Today we'll look at why and how teachers and learners use technology in adult literacy, basic skills and English language education. We'll talk about how to get started, and how to keep going, with leads for further exploration.

Electronic technology, particularly digital multimedia technology (computers, the Internet, television, personal data assistants, telephony, videoconferencing, and others) is jogging along on a circular path in an unending marathon. Its pace is sometimes faster, sometimes slower, but it doesn't stop to rest. We can jog along with technology but we can't keep up for long. If we stop to rest, it will pass us by.

So what's the point of trying to keep up? Teachers and learners have so many other important -- and demanding things to do -- why add technology to our "to learn" and "to do" lists?
 
 

• Communication with family and friends (e-mail, key pals, electronic lists, digital telephony, electronic chatting with friends and colleagues in distant places)
• Shopping (airline tickets, books, CD's, computers, cars)
• Information searching (look it up on the Internet)
• Staying in touch with what's happening back home (getting the newspaper from home in one's first language, checking the local football scores)
• Managing personal finances, paying bills, doing electronic banking
• Entertainment (home movies, baby book Web pages for relatives afar, video games, music, DVD movies, etc.)

 

• Word processing (writing in class and homework)
• PowerPoint presentations (by teacher -- and by learners)
• Spreadsheets for financial literacy (planning and monitoring one's personal spending)
• Information searching (CD ROM and Web-based references such as encyclopedias and dictionaries, using search engines to find information on Web pages, or in Web-databases

Computer-assisted instruction (CAI) or computer-assisted language learning (CALL) for English Language learning, on-line and CD-ROM-based courses, instructional Web pages, and television series such as TV411, Connect With English, Crossroads Cafe, and Workplace Essential Skills offer learners organized instruction for independent learning, and as extensions or enrichment of classroom learning.

• Online lessons and whole courses which teachers can design for their students, and which can track learner progress (http://www.thestudyplace.org)
• Online simulations, for example basic skills in the workplace simulations (http://www.workingsimulations.com/theOffice.html)

4.  Technology provides new opportunities for
    professional development such as:

• More than a dozen national electronic lists/forums for adult literacy and ESOL/ESL practitioners. (http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions)
• Eleven special collections of full-document (downloadable) materials in areas such as family literacy, ESL/ESOL, workplace education, technology, assessment, health and literacy, learning disabilities, and others. (http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/collections/collections.html)
• Online courses (http://alri.org/harness.html#staffdevelopment)
• resource books, guides, and manuals for adult education teachers (http://alri.org/harness.html#staffdevelopment)

 

Increasingly teachers are using or adding project-based learning to their classes (in addition to skills-based and content-based learning.) Technology is useful when students need to:

• search for information (CDROMS, Web page and online database searches)

Students use project-based learning to investigate jobs and job preparation, family health issues, childcare, public schools, higher education, home buying assistance and other community services. (http://alri.org/esquare/)
• record findings (word processing, note taking using AlphaSmart keyboards or laptops, tape and videotape recorders, cameras, scanners)
• word process reports
• publish or present their projects (using desktop publishing, Web pages, or PowerPoint)

6.  Technology can help those with physical and learning
     challenges/differences/disabilities through assistive
    technology and universal design.

(www.cast.org) (http://www.aed.org/niwl/nalldc/ALLDassistive.html) and (http://www.nifl.gov/cgi-bin/lincs/search/resource/teacher.cgi?special_collection=learning_disabilities)

 

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What's "out there" that's good?

Where can I start as a beginner?

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The Literacy List

http://www.alri.org/literacylist.html
 

Harnessing Technology to serve Adult Literacy

http://www.alri.org/harness.html
 

LINCS

http://www.nifl.gov/lincs

LINCS is the adult literacy community's gateway to the world of adult education and literacy resources on the Internet. LINCS features multimedia curricula developed by practitioners, special collections on major literacy topics, the latest literacy-related research and statistics, and opportunities for communication with colleagues directly and through online discussion.
 

LINCS Special Collections

http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/collections/collections.html
 

LINCS Discussion Lists

http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/discussions.html



 
 
 

 

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What are some of the best examples of Web-based
reading,writing and numeracy instruction/learning
for low-literate adults?

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1. The Voter Involvement Project

is one of the few examples we found of online information designed for individuals who are at a beginning reading level. The content on the "How to Vote" section of the "Key to Community: Voter Involvement Project"

http://www.otan.dni.us/cdlp/vip/welcome.html

was developed by adult reading students to help other students learn more about voting. One can either go step by step through the tutorial or pick and choose sections to complete. The user can derive the meaning of the simple text from sketches and by listening to a reading of it, when the "HEAR" button on the menu is pressed. The menu itself is very simple, made up of five buttons and five words. The sentences are also spread out across the page, above and under the sketches.

2. Rebecca's EZ Pages

http://www.alri.org/ltc/ezpage/

follows similar design ideas but creates more sophisticated online reading exercises. One of the exercises, titled "What the Landlord Must Do," teaches students basic terminology about housing and landlord responsibilities. Then, it provides a written exercise in which the student explains the responsibilities and also describes the functions of certain parts of the house. The Web site gives the student a list of words that link to pictures about parts of a house. Or the user can click on different parts of a sketch of a house, which then show the appropriate word. The interaction between text and pictures, along with the written exercise, allows students to go back and forth between the pictures and the words as much as needed to
succeed at the tasks.

3. Western/Pacific LINCS

http://literacynet.org/lincs/

one of the LINCS regional hubs in partnership with the CNN office in San Francisco, offers a Web site for adults who are learning to read (http://literacynet.org/cnnsf/ ). It also uses multimedia to give the reader clues that help decipher textual meaning. A user can read a story in full, abridged, or in outline form. What is particularly interesting about this site is that, as part of its "Learning Resources," the students can listen to the story or watch it as a video. Afterward, they complete a series of exercises testing vocabulary and reading comprehension, and then they write their own ending for the story. The learning experience involves many different components to assist an early reader as much as possible.

4. Literacy Link

http://www.pbs.org/literacy/

is a very strong example of content on the Internet for early readers. A joint venture between PBS, the National Center on Adult Literacy, KET (The Kentucky Network), and Kentucky's Department of Education, the Web site has an instructional area geared to pre-GED students who lack basic reading skills and focuses on workplace skills. The director of Literacy Link, Noreen

Lopez, explains: "The aim is to improve reading, math, and communication in a business context." Full instructional lesson units are built around video clips. In a unit about planning for a career, for instance, the user clicks on a link to perform an "anchor activity" that involves watching a video program, thus setting a context for the activity. Next, the user can do corresponding work in an offline workbook as well as online learning activities (e.g., taking inventory of areas that interest her/him). Each unit ends with a "closure activity" to help the learner reflect on what s/he has learned. The content was developed with strong input from educators and users and has high production value."

5. E-square

http://www.alri.org/esquare

This is an "electronic square" or village designed for adult learners with low basic literacy skills. There are a number of storefronts (health center, jobs center, library, family center, computer center, early childhood center, community arts center, library, and homebuying and rentals center) with low-literacy content inside, much of it written by adult new readers and writers.

6. California Distance Learning Project

http://www.otan.dni.us/cdlp/

7. Lifelong Learning Online

http://www.otan.dni.us/cdlp/lllo/home.html

8. Key New Readers Newspaper

http://www.keynews.org/

9. Funbrain Spelling

http://www.funbrain.com/spell/index.html This Web site gives students 24 screens with 4 words each, and asks them to identify the word that is misspelled. It provides feedback immediately, telling the student if the answer is correct or not. If the student was wrong, it enables him/her to try again. There are two levels -- easy and hard -- which makes it good for students of different ages at different levels of ESL."

10. Mathgoodies

http://www.mathgoodies.com/

11. The Office

This is an interactive, Web-based prototype of a workplace-oriented simulation for learning literacy, numeracy and office skills simultaneously.
 
 
 
 

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Page created 4/25/01 by David J. Rosen

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