Hi Mariann
Unlike the US in New Zealand  we do not have to use standardised tests for funding purposes - funders have different measures. 
However there is a group currently producing Learning Progressions which are linked to some draft Descriptive Standards developed by our Ministry of Education (loosely based on the EFF standards) and we anticpate they will be used in a similar way to your NRS. 
We did trial a developmental tool  the Adult Literacy Achievement Framework here is New Zealand a couple of years ago but it was a tool for having a conversation with learners about progress,  which practitioners  thought was great but it showed up a huge need for professional development. Also as there is a big push on improving quality in adult literacy ,language and numeracy in New Zealand  I remember having a conversation with Graeme about the various stages in the Framework - developing, consolidating and I think competent ( can't recall ) and describing it like what we would call a jelly - starts off liquid, then starts to set and then  sets and Graeme said to me he would always be like the wobbly jelly when it came to reading - never quite set which I thought was a good example of meta cognition
Like a lot of poor readers Graeme has this view that reading is about sitting down with a book and reading it from cover to cover. He doesn't see all the 'reading' he does as part of his day and when we say to him he is 'reading' Trade Me he really doesn't see it as 'real' reading. 
There is no doubt that the number of sight words that Graeme can read has increased significantly and he is confident to enter the website and negotiate his way around. He can read short pieces of text related to the site and has transferred this to other similar sites. He has increased the range of strategies he uses for comprehension  and can articulate a few  of those strategies.  But as far as Graeme is concerned he is still not a reader  
Another key piece of technology for Graeme is his cell phone and he texts a lot
Some years ago he and his then wife divorced and Graeme signed up for online dating services. A lot of the 'intial  meetings' were through text messages and Graeme soon became very adept at using his cell phone for these messages - he likes texting becasue he doesn't have to spell properly and people can usually work out what he is saying. Also texts are limited in size which takes  the pressure off him. Graeme got me to write on a piece of paper that he was dyslexic and he used to use this as an intial message with new contacts so they wouldn't have high expectations of him as a writer. 
 
In New Zealand we are known as early adapters of technology - we have the highest per capita use of cell phones in the Western world but we don't use them as a context or tool  that much in literacy. Practitioners often report being horrified by young people who use text language in their writing. 
 
I really enjoy ther information that comes through the collective wisdom on this listserv
 
Kind regards 
Susan Reid 
Manager , Consultancy Services 
Workbase the New Zealand Centre for Workforce Literacy Development 
www.workbase.org.nz
www.nzliteracyportal.org.nz
 
 

 
________________________________

From: technology-bounces at nifl.gov on behalf of Mariann Fedele
Sent: Tue 10/01/2006 5:03 a.m.
To: The Technology and Literacy Discussion List
Subject: Re: [Technology] Internet Use from Home, Simulations



Thanks for your post Susan,
I was particulary struck by your last statement, "Graeme would have not
done this in any conventional sense but the online shopping site has
changed his view of reading and certainly led to improvements in his
reading abilities in these contexts." Has the improvement in his reading in
the context on-line shopping has that translated in to improved scores on
standardized assessments and/or in his reading ability overall?

For others on the list, do you have any data or anecdotes to share about
students' reading improvement that may be attributed to their introduction
to high interest on-line content and on-line activities? How about in their
literacy practices (i.e. spending more time reading electronic or
traditional texts, reading a greater variety of text materials)?

How about for you personally, has the accessibility and proliferation of
electronic materials led you to read more, improve your own literacy habits?

Regards,
Mariann

At 02:21 PM 1/8/2006 +1300, you wrote:

>Content-class: urn:content-classes:message Content-Type:

>multipart/alternative;         boundary="----_=_NextPart_001_01C613F1.CED66FE6"

>

>

>

>

>



David, Bruce and others
Happy New Year to everyone
this is an Auistralian online banking resource. Obviously the banking
system will be different but it will serve as a useful model for someone in
the US to develop your own resource.
http://www.onlinebanking.org.au/
 
I was interested in what Bruce said about his Russian students and learing
English through online trading sites
Certainly we have had a lot of success wirth that in one of the programmes
where I work. We had an ESB client who was only really motivated to read
because he did up old engines and he was told he could buy parts for them
online through NZ's biggest online shopping site Trademe.
So we went through the process of teaching Graeme the layout of the website
- the various symbols and what they meant, how to use the search engine etc
as well as consumer law which has led to him now using the Internet to
order parts for some obscure pump he is restoring as well as write emails
complaining about goods etc. Graeme would have not done this in any
conventional sense but the online shopping site has changed his view of
reading and certainly led to improvements in his reading abilities in these
contexts.
 
Susan Reid
Manager, Consultancy Services
Workbase New Zealand Centre for Workforce Literacy,
www.workbase.org.nz
www.nzliteracyportal.org.nz
 



Mariann Fedele
Coordinator of Professional Development,
Literacy Assistance Center
Moderator,
NIFL Technology and Literacy Discussion List
32 Broadway 10th Floor
New York, New York 10004
212-803-3325
mariannf at lacnyc.org
www.lacnyc.org

----------------------------------------------------
National Insitute for Literacy
Technology and Literacy mailing list
Technology at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/technology


-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: application/ms-tnef
Size: 9569 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/technology/attachments/20060110/113e60c5/attachment.bin