Thanks for sharing this Nancy, I went to the site and AlphaRoute looks
like a tremendous resource. Of particular interest to me are the
specific technological skills that you teach students as part of the
certificate course.

Do others on the list have a set of technological skills that you feel
it is important to provide instruction for? 

Best,
Mariann


Mariann Fedele
Director,
NYC Regional Adult Education Network
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


-----Original Message-----
From: technology-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:technology-bounces at nifl.gov]
On Behalf Of nancy.friday at alphaplus.ca
Sent: Thursday, May 17, 2007 9:39 AM
To: The Technology and Literacy Discussion List
Subject: [Technology 1014] Re: technological literacy question






Hi,

I have been subscribed to and reading this list serv with great interest
for a
long, long time and never posted.

I work at the AlphaPlus Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada as
coordinator of
AlphaRoute, an online learning environment for adult literacy students.
AlphaRoute has been developed over the past 11 years now as a closed
Web-based
learning space that welcomes and enables adult literacy students to
explore
learning in a virtual way, learn about email, chat rooms, dicussion
forums,
self-managed and mentor-supported learning.  Over the past three years
we have
introduced short (4 week long) online courses to students so they can
try out
and hone skills needed to be successful and familiar with the basics of
online
courses.  The first two years of the online courses were presented
within the
WebBoard discussion system used to host AlphaRoute discussions and chat.
This
year we are using Moodle, a course management system that we know is
used in
many colleges for courses.

Course topics over the three years have included poetry appreciation
(very
popular), First Nations storytelling, Using the Internet to find work,
Using the
Internet for research, improving multiplication skills, learning about
health,
reviewing books. Generally about 100 students enroll in the courses and
about 30
complete the course and achieve a certificate of participation.

The skills we typically list on the certificate are:
-Navigate Web sites, manage links, pop-up windows, drop-down menus, and
button
choices
-Post and reply to messages within an online forum, includes type, edit
and
thread messages, use emoticons, use the html editor
-Manage time within an online course
-Navigate the Moodle online course environment
-Use online course features such as online quizzes, surveys, resources,
messaging and forums successfully
-Confidence in taking further online courses
-Participate in an evaluation activity

When we were offering the online courses using WebBoard, Tracey Mollins,
the
course developer created supporting web sites to help students find the
weekly
work.  You can visit these sites and learning more about our online
courses
(even view a sample certificate at www.resources.alpharoute.org    Oen
the
Resources button and go to Online courses for adult literacy students.

You can sign up as a trial user in AlphaRoute as well, but trial access
won't
give you access to the email, discussions, chat rooms or online courses.

AlphaRoute has been available free to 300 literacy programs across
Ontario for 7
years now as well as a growing number of literacy programs across
Canada.  It is
a collection of Web-Based learning activities, not a curriculum.

There is a public scaled down version of AlphaRoute at
http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/training/literacy/online.html
that your students can access anytime.

Nancy Friday
AlphaRoute Coordinator
AlphaPlus Centre



"Mariann Fedele" <MariannF at lacnyc.org> on 05/16/2007 04:15:45 PM

Please respond to The Technology and Literacy Discussion List
      <technology at nifl.gov>
 

 

 



                                                              
                                                              
                                                              
 To:      "The Technology and Literacy Discussion List"       
          <technology at nifl.gov>                               
                                                              
 cc:      (bcc: Nancy Friday)                                 
                                                              
                                                              
                                                              
 Subject: [Technology 1011]  technological literacy question  
                                                              







Hello Tech list colleagues,

Is any one on the list doing work on technological literacy with
students? If so how are you defining it, and how are you teaching it?
Are there any resources you recommend?

Even if you aren't doing anything instructional around technological
literacy what are your thoughts on how it should be defined and what
should be taught?



Mariann Fedele

Director,

NYC Regional Adult Education Network

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