[NIFL-AALPD:1156] Summary of Ideas

From: jataylor (jataylor@utk.edu)
Date: Tue Mar 02 2004 - 21:27:40 EST


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Hello Everyone!
Thank you so much for sharing all of your ideas for discussion activities for
the list.  Your energy and commitment to professional development is clear.  I
think we have plenty to get started, and enough to even move straight on in to
summer.  I’ve provided a summary of what we have shared, below. Please take
the time to scroll down, and let me know what you think.  If I have missed
anything, please email me off list at <jataylor@utk.edu> and I will certainly
add it to the mix!

>From the list, I am generating a schedule of activities.  Some are readings
and content development; and some involve panels of guest speakers.  Of
course, feel free to explore topics as they arise.  Thank you for your time
and consideration on this effort. I am pleased to build a schedule of
activities around list subscribers’ needs.

Best,
Jackie Taylor
List Moderator
NIFL-AALPD
jataylor@utk.edu

*****************************************************************
**Ideas and Other Resources For Discussion** (Not in any particular order)

1) Document Sharing of Resources Effectively Used in PD

“I'd like to see some document sharing of resources that have been used
effectively in PD.  These communications would include longer reads than is
appropriate for e-mail.

(The following are two suggestions for putting documents up on the web, so
that NIFL-AALPD subscribers can access them for discussion):

a) The National Adult Literacy database (NALD) in Canada (George’s
suggestion): http://www.nald.ca/fulltext/search/


b) LiteracyTent server http://dav.literacytent.org (Thanks to Steve Linberg,
for his generous offer!)

“As a follow up to this, I am also willing to provide such space "stateside"
on LiteracyTent - there is already an area dedicated to this purpose. For
short-term usage I'm fine with doing it as a free service; for longer-term
usage, a small fee to offset bandwidth costs would be helpful, but it would be
small.

The part of the LiteracyTent server that handles this functionality is at:

http://dav.literacytent.org

The basic process is: a "web folder" (please see the site for documentation if
you're unfamiliar with the term, I wrote quite a bit about it there) is
created for a project, and certain people are given the privilege and password
for uploading into it via a "drag-and-drop" method that is very simple. People
can then download from that folder through their web browsers. So, for
instance, if we had a document to share for this group, I would create a
folder called "nifl-naalpd" (say), and whoever had access and needed to share
it would put it there. If the document's name was "something.doc", that person
would then mail around the URL:
http://dav.literacytent.org/nifl-aalpd/something.doc

****************************************************************
2) Online Course Content and Delivery – This topic has generated the most
off-list responses!
“Have you ever used Blackboard, The Learning Manager, or other online course
platforms for delivering online courses? Is there interest in your state in
developing online professional development courses, but you would like more
information on how to get started? Would you like to discuss online course
development and collaboration, sharing of online courses among states, and
other related questions?

****************************************************************

3) A People’s History of the United States, By Howard Zinn – This topic
generated the most on-list responses!  This activity will be hosted on both
the NIFL-POVRACELIT and NIFL-AALPD lists.  Specific details coming soon!

****************************************************************

4) Research-Based Principles for Adult Basic Education Reading Instruction

and

5) How Teachers Change: A study of Professional Development in Adult Education

”I would like to suggest a guest facilitator who can share with us and discuss
the major findings and implications of the latest NCSALL report called How
Teachers Change: A study of Professional Development in Adult Education. Or,
how about a guest facilitator who can share with us and discuss the major
findings and implications of the NIFL report, Research-Based Principles for
Adult Basic Education Reading Instruction. Would this be possible?

****************************************************************
6) Mentoring

“But what happens when the old guard finally hangs it up? Most of our "secrets
to success" go with us.  That's not to suggest that there aren't great PD
specialists waiting to take our places, but why not explore ways to capture
some of this expertise?

“Barbara,
I just read your email and I want to respond to your question in quotes below.
"But what happens when the old guard finally hangs it up? Most of our "secrets
to success" go with us." I am coordinating an event at EPCC on April 5 that is
designed to provide veteran faculty an opportunity to share their wealth of
expertise with less experienced faculty. I agree, with the great number of
retiring faculty, we need to find ways to draw from that expertise. I have
limited teaching experience and I am anxious to learn from those who are much
wiser.
Peace...Linda

****************************************************************
Additional Resources for Discussion:

7) Learning From Practice

http://www.learningfrompractice.org/default.htm

”That link gets you to

Learning From Practice

Check out the first two links in particular for a variety of
practitioner-based articles. I'm using one on small group instruction for an
in-service we'll be holding in March.


8) An Institute on Research in Practice in Adult Literacy held in Canada in
2003 can be accessed at: http://www.nald.ca/fulltext/extpract/extendpr.pdf

A quick skim through indicates that the information/insights gleaned at this
conference are very rich. Perhaps a few folks might find a study of this 82
page document worthwhile.


9) Learner Persistence

(A resource suggested from the Learner Persistence discussion)
“For those of you interested in both professional development and in NCSALL's
research on learner persistence, we have recently developed a study circle
guide for conducting a 9 hour study circle (three 3-hour sessions) for adult
education and literacy teachers, focused on the learner persistence research.
You can download it and use the step-by-step guide to conduct professional
development on this topic for teachers in your state or program. It's
available at http://ncsall.gse.harvard.edu/teach/lp.pdf. Or go to NCSALL's
website
(http://ncsall.gse.harvard.edu), choose "Teaching and Training Materials" from
our home page, then scroll down until you see the Learner Persistence Study
Circle under ‘Training Materials’.



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