As a suggestion for examples of workplace curriculum for Adult Basic
Education students that incorporates various modes of technology, the
Working for Success curriculum that our organization developed a few
years ago was based on Workplace Essential Skills found on the KET
website printed below.  Workplace Essential Skills utilizes video,
workbooks, interactive activities and computer to develop communication,
reading, writing and math skills as needed in the workplace.   The
workbooks were often abit too advanced for our low literacy students so
we just used them as guides for classroom group or paired activities so
all students were learning but none were put on the spot to show where
their literacy skills were lacking in class.  Those with very low
literacy were matched with a tutor to work one-to-one outside of the
classroom.  In addition, we collaborated with the local community
college and they taught computer skills so our students had one day a
week spent at a community college atmosphere and learning the basics of
various software necessary for today's workplace.  We also spent Friday
afternoons at the local One Stop Center and worked on job search
techniques - both through computer and in a classroom working on
resumes, etc.

Hope this helps!


KET website is....http://ket.org/enterprise/work/workplace.htm

 For Workplace Essential Skills lessons online, visit the LiteracyLink
web site at www.pbs.org/literacy.


Terri Lynn Bickford
Director, Literacy Volunteers of Chenango County
Opportunities for Chenango, Inc.
44 West Main Street  P.O. Box 470
Norwich, New York 13815
(607) 334-7114  x 273
tbickford at ofcinc.org




-----Original Message-----
From: workplace-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:workplace-bounces at nifl.gov] On
Behalf Of Jenny Lee Utech
Sent: Friday, August 24, 2007 11:58 AM
To: The Workplace Literacy Discussion List
Subject: [Workplace 907] Re: Workplace Literacy Curriculum Development

The suggestions below are excellent. Here are some more:

Mary Ellen Belfiore's publication Understanding Curriculum Development
in the Workplace was published by ABC Canada, which has a series of
excellent publications on developing workplace literacy programs,
including: 
Collaborative Workplace Development: An Overview (Folinsbee and Jurmo);
Collaborative Needs Assessment (Folinsbee and Jurmo); Chronicling the
Learning Curve: Workplace Education Instructors Share their Stories
(Belfiore); The Benefits of Participating in Collaborative Committees
(Belfiore); and Collaborative Evaluation: A Handbook for Workplace
Development Planners (Folinsbee and Jurmo).

A resource developed in Massachusetts, 1999 Workplace Education Guide
(published by the Massachusetts Workplace Literacy Consortium), has
chapters on Planning and Evaluation Teams and curriculum development. It
has been available through SABES / World Education in Boston
(www.sabes.org). They may still have some copies.

Also useful: Belfiore, M.E. and Burnaby, B. 1995. Teaching English in
the Workplace. Toronto: OISE Press. Describes the process of developing
a workplace literacy program, including needs analysis, curriculum
development, oversight committees and program evaluation. Based on the
Canadian experience, but very relevant and useful for any context.

Here are two good resources for teachers. They are aimed at ESOL
(English for Speakers of other Languages) students but would be useful
to anyone who wants to learn about the processes of developing workplace
literacy
curricula:

Auerbach, E. and Wallerstein, N. 2004. Problem-Posing at Work: English
for Action. Edmonton, Alberta: Grass Roots Press. Offers dozens of
problem-posing lessons for teaching ESOL at the work site that encourage
critical thinking, dialogue and student participation. Aimed at
intermediate to advanced levels. Accompanying teacher's guide,
Problem-Posing at Work: 
Popular Educator's Guide (N. Wallerstein and E. Auerbach) describes the
methodologies and approach.

Barndt, D., Belfiore, M.E. and Handscombe, J. 1991. Teaching English at
Work: A Toolkit for Teachers. Syracuse: New Readers Press. Offers
detailed and useful descriptions of how to create contextualized,
work-related curricula for low-level ESOL learners. The kit includes
student book, teacher guide, cassettes, photographs of workers, and
health and safety cartoons.

Jenny Lee Utech
Massachusetts Worker Education Roundtable


----- Original Message -----
From: David J. Rosen
To: The Workplace Literacy Discussion List
Sent: Friday, August 24, 2007 10:06 AM
Subject: [Workplace 894] Workplace Literacy Curriculum Development


Hello Vashti,


I have some suggestions for you if you want to learn about curriculum 
development in workplace literacy education. Perhaps others here could
add 
to my short list.


1) If you haven't yet, read Sheryl Gowen's Politics of Workplace
Literacy.


ERIC Abstract:


This book analyzes the response of employees at a southern [Atlanta] 
hospital to a functional context literacy program. It uses ethnographic 
techniques, storytelling, and observations of workplace relations to 
illustrate how classism, racism, and sexism continue to be part of the 
workplace environment and how these factors contribute to employees' 
resistance to functional context programs. Chapter 1 considers the
literacy 
"crisis" and describes the King Memorial Work Skills Development
Program. 
Chapter 2 contains interpretations of events by management, a
consultant, a 
project director, an instructor, and employees. Chapter 3 considers how
and 
why employees and others interpret the institution as reproducing social

relations in the antebellum past, thus inviting a continuation of 
traditional patterns of resistance. To show the extent to which a
functional 
context approach becomes a method to change knowledge construction and 
display, chapter 4 examines the beliefs about knowledge and literacy
that 
inform this position. Employee resistance to this reformulation is
explored. 
Chapter 5 considers the political and social implications of
work-related 
text for employees as a way to understand their resistance to using it
in 
the ways mainstream culture expects. Chapter 6 describes what employees
want 
from a literacy program at work and how the instructor tries to give
them at 
least part of what they want. An epilogue reports little change in 
employees' lives but several dramatic changes in the hospital.
Ninety-seven 
references and an index are appended. (YLB)


It isn't available from ERIC but you could get it from  a library or 
Amazon.com (used for under $5.00)


2) Learn about the Planning and Evaluation Team model (developed in 
Massachusetts) and anchor curriculum development in the curriculum 
objectives of a team that should be representative of the interests of 
employers, students, education providers, and where applicable organized

labor.


One source of information about this is: http://tinyurl.com/2zftnv  You 
could google "Planning and Evaluation Team" (PET) and Workplace" and
find 
others.  Paul Jurmo, Laura Sperazi, Betsy Bedell, Connie Nelson, Harneen

Chernow, and others have written about the PET.


3) Read  Understanding Curriculum Development in the Workplace by Mary
Ellen 
Belfiore


http://www.nald.ca/fulltext/abc/undcur/undcur.pdf


4) Learn how to conduct an organizational Needs Assessment, a process 
developed by Sue Follinsbee. For example, see
A Guide for Planning and Conducting an Organizational Needs  Assessment
for 
Municipal Workplace Literacy Programs
http://tinyurl.com/2eypqz (. html version, also available from the same 
address in .pdf)


David J. Rosen
djrosen at comcast.net






On Aug 23, 2007, at 4:26 PM, Canty, Vashti E wrote:


Hello my name is Vashti Canty and I am a Student at Georgia State 
University. I am currently getting my Masters in Instructional
Technology. 
Even though I am not directly involved in workplace literacy efforts it
is 
my hope that by subscribing to this list post that I will have a better
idea 
as to how to better service the people I create and design curriculum
for. I 
am currently a technical facilitator (learning facilitator) on special 
assignment working as a learning designer. It is my hope that I can
learn, 
develop, and grow from all of the messages you post and the resources
you 
make able to me.

Vashti Canty
Masters Instructional Tehnology
Georgia State University
vashti.e.canty at delta.com
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