Return-Path: <nifl-4eff@literacy.nifl.gov> Received: from literacy (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by literacy.nifl.gov (8.9.3/8.9.0.Beta5/980425bjb) with SMTP id QAA09571; Fri, 7 Apr 2000 16:29:13 -0400 (EDT) Date: Fri, 7 Apr 2000 16:29:13 -0400 (EDT) Message-Id: <Pine.SGI.3.95.1000407161110.16481I-100000@world.std.com> Errors-To: listowner@literacy.nifl.gov Reply-To: nifl-4eff@literacy.nifl.gov Originator: nifl-4eff@literacy.nifl.gov Sender: nifl-4eff@literacy.nifl.gov Precedence: bulk From: David J Rosen <DJRosen@world.std.com> To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-4eff@literacy.nifl.gov> Subject: [NIFL-4EFF:956] Names Survey update X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Status: RO Content-Length: 4283 Lines: 93 NIFL-EFF Colleagues, Here's an update on the Names Survey. So far, over 700 people have weighed in, including 65 adult learners (9%). The geographical distribution of participants is fairly even, except participation is much lower for those from the Northwest. 53% of those responding are teachers, tutors or instructors. There are a half dozen names which over 60% of the respondents think range from best to okay, and fewer than 11% think is unacceptable. No one name is head-and-shoulders above the others, at least not yet. If you haven't voted yet, there is still time. The survey will be up until the end of April. But no need to wait, you could do it now, or send it on to a colleague, or commit to helping more students participate. Here's a quick Q & A about the survey: Q. Who should take this survey? A. Those who work in or care about adult literacy/basic education, ESL/ESOL, secondary level education,family literacy, workplace literacy, and other kinds of pre-college level learning for adults. Q. Can students take this survey? A. Absolutely. I hope teachers and other students will help those who have not used the Web before to get access and to understand how to take the survey. The survey is quite easy, and most of it is written at a level which is easy-to-understand. Q. How were the names for the survey generated? A. This was done on the NLA Electronic List in March. From 650 NLA list participants, 31 names were put forth. Q. Why are you doing this survey? A. A member of the NLA list, researcher Tom Sticht, suggested that if we are serious about building a strong national system for adult education and literacy (basic literacy, basic skills, ESL/ESOL, adult secondary education, including family literacy, workplace literacy, pre-vocational basic skills and other kinds of education below the higher education level) we should have a name for this system which our field agrees upon. I think this should be a name which has clarity and appeal for learners, and for legislators and other policy makers, too. I thought it might be helpful, if there were an easy, inexpensive way to sample the field (including adult learners) for someone to do this, so I did. Q. Who will use the data from this survey? A. I hope we all will. I hope we can come to some agreement first about a name, and then about what we want this system to do. Then I hope we all will work hard, advocate hard to bring this into being. I hope this also becomes part of the data the National Institute for Literacy (and other national organizations) is collecting, leading up to some major planning for our field for this September. Q. What is the NLA? A. It stands for National Literacy Advocacy (NLA) and it is a free, national electronic list (listserver) for teachers, tutors, learners, researchers, administrators and others who are interested in helping to change and improve our field through reflection and action. To subscribe, send an email message to majordomo@world.std.com saying (only) subscribe nla. Q. What is Zoomerang? A. I don't know much about it other than anyone can go there, register, and make a survey (from scratch or from easy-to-use templates.) The survey can stay up 30 days for free. After that the survey owner has to pay to keep it up. One also has to pay if Zoomerang is to do data analysis. But, for free, Zoomerang automatically tabulates the survey after each participant completes it. The survey owner can see the results at any time. (That's how I know the survey's progress.) Q. Can we see the results? A. Yes, of course, at the end of the survey -- in late April/early May I'll post them to a Web page and send a notice to the electronic lists where I posted this message. Q. Is there some way I can see what people are thinking about these name choices? A. Yes. You could look at the NLA list archives for March [http://www.nifl.gov/lincs] Choose the discussions button, then wend your way to the NLA list archives for 2000. Messages are chronological. Also, you could subscribe to the NLA list now, where there is some discussion about this taking place. If you have other questions, email me at <DJRosen@world.std.com> or post them on the NLA list. David J. Rosen NLA List Moderator
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