary for specific tasks, integrating knowledge from various sources and argumentative strategies

Great synthesis for undergrads considering or starting Grad School soon - variety, of grad levels and undergrads collaborated on this publication. 

Article On Making and Becoming a Graduate

This is such an ideologically driven list prepared by the Post! I'm surprised nobody has unpacked it. I notice that the list largely implies individualistic goals, and also implies the individualization of social problems. A few things I think are missing:

- a commitment to thick democracy (including a sense of personal responsibility for systemic problems and a commitment to being an active part of solutions)

- an interest in working towards "the world we want" instead of settling for "the world we have"

- empathy of all varieties - intellectual empathy, social empathy, etc.

- the ability to be alone 

- an appreciation for freizeit

- a sense of stewardship for the world (including other people, nature, ideas, history and the future)

Dear all,

Thank you very much for kindly sharing your opinions and adding more thoughts to the list. This is intellectually stimulating.

Sincerely,

Cameen

We must firstly consider the teacher in the 21st century. Many teachers are digital immigrants as opposed to students who have grown up on ICT’s and are classified as digital natives. Computers can perform routine tasks. Teachers must be proficient in the use of the technology to prepare workers for the technological society.

Workers in the 21st century must perform a varied and vast number of skills simultaneously. These multiple skills are different from the manual operations that for which workers of the 20th century were prepared. Those occupations are disappearing from the economy. The widespread use of computers in the work environment has demanded different preparation for present day students. Students are to be able to solve problems that are nonroutine, using limited data and making connections and linkages to perform abstract tasks. These problems also need persuasion and instinctive insights. This involves cognitive, interpersonal and intrapersonal skills. The introduction of the National Academy of Sciences publication “Assessing 21st century skills: Summary of a workshop” (2011) describes them.

Nicely said Ricardo, but the need for ethical beliefs and processes within these digital activties is incredibly important.

While that list of skills is laudable. humble is not typical of undergraduate students until they near program completion and the fear of what they don't actually know sets in. I would add to the list:

• Understanding that the perceived truth of any knowledge is only as valuable as it can be culturally adapted for use and transfer across borders
• Valuing mentorship for knowledge transfer
• Willingness to engage in collaboration that questions the status quo
• Ethical pursuit of knowledge transfer from theory to practice

I would like complement R. N. Uchem, Mark E Gould, and Saida Abdul-Aziz. 

In this digital world no one lacks, knowledge. They attain different skills too, and must consciously develop critical thinking and discernment. Quiet lot of unethical practices intrude into the life of young graduates. Either they are not bothered or many become selfish to be unethical.

So I would like to say, graduates must develop discernment skills so that they may be able to identify what is ethical and unethical, and must acquire the confidence to be ethical in all practices of life .  As  Abdul-Aziz mentioned, they must imbibe ethical pursuit of knowledge transfer from theory to practice.

Mollykutty P. V

Yes.I am agree with all researchers response.There is need of Critical Thinking in Digital life.I would like to say,graduate should be followed norms and ethics with respect.Before accepting any situation  should be think on scientific way.

Best regards,