HI Steve!  Great to be doing a long term study...

Have you had students in your programs who move in and out of
participation because of changing needs or life circumstances?  Yes all
the time for the last 37 years.  Many return again at other sites and
some return to the same site.  

 

Have you tried to find ways to stay in touch with and support them even
when they stop coming to class?  Yes, we tracked our family literacy
parents from an Even Start Program in Salem.  We interviewed these
families 10 years after.  I still have contact with about 20 of the
families so I am regularly updated.  Some have trouble still with health
issues and maintaining employment.

 

Have they told you about friends or family members who would like to
come to classes if other things weren't getting in the way?  Yes and
talked about what type of program or tutoring might work for them, and
which instructors.

 

 Have you tried ways to "blend" activities in your program with learning
activities that students could carry out on their own?  Yes, take home
tasks such as emergency evacuation plans for fires and floods, etc.

 

What role do you see for technology in blending program- and
self-directed learning activities for improving basic skills? I think
that On line choices have been a huge bonus for students.  Many have
access to computers through libraries and their on PC's.

 

________________________________

From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Steve Reder
Sent: Monday, January 22, 2007 7:59 AM
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 601] introduction

 

Hi everyone,

  Let me introduce myself and our study a bit.  I'm Steve Reder.  I'm a
professor of applied linguistics at Portland State University.  My
research and teaching interests center around how adults develop
literacy and language abilities.  The project we're discussing this
week, the Longitudinal Study of Adult Learning (LSAL), has been
following a sample of about 1,000 adults from the target population for
adult education over the past 8-9 years.  There are a couple things that
make this study unique within our field.  We are following adults who
may or may not participate in adult literacy education programs rather
than just program participants.  We periodically interview our "panel"
of subjects -- and assess their literacy skills and practices -
regardless of whether they are in programs.  We conduct in-depth
qualitative interviews with some of individuals to complement the more
formal interviews and assessments, helping us to interpret the patterns
of change we see in the quantitative data.  When individuals move - as
they often do - during the course of this longitudinal study, we attempt
to follow them.  So far we have retained and continued to follow about
90% of our original sample over this long period of time, even though
some individuals have moved away, a few may have gone to jail or prison,
many experienced major changes in family and job situations, weathered a
significant recession, and in general displayed great richness and
diversity in their unfolding adult lives.

  The LSAL data give us a new view of the learners who come to programs
as well as of their counterparts who do not come to programs.  This
gives us a broad perspective on individuals' decisions to participate or
not, and over time, a new perspective on patterns of participation and
other learning activities as people move in and out of programs.  From
what we are seeing so far, there is a "swirl" of learning activities
that surrounds programs, with adults engaged in a rich variety of
learning experiences to improve their basic skills or prepare for the
GED.  Some adults in this "swirl" come to our programs, whereas others
may not because of job, family or other constraints.  By considering
this broader "swirl" of learning activity, we see higher rates of
participation and more persistence of learning than if we take the more
traditional program-based view of learning.  We are trying to think
about how programs may be able to broaden their outreach and support of
these additional learners and this additional learning.  

  Here are a few questions to think about as we discuss this issue of
FOB.  Have you had students in your programs who move in and out of
participation because of changing needs or life circumstances?  Have you
tried to find ways to stay in touch with and support them even when they
stop coming to class?  Have they told you about friends or family
members who would like to come to classes if other things weren't
getting in the way?  Have you tried ways to "blend" activities in your
program with learning activities that students could carry out on their
own?  What role do you see for technology in blending program- and
self-directed learning activities for improving basic skills?

-Steve Reder    

  

  

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