I agree with Barbara.  So much of what we do is preparing adults for
transitions to academic, vocational, or other programs (such as
citizenship).  Whatever the transitions, both the ESL and the other
(academic, vocational, etc.) teacher need to learn from each other.  An
online professional development program would be very helpful, especially
if it included vignettes of actula teaching in a variety of contexts so
that all could get a better sense of what each context entails. One of my
colleagues at UMBC, Joan Kang Shin,  has been developing and presenting
(with a number of other teachers) a series of online modules for ESL and
math, science, and social studies teachers at the high school level.  They
have been met with good response.  She has learned some of the ways of
encouraging interaction and the development of an online learning
community to make the program even more effective.  What she has learned
would work for online professional development programs for teachers of
adults as well.  I have copied her on this message, in case she wants to
add more and also to let others know her email address.

Jodi Crandall

-- 
JoAnn (Jodi) Crandall
Professor of TESOL, Education Department
Director, Ph.D. Program in Language, Literacy & Culture
University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC)
1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250
ph:    410-455-2313/2376  fax:   410-455-8947/1880
email: crandall at umbc.edu
www.umbc.edu/llc/
www.umbc.edu/esol/
www.umbc.edu/esol/peacecorps.html


> I have been reading up on IBEST and I am very impressed with it. The

> professional development training I would suggest is for the training of

> team teachers; i.e. content teachers to learn literacy strategies and for

> literacy teachers to learn how to adapt strategies to content.

>

> Barbara Jacala

> Guam Community College

>

> -----Original Message-----

> From: professionaldevelopment-bounces at nifl.gov

> [mailto:professionaldevelopment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of

> professionaldevelopment-request at nifl.gov

> Sent: Monday, December 29, 2008 3:00 AM

> To: professionaldevelopment at nifl.gov

> Subject: ProfessionalDevelopment Digest, Vol 39, Issue 11

>

> When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific

> than "Re: Contents of ProfessionalDevelopment digest..."

>

>

>

>

> Today's Topics:

>

>    1. [ProfessionalDevelopment 2701] Economic Stimulus and

>       Professional	Development (Jackie A. Taylor)

>    2. [ProfessionalDevelopment 2702] Re: Economic Stimulus and

>       Professional Development (tsticht at znet.com)

>    3. [ProfessionalDevelopment 2703] Re: Economic Stimulus and

>       Professional Development (djrosen1)

>

>

> ----------------------------------------------------------------------

>

> Message: 1

> Date: Sat, 27 Dec 2008 14:05:31 -0600

> From: "Jackie A. Taylor" <jackie at jataylor.net>

> Subject: [ProfessionalDevelopment 2701] Economic Stimulus and

> 	Professional	Development

> To: "The Adult Literacy Professional Development Discussion List"

> 	<professionaldevelopment at nifl.gov>

> Message-ID: <662B8FD89D9FDC49BD319600D3FD9C8901DF9B at neo.ccs-group.net>

> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

>

> Dear Professional Development Colleagues:

>

>

>

> The Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) recommends that the

> Transition Team add $500 million to the economic stimulus package for

> adult education: "Funding should be directed at programs that integrate

> basic skills, English language and occupational training and focus on

> transition to postsecondary education and job training in order to

> ensure that lower-skilled people are not left behind in this labor

> market." http://www.clasp.org/publications/claspbeyondstimulus.pdf

>

>

>

> The National Coalition for Literacy (NCL) and the National Council of

> State Directors of Adult Education (NCSDAE) support this request.

> Congress hopes to have the stimulus package ready when Obama is sworn in

> as President on January 20th.

> http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5g-fho3A_PJJqcnUtiO_ns

> DH_Hd1Q

>

>

>

> If $500 million were included in the stimulus for adult education and we

> had 27 months to spend it, what should be spent on professional

> development in order to help lower-skilled adults go to work and

> experience career success?

>

>

>

> For example, adult educators will need to help adult learners upgrade

> their skills and transition to work without losing sight on those

> learners that are hardest to serve. Adults transitioning to work might

> also follow different career pathways:

>

>

>

> *	Traditional, sequential, linear pathway: Adults enroll first in

> adult education then into postsecondary once the adult learner raises

> his or her basic skills. For example, earning a GED then enrolling into

> postsecondary.

>

>

>

> *	Dual or concurrent enrollment pathways: Adults dually or

> concurrently enroll in basic skills and postsecondary education and

> training. For example, taking welding and math courses, learning the

> welding trade while improving math skills needed for the profession.

>

>

>

> In these (and other) situations, adult educators will need to teach in

> ways that integrate basic skills and postsecondary education and

> training content in the adult education classroom; for example,

> co-teaching with an occupational skills trainer. Tom Sticht recently

> posted two related examples here: Functional Context Education (FCE) and

> Microenterprise Training and Development. See "Learning for Work in Hard

> Times"

> http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/professionaldevelopment/2008/002738.html

>

>

>

> So, a few questions:

>

>

>

> *	What are the considerations for professional development if the

> $500 million stimulus for adult education became an immediate reality?

> *	What additional models already exist that we can learn from?

> *	How would we get up and running as quickly as possible?

>

>

>

> Thanks for your thoughts, and here's to 2009!

>

>

>

> Best wishes...Jackie

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

> Jackie Taylor, Online Facilitator, jackie at jataylor.net

>

> Adult Literacy Professional Development

>

>

>

> Adult Literacy and Language Learning Communities of Practice

>

> http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/discussions.html

>

> National Institute for Literacy www.nifl.gov <http://www.nifl.gov/>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

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> ------------------------------

>

> Message: 2

> Date: Sun, 28 Dec 2008 07:28:34 -0800

> From: tsticht at znet.com

> Subject: [ProfessionalDevelopment 2702] Re: Economic Stimulus and

> 	Professional Development

> To: professionaldevelopment at nifl.gov

> Message-ID: <1230478114.49579b22a7776 at webmail.znet.net>

> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

>

> Jackie and all: The following note includes further information about

> integrated basic skills and vocational education. It includes some links

> that may be of interest regarding professional development in this area.

> Tom Sticht

>

> Integrated Literacy Works! Making Workforce Development Efficient and

> Effective in Industrialized Nations

>

> February 11, 2007

>

> Tom Sticht

> International Consultant in Adult Education

>

> Throughout the industrialized nations of the world, which are fast

> becoming

> the informationalized nations of the world, there is an urgent need to

> up-skill the literacy, numeracy, and English language skills of what are

> increasingly becoming under-skilled workforces. International adult

> literacy surveys showing one- to two-fifths of a nation's workforce with

> lower than expected literacy, numeracy, or English language skills, and an

> emergent globalization of work being sent to lower wage nations have

> heightened the need for effective and efficient ways to help adults

> re-skill, up-skill, and cross-train as jobs shift globally and

> technologically.

>

> One approach to improving the efficiency of basic skills and job skills

> training that is gaining in popularity in developed nations follows what I

> have called a Functional Context Education approach. In this approach,

> basic literacy, numeracy , and English language skills education is

> integrated into, or embedded in, or contextualized within, vocational

> education or job skills training. This approach is more efficient because

> it shortens the learners overall time required to be in education and

> training, and increases the amount of time that can be spent on a job

> providing productive activity in the marketplace and bringing home a

> paycheck. It does this because it removes the need to have learners spend

> time first raising their basic skills to some established level before

> they

> can enter into vocational education. Instead, the integrated approach

> makes

> it possible to both raise basic skills and learn vocational knowledge and

> skills at the same time.

>

> In January 2007 I presented three speeches in the Dublin, Ireland area

> called Integrated Literacy Works! In one speech on 23 January at the

> National University of Ireland (NUI) at Maynooth I summarized a hundred

> years of professional wisdom using Functional Context Education to

> integrate literacy instruction with important skills training such as

> farming, banking, working, and parenting. Then I summarized four lines of

> scientific (quasi-experimental) research from the United States and United

> Kingdom that supports the integrated literacy approach to adult basic

> skills and vocational education.

>

> The foregoing speech was followed by a two hour workshop in which I

> presented four case studies of Functional Context Education integrating

> literacy and vocational education, including methods, materials,

> evaluation, and outcomes. Cases included job training in a large

> organization, vocational English for English Language Learners (ELL/ESOL),

> integrated basic skills and electronics education, and examples of

> materials for integrating literacy and numeracy in five occupational

> education programs: Construction Trades, Automotive Industries,

> Electricity

> & Electronics, Office Technology, & Health Occupations.

>

> Both the speech and the workshop at NUI Maynooth were especially relevant

> on

> 23 January because the university was celebrating the graduates of a

> unique

> certificate program in Integrated Literacy that was jointly sponsored with

> the National Adult Literacy Agency (NALA) in Ireland. NALA was the

> originator of the Integrated Literacy effort in Ireland in which literacy,

> numeracy, and English language skills are taught integrated into

> vocational

> training.

>

> The Integrated Literacy approach developed at NALA was picked-up by adult

> literacy educators in New Zealand, where a recent report on integrating

> literacy in other courses was developed. In a policy-oriented speech on 24

> January for a group of policymakers and literacy education sponsors I

> spoke

> about the international efforts at integrated literacy in Australia,

> Canada,

> New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. In the UK

> Integrated

> Literacy is referred to as Embedded Literacy and I reviewed recent

> research

> showing that the greater the extent of embedding of literacy into

> vocational training, the greater the completion rates, achievements of

> qualifications, and other important outcomes for both literacy and

> vocational qualifications.

>

> In the policy-oriented presentation I also reviewed the use of Functional

> Context Education with integrated/embedded/contextualized literacy and

> special subject matter content in job training in a large organization,

> vocational English for English Language Learners (ELL/ESOL), electronics

> education, and occupational education.

>

> Implications were drawn for a policy and strategy on vocational and

> work-related education and training, based on Functional Context Education

> principles, including integrated literacy, numeracy, and English language

> education, which provide multiple returns to investments in adult literacy

> education. These "multiplier effects" of Functional Context Education go

> beyond the training in literacy, numeracy, English language and

> work/vocational skills and tend to return benefits in health, community

> activity, and, importantly, in parenting and grand-parenting that helps

> children with their school learning.

>

> Ireland's NALA has produced a very important set of products for adult

> educators showing how to integrate literacy with vocational training, and

> it has pioneered a university level certificate program at a prestigious

> university for the professional development of adult educators who can

> work

> to integrate basic skills and jobs skills training. These activities

> provide

> a solid model for workforce development in our globalized world.

>

> Given the increasing need for both basic skills and work-related skills in

> industrialized/informationalized nations, integrated literacy education

> provides a cost-beneficial approach for more rapidly advancing adults into

> the work they want and with the basic skills they need. In short,

> Integrated Literacy Works!

>

> Online Resources:

>

> For NALA's resources on integrating literacy go to www.nala.ie and click

> on

> Projects to find Integrating Literacy into Further Education and

> Vocational

> Training; under NALA's Publications search for Integrating Literacy

> Guidelines. For Functional Context Education reports go to

> www.nald.ca/fulltext/fce/cover.htm and see Functional Context Education:

> Making Learning Relevant in the 21st Century. Chapter 2 in this report

> provides information about integrated/embedded/contextualized literacy in

> six industrialized/informationalized nations. For integrated literacy in

> New Zealand go to www.workbase.org.nz and search publications for a guide

> to integrating literacy into other courses. For embedded literacy in the

> United Kingdom go to www.nrdc.org.uk

>

> Thomas G. Sticht

> International Consultant in Adult Education

> 2062 Valley View Blvd.

> El Cajon, CA 92019-2059

> Tel/fax: (619) 444-9133

> Email: tsticht at aznet.net

>

>

>

> ------------------------------

>

> Message: 3

> Date: Sun, 28 Dec 2008 09:12:26 -0500

> From: djrosen1 <djrosen1 at gmail.com>

> Subject: [ProfessionalDevelopment 2703] Re: Economic Stimulus and

> 	Professional Development

> To: The Adult Literacy Professional Development Discussion List

> 	<professionaldevelopment at nifl.gov>

> Message-ID: <49091A36-2FAB-4B63-8A58-8E4E4623BFC0 at gmail.com>

> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="windows-1252"

>

> Colleagues,

>

> On Dec 27, 2008, at 3:05 PM, Jackie A. Taylor wrote:

>

> So, a few questions:

>

> What are the considerations for professional development if the $500

> million stimulus for adult education became an immediate reality?

>

> ? Massachusetts many years ago decided that 10% of its state and

> federal adult education funding should be used for professional

> development. I think that's a guideline that should be recommended to

> other states in all new federal funding.

>

> ? We (professional developers, practitioners) need federal funding

> for a national research center specifically for adult literacy

> education (like NCSALL).

>

> What additional models already exist that we can learn from?

>

> One of the adult literacy education delivery models that has great

> promise, but that will require significant new and additional

> professional development ,is online learning. This is especially

> useful for programs that involve initial face-to-face training and/or

> education and then job placement, where there is still need for

> continued education once the person is working, but because of the

> work schedule there is not much opportunity to attend classes. A

> blended model, that involves some face-to-face, perhaps one or two

> Saturdays a month, and 4-10 hours a week of online learning might be

> an ideal model for some people in this situation. Currently there are

> very few adult literacy education teachers who have been trained to

> do online learning well. If online or blended learning significantly

> expands, there will be a "labor shortage" of these teachers.

>

> How would we get up and running as quickly as possible?

>

> We are now close to having final AALPD standards for professional

> development. Using those standards as a touchstone, and the knowledge

> gained by Project IDEAL, the Health Care Learning Network in

> Massachusetts, The McDonald's Corporation's English Under the Arches,

> programs that have used English for All (and now USA Learns) and

> other online and blended learning models, perhaps we could discuss

> here -- and archive on the ALE Wiki -- some design principles,

> objectives and content areas for training/professional development in

> online teaching. Has someone already done (or begun) that?

>

> If there were a small group of people who were interested not just in

> discussing this, but also working on developing a PD design for

> online adult literacy education teaching, perhaps they could organize

> themselves in an online workgroup (using Officezilla, Community Zero,

> a Google or Yahoo group and/or a wiki). We could discuss that here, too.

>

>

> David J. Rosen

> DJRosen at theworld.com

>

>

>

>

>

>

> David J. Rosen

> djrosen1 at gmail.com

>

>

>

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> nt

>

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