Return-Path: <nifl-4eff@literacy.nifl.gov> Received: from literacy (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by literacy.nifl.gov (8.10.2/8.10.2) with SMTP id eB4Hm4923258; Mon, 4 Dec 2000 12:48:14 -0500 (EST) Date: Mon, 4 Dec 2000 12:48:14 -0500 (EST) Message-Id: <4.2.2.20001204093650.00a21e30@postoffice.worldnet.att.net.> Errors-To: rgspacone@worldnet.att.net Reply-To: nifl-4eff@literacy.nifl.gov Originator: nifl-4eff@literacy.nifl.gov Sender: nifl-4eff@literacy.nifl.gov Precedence: bulk From: "Ronna G. Spacone" <rgspacone@worldnet.att.net> To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-4eff@literacy.nifl.gov> Subject: [NIFL-4EFF:1278] Visions of Change X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Pro Version 4.2.2 Status: O Content-Length: 3550 Lines: 28 Hi Everyone, In message [NIFL-4EFF:1265] I suggested that Susan Imel's ERIC Digest 221, "Change: Connections to Adult Learning and Education" was relevant to EFF and proposed we use it to discuss our role as change agents. Equipped for the Future offers an avenue for change; it's a vision for restructuring the adult literacy system. Therefore, I think anyone using EFF is an agent of change. According to the author, "The change process is transformative, political, involves learning, and takes place over a period of time." For those of you who have been working with the EFF framework/standards -- how do these characteristics of change strike you? Or do they? Can you relate to them, given your experience with EFF? How? Ms. Imel provides some suggestions for adult educators who assume the role of change agent. I've included two of them, for your consideration: "Pay attention to the context. Whether acting as a change agent in an organization or with individual students, understanding the context is important to success. Both organizations and individuals are shaped by factors that it is important to address in the process of change. Individual learners have norms and values that will influence the direction of change. When working with an organization or institution, an analysis of the context in advance should provide answers to such questions as 'Will I be asked to do things that might be in conflict with my ethical beliefs and standards?' and 'Are there factors present that will prevent the change from happening?'" "Attend to learning. Since learning and change are interconnected, an adult educator can assist those who are undergoing the change process in understanding the different kinds of learning as well as the learning cycle of the change process. Williams (1992), for example, talks about adult educators assisting learners in "'peeling the onion' of theory and practice that have produced current acceptable rules in any areas" (p.47). Based on her experience of encouraging critical reflection, King (1998) suggests using strategies such as reading and discussing journal articles as ways of stimulating deeper analysis of issues. It is important to allow for periods of reflection to incorporate and/or practice new ways of thinking and acting. Finally, remembering that learning does not end after the change will ensure that any changes are implemented successfully." So I wondered if -- and how -- these guidelines relate to your experiences using EFF, or trying to use EFF? How do your experiences in the change process relate to the changes your students are experiencing? Does anyone have any experiences to share that the rest of us can learn from? What do you understand better about change, or know now that you didn't before? I think this relates directly to the Lifelong Learning skills. I can imagine students using the EFF Life Long Learning Standards as guides for transformative learning, and teachers using them for teaching critical consciousness. Does anyone have experience using the standards -- Reflect and Evaluate, Take Responsibility for Learning, Learn Through Research, and Use Information and Communications Technology -- in this way, that is, to help students become critically reflective and to think of themselves as individuals who, like us, are capable of taking action and changing the world? Thanks, Ronna Visit the EFF web site at: http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/eff Ronna G. Spacone NIFL-4EFF List Moderator rgspacone@worldnet.att.net Phone: 202.338.2703
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