Wow, David; you present an interesting (& not too far-fetched!)
scenario. I had not considered that distance education could become an
essential part of dealing with some kinds of emergency & emergency
recovery.

I live & work in a rural part of Canada, where I support distance
education at the literacy & postsecondary levels. I have had quite a bit
of experience working with AlphaPlus (AlphaRoute delivery) so perhaps I
can speak to that... AlphaRoute is an incredible collection of online
literacy learning resources and learning objects, but it makes no claims
about being a full literacy 'curriculum'. The literacy learner still
requires, in most cases, a tutor/mentor who can put the online
activities into some sort of context that makes sense to the learner.
The system is well-designed so that the mentor can communicate with the
learner online (there is an embedded, simple-to-use email program) but
if we were physically isolated (e.g. by quarantine) for more than a week
or two, I expect the learning experience would suffer.

So in answer to your question: what's missing in our current systems? I
would respond: a strong virtual community that can sustain the learner
through periods of physical separation, or at least until the learner
develops a sense of virtual identity & of 'being' online. I would LOVE
to do some research on this: what kinds of activities create a sense of
community online? There's been quite a bit done in this area for
postsecondary learners, but what's effective for literacy learners? I
think we need to go beyond the notion of just creating an "online
learning community" (lots on that) -- we need to research strategies
that will bring the literacy learner's existing community (maybe just
the family during a quarantine) into the fold. Stream of conciousness
here: I think we need to find ways to overlap the learner's current
community with their learning community. This, of course, is not just
true for distance learning modalities but for any kind of literacy
learning venture. But we will have to think outside the box to make this
work for distance education.

I agree with some of the other posters on this topic that we can't rely
on internet alone (certainly not just broadband) although a scenario
like this certainly adds some meat to the argument that internet access
is quickly becoming an 'essential service'...

-------------------
Gina Bennett
eLearning Support & Coordination
College of the Rockies
Box 8500
Cranbrook, BC  V1C 5L7
250.489.8287


-----Original Message-----
From: technology-bounces at dev.nifl.gov
[mailto:technology-bounces at dev.nifl.gov] On Behalf Of David Rosen
Sent: November 22, 2005 9:03 AM
To: The Discussion List Technology & Literacy
Subject: [Technology] Distance learning -- an option or a necessity?


Technology Colleagues,

Indulge me.  This post may seem a bit of a stretch, but that's what a  
discussion forum is for -- a place to try out ideas. It also follows  
from a discussion here earlier this year on adult education distance  
learning.

I have been thinking about Asian Bird Flu.  I hope the predicted  
epidemic does not come to pass, or if it does, that its scope is  
tiny; but many experts claim that it is inevitable, and at a scale  
that could be between 5 and 50 million people afflicted.  In earlier  
world epidemics, for safety reasons public gathering places were  
closed or limited to only those that were essential.  Schools were  
closed.

Suppose schools in North America or in other parts of the world  
actually were all closed, including all adult education schools and  
programs.  Suppose adult education could only take place by Internet,  
TV broadcast, radio broadcast, CDROM or DVD,  and telephone. Those  
with experience in delivering adult education at a distance -- many  
of you on this list -- would be asked to step forward and think  
through how to organize this adult education distance learning  
delivery system.

I have been thinking about this, and would like to invite you to  
think about it, too.  What would be needed to deliver all adult  
literacy education (including English language learning) by  
Internet?  What would the issues be?

* Access from home, including broadband access
* Good content online in all areas, all levels: ELL, basic literacy,  
ABE, ASE, Transition to higher ed, etc.
* Counseling
* Online training for participants using online learning -- including  
technology skills
* Online teachers/facilitators recruitment and initial training *
Ongoing professional development and training for online facilitators *
An online assessment system * An online MIS * How to provide services to
low-literate adults and beginning level  
English language learners

What else?

How should this be organized? By community? By state? Nationally?  
Internationally? Some other way?

What pieces of such a distance learning system do we have now?  Can  
some of the Project IDEAL states -- and Florida, California and other  
states which may be doing distance learning -- do some of this -- or  
all of it now?  If so, tell us what is in place in these states.   
Could Alpha Plus or other Canadian models point the way? What about  
Australian and Irish (NALS) distance learning models?

Let's think together on this one, hoping we never have to use such as  
system under such calamitous conditions, but through the thinking and  
planning being prepared.  It may also suggest some things we should  
be doing whether there is an epidemic or not.

David J. Rosen
djrosen at comcast.net



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