Technology and Distance Learning and WIA Reauthorization

From LiteracyTentWiki

Subject: [Technology 2486] Technology and Distance Learning Questions
From: Brenda Dann-Messiers
Date: Monday, January 11, 2010 9:18 AM

Dear Technology and Distance Learning List Participants,

My name is Brenda Dann-Messier, Assistant Secretary for Vocational and Adult Education. Thank you for planning time this week to participate in a virtual session of the WIA Community Conversations (http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/10WIA). I know it adds to your day to read and respond to discussion list posts, and I deeply appreciate you giving so much of your time.

This week, I ask that you discuss the successes and needs you see for adult education with respect to this discussion list’s topic. I’m hoping that you’ll be candid and honest, and that there will be an open and frank discussion on the list in this regard.

I’m here to listen, and to learn. This discussion is different from the typical discussion list guest discussions. I’m not going to react to your suggestions or answer questions. Please know, however, that what you suggest is worthwhile for the Department to consider as it forms its policy position on WIA reauthorization. Based on what I learn from the WIA Community Conversations, my hope is to be able to say what the real issues are that impact the field, our students, and our practitioners.

Additionally, I will present all conversation comments to the State Directors of Adult Education at their annual meeting in February. I will obtain their feedback as well.

If you are interested in what others are saying across the country, in addition to what you hear from this list discussion, please visit the Department of Education’s blog http://www.edgovblogs.org/duncan/2009/11/workforce-investment-act-reauthorization/ . The transcripts from face-to-face sessions hosted by OVAE are linked to the blog. We will link transcripts of these discussion list sessions to the blog as well.

To start the discussion, please reply to this email with your thoughts on any of the following questions:

  • What are creative and flexible ways to use technology and / or distance learning to expand access to adult education or help learners make progress toward their goals?
  • What are the barriers? What innovative solutions have you used to address those challenges?
  • What are your hopes for WIA reauthorization?

I look forward to hearing from you,

Brenda

Dr. Brenda Dann-Messier
Assistant Secretary
Office of Vocational and Adult Education
United States Department of Education
400 Maryland Ave. S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20202

Subject: [Technology 2489] Re: Technology and Distance Learning Questions
From: Judy Mortrude
Date: Monday, January 11, 2010 12:23 PM

What are creative and flexible ways to use technology and / or distance learning to expand access to adult education or help learners make progress toward their goals?

With community colleges increasingly using distance learning platforms like D2L and Moodle, ABE programs must start developing content accessible to the lower level reader on these systems and utilizing them in transition programming, so we are truly preparing adult learners to move into post secondary training. Just as some states have mandated that high school students must take at least one online class in order to graduate, ABE programs realize that computer literacy is an absolute essential for all level of student. We need the systems to support this reality and fund the work appropriately.

What are the barriers? What innovative solutions have you used to address those challenges?

There are HUGE barriers, not the least of which is our own apprehensions about using technology. The ABE teaching field is filled with experienced instructors – experienced can also be read as we have been doing this a long time and a long time before computers were around! We have to embrace lifelong learning ourselves and be willing to learn while we teach.

Cost is a barrier. ABE programs not having server space in their districts or in their institutions is a barrier. The only way to address these issues is head on! Keep pushing for the needs of our learners through professional development of our staff, through advocacy for our students including access to good technology solutions, and through investment in systems specific to our adult learners such as the Learner Web project out of Portland State University.

What are your hopes for WIA reauthorization?

My hope is simple – more funding for the best type of programming and a willingness to let go of the kind of “feel good” programming that resulted in no substantive gains for the individuals or the communities at large.

Judy Mortrude
State Program Administrator
MN Department of Employment and Economic Development
332 Minnesota Street, Suite E200
St Paul, MN 55101
Phone: 651-259-7638
Fax: 651-215-3842
www.deed.state.mn.us

Subject: [Technology 2491] Re: Technology and Distance Learning Questions
From: Glenn Young
Date: Monday, January 11, 2010 1:32 PM

Thank you, Madam Assistant Secretary, for the opportunity to comment … and your openness to ideas. Here are a few on technology

1) We need to create new technology centers to work in each state to help programs come into the 21st century in the use of technology to gain and learn from information. These centers should be helping the whole field to move towards a “virtual literacy” approach for those with limited skills that have been not gaining from the existing approach to literacy. Virtual literacy uses technology as a means to by pass limited literacy skills and enables the person to gain information through other means (text to speech etc)… This approach is based largely on the tremendous gains in learning through technology that is current being used in the blind and low vision communities. And with proper support and tools, almost all learners in programs would be able to be accessing and understanding information in a matter of weeks or months, not years as the current approach take.

2) Inertia … The barriers include the field being trapped in the concept that traditional reading approaches and skills is the only way to learn. People must learn to read in order to read to learn… However, technology has changed that paradigm, in so many places but not adult education. The field is so short of funds that it feels that it could not approach the issues of virtual literacy for lack of resources. And most teachers are so untrained in technology they have limited understanding of its capacity.

3) I hope that WIA will provide funding for new state technology centers … and funding resources to help eliminate the “digital” divide issues that currently keep low literacy people trapped in a world without technology … and therefore ill prepared to enter the modern workplace. These centers would not only help to better prepare those in the adult literacy system for the modern work place in a far better and far quicker fashion … it would also create a whole set of new jobs for those who have technical skills now … helping to revive our economy in many positive ways

4) Not asked but suggested is that we need a lot of help from the private sector to create a cheaper and more flexible virtual literacy tool aimed specifically at low literate and ELL populations… and show that there would be a huge market for this type of tool from governments … We need a national virtual literacy taskforce headed by the likes of Microsoft, Google, etc … (they are already doing similar projects in India … why not in the USA.? )

Glenn Young
CSLD
530 Auburn Ave
Buffalo NY 14222
Cell 703-864-3755
Phone/Fax 716-882-2842
website: glennyoungcsld.com

Subject: [Technology 2492] Re: Technology and Distance Learning Questions
From: Rick Burgin
Date: Monday, January 11, 2010 5:16 PM

Thank you, Madam Assistant Secretary, for the opportunity to comment and your openness to ideas.

At the present time, we have many students who are afraid to use computers. We are told that the only way we can provide computer instruction is if it is needed to learn the core academic subjects of reading, writing, math, social studies and science. I would like to suggest that computer competencies are worthy of independent study. Most of our student’s ultimate goals are to obtain a GED. Since the GED does not require computer competencies, we are not allowed to teach it. The National Reporting System (NRS) includes descriptors/competencies for each of the six educational functioning levels, but has not approved any assessment to determine these competencies. I would like to see the OVAE clarify this issue, so that we can teach our students basic computer skills. Below you will see the list of skill descriptors the NRS has published.

Educational Functioning Level 1
No knowledge of computers or other technology

Educational Functioning Level 2
Minimal knowledge of, and experience with, computers.

Educational Functioning Level 3
Can use simple computer programs and perform routine tasks.

Educational Functioning Level 4
Can work with most basic computer software, such as using a word processor to produce own texts; can follow simple instructions for using technology.

Educational Functioning Level 5
Is proficient using computers and can use most common computer applications; can interpret the appropriate use of new software and technology.

Educational Functioning Level 6
Can use common software and learn new software applications; can adapt use of software or technology to new situations and can instruct others, in written or oral form on software and technology use.


Rick Burgin
Casper College ABE/GED

Subject:: [Technology 2493] Re: Technology and Distance Learning Questions
From: David Williams
Date: Monday, January 11, 2010 5:31 PM

What are creative and flexible ways to use technology and / or distance learning to expand access to adult education or help learners make progress toward their goals?

  • We have found that the use of technology has been instrumental for us, as a small adult school, to be able to provide better instruction to a more diverse group of students. For example, in our ABE/ASE programs we use several different computer based instructional programs to supplement our traditional classroom instruction. In the case of ABE students and transitioning ESL students this has been very effective in providing more appropriate instruction on their varied levels than would be possible in the traditional classroom (due to our small size, it is virtually impossible to have a class devoted to these levels of learners), while providing appropriate instruction for the actual ASE level learners. This use of technology has allowed us to expand our programs by offering additional distance learning materials, either as standalone distance learning instruction or blended instruction. In our ESL program we have used a similar approach to enhance the classroom instruction through technology (both through CBI and interactive classroom technology materials such as Putting English to Work), which also has been expanded to distance learning for the ESL learners, both standalone and blended.

What are the barriers? What innovative solutions have you used to address those challenges?

  • The most common barrier I see in this area is the cost of instructional materials that utilize current technologies. Producing these types of instruction materials, for use on a broad scale, would be very difficult for small agencies. Purchasing them can be very expensive.
  • The second most common barrier, in my opinion, would be the access our students have to the technology to utilize these materials. While this access is increasing, there are still many adult learners who cannot access computer technology except at adult schools.
  • The third barrier I see, although not nearly on the scale that it was 5 years ago, is the instructional skills required to effectively use technology based instruction.

The supplemental funds provided by the WIA has made a tremendous difference in the procurement of CBI curriculum. It is a direct result of this supplemental funding that our school has been able to purchase an ASE/ABE GED prep CBI program for site use, an ESL CBI program with a 25 user license for site use and an online program subscription that can be used by both ABE/ASE and ESL learners. The supplemental funding has also been important in being able to provide the hardware to use this type of curriculum on our school site so that all students enrolled can access them. We have found that if the school focus turns more and more to the use of technology, peer and student pressure to provide appropriate instruction in the use of these programs has moved even the most reluctant instructors into acquiring the necessary skills.

What are your hopes for WIA reauthorization?

  • We hope, especially in the face of dramatic reductions in state funding, that continuation of the WIA supplemental funds will allow us to continue to update and expand the use of technology to provide instructional opportunities to adult learners. This will be of vital importance as many of our school will not be able to afford expanding instructional sites to meet additional adult learners in our communities.

David Williams
Principal, Beaumont Adult School
Beaumont, CA

Subject:: [Technology 2494] Re: Technology and Distance Learning Questions
From: Gail Troy
Date: Monday, January 11, 2010 6:07 PM

The potential of distance learning to reach students with transportation and childcare problems is tremendous.

It would be great if there was a way to TABE via distance technology as TABE (or equivalent) is required by the “powers that be”.

One of our greatest barriers to distance learning is that we do not have good Internet access in most of our county. Our Electric Coop, which serves about half the county, is pioneering BPOE (broadband over the power lines). I’ve been waiting about three years for it to come to our home. It will not help those who do not get Coop electricity. Dial up connections are not good enough for most distance applications (Virginia’s e-LearnVa does not work well with dialup) Our problem is our beautiful mountains!

We can, and do, use computers in our classroom for students to acquire some computer proficiency. This does not help distance learning.

I would hope that WIA reauthorization would continue and expand funding.

Gail Troy, M.Ed
Lead Teacher
Nelson County Adult GED

Subject:: [Technology 2495] Technology and Distance Learning
From: Davis W. Graham
Date: Monday, January 11, 2010 9:05 PM

Dear Advocates:

Again I can not tell you how text to speech has changed my life. There are three text-to-speech software (ReadPlease, Read:OutLoud and Victor Reader Soft) programs which have changed my life. As for the purpose of being a confidence builder these programs will instill confidence in a student or child who struggles with the written word.

For a summary of my life travels with the gift of dyslexia visit: www.manateediagnostic.com/davisgraham.aspx

Today, I read between 300 to 480 words per minute with 90% comprehension. The organizations which have enabled me are www.readplease.com, www.rfbd.org and www.bookshare.org . Bookshare for the student and adult population is an excellent resource. Newspapers from all over the country are available and Bookshare provide two text to speech software programs, Victor Soft reader and a Beta for Bookshare made by Read:Outloud.

Being able to read the newspaper is a character builder, I know what is going on in the world because I read it in a newspaper, I had never been able to say this before, I can read my trade journals now, where in the past they ended up in the garbage because I could not face the daunting task of reading them. Now it is a simple clip and paste or have Read:Outloud read it to me via the web. When I read I have to follow along for 90%+ comprehension, but on the other hand I'm working a lot on spreadsheets with numbers and listening does not detour from my number crunching.

Today the written word is not a hurdle to me nor should it be in the way of education for any student in the academic environment in the United States of America. By combining technology of text to speech, and gathering the printed word in digital format, Bookshare has overcome the initial hurdle; Bookshare has made a pioneering pathway for an unbridled learning environment. If I come to a person, place or thing which I do not know or understand I highlight the word and then click on the dictionary and Read:OutLoud takes me to the internet and then I can read about the subject and incorporate a snippet of the subject into my book.

Readplease enables me to read my letters and emails before they go out and is generally the one I use the most, Readplease should be made available to all populations in schools and libraries. If made available to all then it would not cause the much dreaded stigmatism. Readplease is a Microsoft only program, but in today's environment there are parallel operating systems software, so you can have MAC or Windows running at the same time.

As for public access, again it is us (advocates) pushing with concerted effort in the same direction.

Once I was lost now I am found, once was blind to the written word, now I read.

Call if you have any questions.

Sincerely,

Davis W. Graham
Executive Director \ CFO
Manatee Diagnostic Center
300 Riverside Drive East, Suite 4300
Bradenton, Florida 34208-1025
(941) 708-8378
(941) 708-8340 Fax

Subject:: [Technology 2496] Re: Technology and Distance Learning Questions
From: Gail Spangenberg
Date: Tuesday, January 12, 2010 10:32 AM

Colleagues,

A recent CAAL resource on distance learning may be helpful in this discussion. It's called The Power of Technology to Transform Adult Learning: Expanding Access to Adult Education & Workforce Skills Through Distance Learning. This 65-page CAAL report by Mary L. MCain of TechVisiion 21 was published on October 21, 2009, and is available from the CAAL website at: www.caalusa.org/publications.html as item NCCAAL-11.

Gail Spangenberg

Subject:: [Technology 2498] Technology and Distance Learning
From: Barbara J Struble
Date: Tuesday, January 12, 2010 1:38 PM

I have taught ESL/ABE/ASE in both Arizona and Alaska - large states with extreme terrain and weather. Both states have many First People, small isolated villages/communities and large cities. These are my comments based on educational experiences in these two states.

What are creative and flexible ways to use technology and/or distance learning to expand access to adult education or help learners make progress toward their goals?

  • CBI (computer based instruction) is the way to reach all adult learners. CBI is: A. economical - requires fewer master teachers; B. increased learning - CBI programs have both scope and sequence, content and interactive success. Currently, many instructor based classes especially in the smaller rural areas utilize instructors/tutors who lack the training and teaching skills that are built into the CBI programs. One master teacher can facilitate many adult learners utilizing technology over distance. I have utilized Contemporary and Plato for CBI on computers with built in text-to-speech capabilities; webcams; Read/Write Gold; Dragon; built in languages; MSN live for instant discussion. Assessment is online. Practice tests for GED classes are computerized. I have utilized both Skype (free) and videoconferencing (more expensive than the rest). Face to face over the internet is a great way to feel connected and involved. I have created videos and sent them to clients for teaching a concept. I have also used the telephone for assisting clients with questions. The web is a great teaching/learning environment for every subject. A few desktop links that I have added to computers that were sent to villages and rural areas are: dictionaries (including speech capabilities for words), encyclopedias, math sites, history sites, work sites, government sites, drivers' licenses online sites, CDL sites, computer lessons and keyboarding sites. There are many more, each customized to the area and state.

What are the barriers? What inovative solutions have you used to address those challenges?

  • BARRIER - GED is still paper based and the requirement for a GED administrator is a 4 year degree (2 year with certain background experience). SOLUTION - I keep promoting online GED testing every chance I have to do so.
  • BARRIER - CBI is still considered a back-up/addition to person based instruction instead of the other way around. SOLUTION - I utilized CBI as the instructor with myself as back-up instructor and village/community people as tutors assisting clients in the use of the computer and the programs. I trained the tutors myself and was available 24/7 via MSN live and webcams for assistance.
  • BARRIER - definition of direct instruction (80% required) in WIA. Community staff tutors cannot be paid with WIA funds because the term "direct instruction" does not include their work in a computer based environment. SOLUTION: I have no solution. My recommendation is that WIA adopt a new 21st century technology based approach to adult education:
  • BARRIER - High speed internet necessary to run the CBI programs. SOLUTION: Piggy backing on to the local, state, federal government businesses in the local areas and supporting their requests for grants and other funding for high speed internet.
  • BARRIER - staff training. SOLUTION: I trained community staff to operate the programs we used on computers. Webinairs are available through some companies and I recommended purchase of the programs that included free training via computer.

What are your hopes for WIA reauthorization?

  • Greater funding of technology based learning based on a change of thinking - from many people and books for adult learning to few well trained distance education teachers and many technology tools (including internet).

Barbara J Struble
Maranatha
Learning for Living

Subject: [Technology 2501] Technology 2497 WIA Discussion - Technology
From: Kathy Sheehy
Date: Tuesday, January 12, 2010 4:30 PM

In New York State as part of our Quality Framework, we are taking steps to integrate technology into the teaching/learning process in Adult Education and in Distance Learning. We need to prepare our students to live and work in the 21st century with a competitive global economy which requires a highly skilled workforce. Whether they will enter employment or post secondary education, students need to have knowledge, understanding and be able to use production software, instructional software, operating systems, and web 2.0 technologies along with literacy. Teachers and administrators also need to have knowledge and technology skills to manage effective, quality adult education programs.

What are creative and flexible ways to use technology and/or distance learning to expand access to adult education or help learners make progress toward their goals?

In New York State, we have developed a web based learning management system called e-Literacy New York which allows web based access to adult education programming through a wide range of media rich curriculum and interactive workbooks along with links to other adult ed resources. The platform currently hosts curriculum published by Intelecom which includes: Crossroads Cafe, Lifelines and Madison Heights. The Kentucky Educational Television published GED Connection videos are also available on this electronic platform along with SMART (Skills To Make Adults Ready to Succeed), vocational software and links to additional online applications. We now have online curriculum for reading levels four to twelve. Through the use of e-Literacy New York, teachers are able to create an online virtual classroom for individualized instruction, manage student assignments and track student time on task. This platform combines employment preparation, computer instruction and life skills with ABE (Adult Basic Education), GED (General Educational Development) and ESOL (English Speakers of Other Languages) curriculum. There is also a link to remediation software for academic skill sets in the K-12 curriculum range. This platform is being piloted both in the traditional classroom and in distance learning.

We are in the process of defining what effective teachers, managers and students need to know and be able to do with technology. We have surveyed the field using the TISA (Technology Integration Self Assessment) and Distance Learning Self assessment to see what technology skill levels have already been attained. The results of these surveys will be the basis for a statewide technology plan and professional development to elevate the use of technology consistently on all levels of the teaching/learning process. A plan is needed that provides flexibility to take advantage of a range of options that integrate workplace and academic skills with career goals that need to be instilled in our academic and work culture in order to prepare our future skilled workforce. We need data systems to track our students from kindergarten to high school, through college, and into the workforce.

Success of this transition requires intensive program development, continuous improvement, individualized educational programs with goals for post secondary or employment. e-Literacy New York combines both academic and work readiness skills on an electronic platform that provides a portal for adult education programming.

The Internet is the new frontier. Web 2.0 technologies empower people to connect, collaborate and innovate while working faster and more effectively. Web 2.0 tools include: blogs, podcasts, wikis, social networking and change the way we interact. They drive skills and knowledge sharing. Web 2.0 tools are developed for social networking to create communities, find profiles, work in forums, participate in collaborative activities, and maximize the power of participation. They allow you to do more, do it faster and more effectively.

Technology study circles and digital workshops allow teachers to share their best practices. Online websites such as google group websites allow teachers to share best practices online.

Additional online software is currently being piloted as well.

What are the barriers? What innovative solutions have you used to address these challenges?

Not all programs have the access to technology that is necessary for the full integration of technology. Some teachers are not proficient in the use of technology. The sharing of data is sometimes difficult because systems do not always talk to one another.

Students that do not have access to technology may use computers in libraries, etc. Teachers are being taught technology skills based on the results of the TISA and distance learning surveys. We have recently moved our NRS data system to the web. This allows are wide range of program data information to be analyzed.

What are your hopes for WIA reauthorization?

  • More widespread availability to adult programming on a national level.
  • Funding to support the professional development of teachers, administrators and students on the use of technology.
  • Funding to support the technology systems needed for adult ed programming

Kathy Sheehy, Associate
The New York State Education Department
Adult Education and Workforce Development
Rm 307EB
89 Washington Ave.
Albany, NY 12234
(518) 474-8940
Fax: (518) 486-1751
ksheehy@mail.nysed.gov

Subject: [Technology 2502] (no subject)
From: Tom Cytron-Hysom
Date: Tuesday, January 12, 2010 5:34 PM

What are your hopes for WIA reauthorization?

I have been following the discussions on various groups with interest. As someone who works statewide in developing both distance learning and simultaneous workforce/basic skills education, I know how important these emphases are both to adult learners and their communities. They need to be adequately incorporated and reflected in WIA reauthorization.

I am also concerned that the needs of the many learners who may not fit neatly into these categories not be neglected. In Minnesota, we have many refugee learners who still struggle to master basic English - many, in fact, do not know how to read and write in any language since they were never able to attend primary school in their countries of origin or in refugee camps. Other adult learners are primarily concerned with family literacy, so they can support their children in school. Some are intent on obtaining citizenship. And many deal with significant learning disabilities which daily challenge them in their efforts to educate themselves.

As we work with legislators to insure that ABE services are responsive to evolving educational and economic development needs, I hope we also preserve some focus on those "hardest to serve" who have traditionally been educated through our programs. If we fail these high-need adult learners, they really have nowhere else to go.


Tom Cytron-Hysom
email: thysom@real-time.com
webpage: http://www.tomcytron-hysom.net/
phone: 651.695.1734
fax: 651.695.1773

Subject: [Technology 2503] Re: Technology and Distance Learning
From: Susan Jones
Date: Tuesday, January 12, 2010 7:26 PM

In my opinion, the quality of the CBI is a big issue, especially in math.

Susan Jones
Academic Development Specialist
Center for Academic Success
Parkland College
Champaign, IL 61821
217-353-2056
sujones@parkland.edu
Webmastress,
http://www.resourceroom.net
http://bicyclecu.blogspot.com

Subject: [Technology 2505] Re: Technology and Distance Learning Questions
From: Mary McCain
Date: Monday, January 11, 2010 12:14 PM

October 2009 report from Council for Advancement of Adult Literacy: THE POWER OF TECHNOLOGY TO TRANSFORM ADULT LEARNING: Expanding Access to Adult Education and Workforce Skills Through Distance Learning. http://caalusa.org/POWER_OF_TECH.pdf

Subject: [Technology 2506] Re: Technology and Distance Learning
From: Tom Cytron-Hysom
Date: Wednesday, January 13, 2010 10:22 AM

I do not believe CBI is the way to reach "all" learners, although it is a valuable tool for many. Adult learners are not all necessarily proficient or comfortable with computers, and may not have ready access to these tools. In addition, lower level ELL learners, especially, require direct interaction with other learners and teachers. If we adopt CBI as as our primary instructional delivery system, we run the risk of marginalizing many adult learners for a variety of reasons.

Both a review of the literature, and our direct experience in Minnesota, indicate that nurturing direct and ongoing relationships between teachers and students using distance learning is key to the success of this instruction. Developing and deploying DL curricula is also quite time consuming. These require significant time and resources, which does not seem to support the position that fewer teachers/staff are required.

Subject: [Technology 2508] WIA re-authorization
From: Clare Strawn
Date: Wednesday, January 13, 2010 12:28 PM

I am Clare Strawn from Portland State University. I worked with Steve Reder on the Longitudinal Study of Adult Learning (http://www.lsal.pdx.edu) and am currently part of the national leadership of the Learner Web (http://www.learnerweb.org).

What are creative and flexible ways to use technology and / or distance learning to expand access to adult education or help learners make progress toward their goals?

Some of what we learned from the Longitudinal Study of Adult Learning is that many adults are actively engaged in developing their skills outside of program contexts, and many of them use computers/internet to do so.

How does technology broaden the reach of AE resources into the community, increasing the flexibility and capacity of programs, and at the same time support development of self-directed lifelong learning skills?

These are the questions that Steve Reder and I (and many others) are exploring through the Learner Web platform. Currently Learner Web is being used by tutors to add to their face-to-face tutoring time and by professional development programs that use it to follow up a workshop with continued practice and feedback. MN is field testing the possibilities of using Learner Web to better integrate workforce and basic skills development programs.

We know that Learners move in and out of programs, so technology should be portable to support their continued engagement. We also know that having technology skills and access to improve them increases likelihood of employment, both of which contribute to literacy development (Bynner, J., Reder, S., Samantha, P and Strawn, C. Digital divide: Computer use, basic skills and employment. NDRC, 2008).

What are the barriers? What innovative solutions have you used to address those challenges?

The recession has impacted innovation on several levels.
1) Barrier: Fewer students have internet connectivity in their homes, which limits access to technology tools for learning when they have the time and at their own pace.
2) Barrier: Programs and government agencies have made drastic cutbacks that curtail their ability to invest in innovation.
3) Solution: NTIA and TOPS programs previously funded many Community Technology Centers. This initiative should be re-invigorated and encouraged to be linked to Adult Basic Education programming and content. Grants should be made available to libraries and community based programs serving adult learners to provide internet labs for learning.

What are your hopes for WIA reauthorization?

WIA funding policies should consider incentives for taking risks and testing innovation. There are many good suggestions in the Assessment and Transitions discussions that note where policy (such as proxy hour assignment for DL) applies friction to innovation. Progress at the scale needed by American workers demands investment in trying and evaluating innovation. Innovation needs to be resourced with research and development at the national level, investment of time and experience at the program level, and sustained support after initial launch if it is going to payback in greater efficiencies and problem solving capacity.

Subject: [Technology 2510] Re: Technology and Distance Learning
From: Gail Troy
Date: Wednesday, January 13, 2010 7:46 PM

Years ago, Kit Baeschke Baker in Southwest Virginia had a computer lab used by her students at all levels. The students all took to it like a duck takes to water. The instructors had a harder time!

Gail Troy, M.Ed
Lead Teacher
Nelson County Adult GED

Subject: [Technology 2512] Re: Technology and Distance Learning Questions
From: Katie Murdock
Date: Thursday, January 14, 2010 1:27 PM

I am slowly developing a "program" to be loaded on a flash drive with interactive capabilities for the learners. I am working in conjunction with an ESL teacher and a reading specialist. We all think that this could be a wonderful tool. At the end of the year or semester - whichever the students would be given or offered the flash drive at a very low cost-depends on the size of the grant we obtain to implement this. The flash drive that we are looking at will be a 2GB so there will be plenty of room for other participants to develop their own materials as well.

Katie Murdock
Education & Program Developer
Housing Resource Center
edcoor@hrcmc.org

Subject: [Technology 2515] Re: hopes for adult ed tech and DL
From: Heidi Silver-Pacuilla
Date: Friday, January 15, 2010 1:36 PM

Hello all, I’m responding today as a researcher at AIR, deeply interested in the role of technology to support learning for struggling students, and have enjoyed tuning in this week to learn about creative solutions in use around the country.

I will echo that my work supports the use of technology with all adult learners of all literacy levels, but that support/orientation/and differentiated content is absolutely critical. They must go together but there is no magic formula to determine how much support a particular student will need; it is very much an interaction of the task, skill level of learner, interest/motivation, and technology interface and functionality.

A paper on threshold literacy levels for online learning published by NIFL which incorporated the wisdom of this listserv a couple years ago is available at http://www.nifl.gov/publications/pdf/NIFLOnlineLearningReport.pdf

One of my hopes for adult education, really, is that we join the larger innovation community and take up our role as a key step in lifelong learning, and not be confined to funding through a single stream.

Our issues on ensuring Internet connectivity and broadband capacity belong squarely in the FCC conversation about bringing broadband to all and we should have a way to reap benefits from the EETT funding for technology. Our plans to integrate technology and distance learning should be included in the National Education Technology Plan being written by the Dept of Ed’s Office of Innovation and Improvement. There is a very large overlap in our population with the under- and un-insured; we could contribute to the roll out of information on health care and health literacy with community partners such as community health clinics. We could be a seminal site for financial literacy and consumer empowerment education. We do not seem to be well positioned to apply and benefit from I3 or Race to the Top challenge grants. These larger initiatives’ priority language rarely include adult education explicitly and this makes it difficult for programs, even those based in eligible institutions (school districts or community colleges), to be seen as strong contributors in proposals and collaborations. I would like to see a stronger interagency directive built into WIA that could strengthen some of these connections between federal agencies and initiatives.

Too often we are dividing the same pie into smaller and smaller pieces in order to try something new. That’s no way to encourage innovation.

Meanwhile, there has been so little research funded in adult education/literacy/adult ESL recently, it is hard to know what the baseline on many issues is and what the “state of the state” is. A few key surveys and evaluations of what IS happening would be of great benefit to advocates, programs, state planners, researchers, and proposal writers alike.

Thank you for the opportunity to give some “blue sky” thinking.

Heidi Silver-Pacuilla
Sr. Research Analyst
American Institutes for Research
Washington, DC 20007

Subject: [Technology 2518] Re: last day of the formal WIA Community Conversations
From: Jim Williams
Date: Friday, January 15, 2010 3:28 PM

Thank you for your invitation to post my comments even at the risk of expressing comments already made by others.

I have been somewhat reluctant to post during this week-long conversation due to the fact that I am a commercial vendor and my comments therefore might be seen as self-serving. But I have been in the field of adult literacy education for well over thirty years now, and upon reflection, I have decided that I, too, have a rightful place at this table. My path as an author and publisher has perhaps taken me on a different tangent than most individuals who are involved in this discussion, but our ultimate purpose, I am sure, is the same.

I want to express my experience of how profoundly the ability to offer literacy instruction online has transformed my ability to offer effective reading instruction to adults not just in the city where I live, but all over the world. For almost twelve years I operated a reading clinic at one location. Adult students would attend class on average one or two hours a week. The highest expression of technology available to us then was the tape recorder. I would record a lesson, and students would take the tape home and listen to it for review purposes. For an adult far behind in reading, the amount of instructional time necessary for him to become an independent reader at two hours a week of instruction was measured in years not months.

Prior to operating a reading clinic, I also served as a volunteer literacy tutor while in college for two years. As a trainee, I was asked to attend a training class for two hours a week over a six week period of time. Upon completing the training, I was asked to commit to be a tutor for a minimum of one year and to meet with my student twice each week for that one-year period of time. Of course as a volunteer, I received no monetary compensation. In addition to all of these prerequisites, I was also charged with the task of developing a relevant curriculum for the student I served.

As any adult literacy instructor knows, teaching low-level, adult readers basic reading skills is extremely time intensive. An extraordinary amount of drill is required to teach phonemic awareness, phonics, and fluency skills to the point of mastery. And the lower on the reading scale an adult reads, the more prolonged is the learning curve for him to master those basic skills. Scheduling and teacher training are also problematic. It can be extremely challenging to schedule adequate and ongoing instructional time that is mutually workable for both student and instructor, and effective teacher-training takes time and requires a significant personal commitment for both the trainer and trainee.

The ability to offer online instruction has changed everything for me as an instructor. Now the time-intensive, instructional activities are automated, and students are able to study as often as they want, and in many instances, in the privacy of their own home. Almost all of my adult students are working independently without benefit of an instructor. Teachers and volunteer instructors are able to preview any given lesson prior to teaching that lesson to students by accessing the online lessons.

The issue of funding has been repeatedly cited all week long. Online or distance learning can enable an organization to offer literacy instruction to students and provide effective training to teachers or tutors in a cost-effective manner.

I realize the ideas I am presenting have all been discussed to some extent this week. But I did not want to let this opportunity pass without first describing my personal experience and expressing my conviction of how much the ability to combine video, audio, and text in an online format has forever changed for me my concept of what is possible to accomplish as an instructor and what students may now realistically expect to accomplish in their studies.

Thank you for the opportunity to share this feedback.

Jim Williams
Web Address: www.weallcanread.com
E-mail: jw@weallcanread.com

Subject: [Technology 2519] Technology PD for teachers
From: Susan Pierson
Date: Friday, January 15, 2010 4:41 PM

Our teachers need to feel more comfortable with computers and integrating technology into their lessons. Our teachers range from extremely comfortable to extremely Uncomfortable with using computers. With job applications being done online and many of our assessments being done electronically, our teachers need more PD to reach their own comfort level. This will hopefully translate into increasing our students' use of computers in their daily lives.

Susan Pierson
Associate Education Consultant
Bureau of Health/Nutrition, Family Services & Adult Education
State Department of Education
25 Industrial Park Road
Middletown, CT 06457
Telephone:860-807-2121
Fax: 860-807-2062
Email: susan.pierson@ct.gov

Subject: [Technology 2520] Seven recommendations for using blended learning and other technology to help learners make progress and to expand access to adult education
From: David J. Rosen
Date: Friday, January 15, 2010 6:51 PM

What are creative and flexible ways to use technology and / or distance learning to expand access to adult education or help learners make progress toward their goals?

1. Use blended learning models, especially those that begin with 75% face-to-face, 25% online learning and that help a learner to transition to 75% online and 25% face-to-face. To be successful this implies: a) having teachers who are comfortable with technology,
b) teachers who are trained in helping students get comfortable with technology, and
c) adult literacy education programs (students and teachers) with access to state-of-the-art Internet access.
It also implies having high quality online curriculum that can be used anywhere (by groups of learners at a program and by the same learners from home, work, a library or web-accessible handheld. OVAE needs to expand its level of investment in such online learning curricula, with the stipulation that the products will be free to users.

2. Fund support for using blended learning models in workplace basic skills education.

3. Invest in serious research and evaluation on effectiveness of existing and new models for blended learning in adult literacy education, including research on effective ways in which reading disabled adults can learn to get information by auding text, and whether or not, and if so, under what conditions auding helps adult learners to improve their reading skills.

4. Fund model demonstrations that help face-to-face programs become "seamless system" programs offering learners place-based and online learning options in a seamless continuum of services.

5. Fund a national demonstration model that includes online adult basic skills learning accessed by web-accessible handhelds/smartphones as well as by computers and e-tablets.

6. Fund a national project to develop an online and blended learning professional development model for helping teachers integrate technology in their classrooms.

7. Require programs to offer basic computer/technology literacy to all students and provide new federal funding so this is not an unfunded mandate. In other words, elevate technology literacy to the same level of priorioty as reading, writing, numeracy, ESOL, and adult secondary education, as another critical set of basic skills.

David J. Rosen
djrosen123@gmail.com

Subject: [Technology 2522] Seven recommendations for using blended learning and other technology to help learners make progress and to expand access to adult education
From: Jenifer Vanek
Date: Tuesday, January 19, 2010 10:04 AM

I'd like to second two of David Rosen's points listed below.

Point One - David suggests a continuum for mixing online and f2f learning in ABE programs. We have learned through our experience in the Learner Web national demonstration project (http://www.learnerweb.org) that strong support up front is necessary in order to launch most of our ABE learners into online learning. If tied to proxy hour or contact time, WIA funding formulas need to be flexible enough to allow this. Additionally, teachers may need lots of professional development to gain the tech skills/competency to know where to place learners in this continuum. In our programs in St. Paul we are often working with good guesses about which online learning materials will either help or hinder learning. If teachers had a more precise list of computer or tech literacy benchmarks, matching learners to materials and setting up programming would be easier.

Point Seven - Requiring tech literacy in ABE programs. I'd add that when possible the tech literacy skills need to be embedded into current course work rather than having stand alone computer classes.

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