Hi Tommy and others,

On Nov 22, 2005, at 11:18 AM, Tommy B McDonell wrote:


> Do we really know how many people have access to technology of any  

> kind?


Yes, we do, and the percentage of people in the U.S. who have access  
to computers, to the Internet, and even broadband has increased  
significantly.

"On a typical day at the end of 2004, some 70 million American adults  
logged onto the Internet to use email, get news, access government  
information, check out health and medical information, participate in  
auctions, book travel reservations, research their genealogy, gamble,  
seek out romantic partners, and engage in countless other activities.  
That represents a 37 percent increase from the 51 million Americans  
who were online on an average day in 2000 when the Pew Internet &  
American Life Project began its study of online life."

"The Web has become the “new normal” in the American way of life;  
those who don’t go online constitute an ever-shrinking minority. And  
as the online population has grown rapidly, its composition has  
changed rapidly. At the infant stage, the Internet’s user population  
was dominated by young, white men who had high incomes and plenty of  
education. As it passed into its childhood years in 1999 and 2000,  
the population went mainstream; women reached parity and then  
overtook men online, lots more minority families joined the party,  
and more people with modest levels of income and education came online."

Pew internet and American life Project, Reports: Internet Evolution  
http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/148/report_display.asp


> I wonder if we really use the telephone enough in teaching. It was  

> used more than 40 years ago in PA for distance ed, before we thought

> the computer was only way to teach.


In addition to the ubiquitous cell phone, Internet telephony (Skype  
and Gizmoproject, for example) make free or very low-cost long  
distance telephoning a reality now.  Although it's better with  
broadband, it can be used with dial-up.  This means that it would be  
possible to have a 24/7/365 worldwide telephone tutoring service  
which accompanied CD or DVD, online or TV broadcast curriculum and  
instruction products.  For example, with internet telephony and an  
online English language learning program an ELL(ESL/ESOL)  
intermediate level student could have real-time telephone group  
language learning (a class by telephone) and tutorials (by telephone,  
e-mail, and/or instant message) while pursuing video-driven lessons.  
All from home or work.  Is this futuristic?  No.  It can be done  
(maybe is being done) now.  Using (free) English For All, Crossroads  
Cafe, or Connect with English, for example, and an online tutoring  
service (note real teachers and tutors are required, not natural  
language databases!), if there were sufficient demand telephone ELL  
classes could be offered by currriculum level several times a day and  
students could log in to a convenient class or change to a different  
class schedule as needed.  Teachers (from all continents) could teach  
24 hours a day. a student in the U.S. who wanted a class at 2:00 A.M.  
could ahve a wide-awake teacher online or by phone from the  
Philippines or Australia, for example.

ELL students -- to an even greater degree than ABE students -- have  
(and increasingly are getting) broadband access because free  
telephony means they can save on long distance phone calls to family  
and friends  back home. Internet telephony and desktop  
videoconferencing are "killer applications" for those with family and  
friends overseas.  In some cases the investment in a computer and Web  
access pays for itself in months. (ELL teachers -- have you asked  
your students how many have access to the web at home?  What do they  
say?)


> Could we start a grass roots "something" that would prepare for  

> something like this, while other "experts" are supposedly planning  

> what to do?


Yes -- what I have described above could be done to some extent on a  
smaller scale in a city or state.  For example, Portland State  
University, as follow up to an adult education longitudinal study  
(Reder and Strawn), is designing a Web portal that does some of this  
-- anyone have more information on that?  And how about Alpha Plus/ 
Alpha Route -- to what extent does is that an example of this?  What  
else is there?

The National Adult Literacy Agency in Ireland (NALA) has TV ABE  
programs (with free accompanying print materials)  which are so  
popular that they have better ratings than some soap operas, and they  
are broadcast in prime time.  They did some research a year or two  
ago to find out if participants wanted to enroll in programs (they  
call them "schemes") and learned that participants did not -- because  
they had been in programs and found TV learning more suitable, or  
because they didn't want anyone in their village to know they  
couldn't read.  When asked if they wanted a telephone tutor -- once  
it was explained what that meant -- most were interested.  I wonder  
if NALA are offering telephone tutoring now.  Does anyone know if  
telephone tutoring is being offered in adult education anywhere?
If so, please let us know.

David J. Rosen
djrosen at comcast.net