Colleagues,

I asked Tom to respond to Bonnie's question about cost and grades, etc.
for the course:



Regarding the self-study course, there is no cost, no grades, and no
CEUs from me, though any institution or organization that wants to give
some credits can feel free to do so. 

Tom Sticht




>

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

> From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov]

> On Behalf Of Bonnie Odiorne

> Sent: Tuesday, February 27, 2007 12:12 AM

> To: The Assessment Discussion List

> Subject: [Assessment 674] Re: Online Prof Dev course

>

> Is there a cost, grading, or CEUs associated with this course. It

souds

> wonderful, even though I'm currently not in an adult education program

> per se, but a lot of our college students are under prepared; there's

a

> huge skills gap that faculty initiatives are beginning to address; if

> anyone has any research related not just to "multi-level" but more

like

> "differentiated"--in terms of metacognitive skills levels in "being a

> good student," being intrinsically motivated, as well as more

measurable

> "conventional" skills. We're trying to add to a college success

seminar

> for freshmen a lot of self-assessment in "soft skills" and align them

> with college success and career success.

> ----- Original Message --

> To: Assessment at nifl.gov

> Sent: Sunday, February 25, 2007 11:43:30 AM

> Subject: [Assessment 668] Online Prof Dev course

> Colleagues,

>

> The following opportunity from Tom Sticht for an on-line course of

self

> study in ABE may be of interest to many of you on the List.

>

> Marie Cora

> Assessment Discussion List Moderator

>

> **********

>

> February 23, 2007

>

> Adult Education and Literacy in the United States:

> A Syllabus and Resources for an Online Course of Self-Study

>

> Tom Sticht

> International Consultant in Adult Education

>

> Each year many people start work in adult education and literacy

> development

> without much background in the field. Others who have worked in the

> field

> for a while may wish to deepen their knowledge of the field. To give

> people

> a chance to learn more about the field and its history, policies,

> practices

> and issues that it deals with I have developed this syllabus for

> self-study. It provides guidance to 12 reports of mine which are

> available

> for free downloading online. Reading one report a week will provide a

> one

> semester, 12 week course of self-study. Except for number 1.1, these

> resources are located online at www.nald.ca <http://www.nald.ca/>  at

> the Library pages for the

> site. To find any of these resources search the NALD Library pages

using

> Sticht for my last name, or google my name and the title of the

report.

>

> Syllabus and Resources

>

> Part 1: History of and Perspective on the Adult Education and Literacy

> System (AELS) of the United States

>

> 1.1. The Rise of the Adult Education and Literacy System in the United

> States: 1600-2000. [ A 400 year history of activities leading to the

> Adult

> Education Act of 1966 and the emergence of the present day AELS with

> organizations and individuals involved in this rise. Online at

> www.ncsall.net/?id=576].

>

> 1.2. Beyond 2000: Future Directions for Adult Education.  [Looks at

> social,

> demographic, science, economic and technology trends with implications

> for

> the AELS; examines government and legislative trends with implications

> for

> the future of the AELS.]

>

> 1.3. The  Adult Education  and Literacy System (AELS) in the United

> States:

> Moving From the Margins to the Mainstream of Education. [Includes the

> growing value of the Adult Education  and Literacy System (AELS)  in

the

> new millennium; value of AELS for improving adults' and children's

> health,

> learning and schooling; need for mainstreaming the AELS in U.S.

> education;

> strengthening the AELS.]

>

> Part 2. Testing, Assessment, and Accountability in the AELS.

>

> 2.1. Adult Literacy in the United States: A Compendium of Quantitative

> Data

> With Interpretive Comments.  [Presents a developmental theory of

> literacy

> and history of and items from standardized tests in the U.S. including

> military tests from World War I to 1990s and all mass literacy tests

for

> adults from 1930s to the National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS) of

1993,

> which is similar to the NAAL of 2003. Presents data on relationships

of

> parents education to the literacy of their children; relationships of

> adult literacy to occupations; and samples of pre- and post-test gains

> for

> over 30 programs, including longitudinal growth curves for some

> programs.]

>

> 2.2. Accountability in Adult Literacy Education: Focus on Workplace

> Literacy

> Resources for Program Design, Assessment, Testing, & Evaluation.

> [Provides

> knowledge resources for designing, delivering and evaluating workplace

> literacy programs; discusses testing and accountability in adult

> literacy

> programs in the Workforce Education Act of 1998 still in effect as of

> 2007;

> determining how many adults are lacking in workforce literacy: the

> national

> and international adult literacy surveys.]

>

> Part 3. Curriculum Theory With Case Studies Illustrating Applications

to

> Adult Education and Literacy Programs.

>

> 3.1. Functional Context Education: Making learning relevant (1997

> edition).

> [Eight chapters including The Power of Adult Literacy Education; Some

> Challenges of Diversity for Adult Literacy Education. Views On

> Contemporary

> Cognitive Science; Introduction to Functional Context Education;

> Functional

> Context Education and Literacy Instruction; and four case studies in

> applying Functional Context Education to the design of programs that

> integrate (or embed, contextualize) basic skills and vocational or

> parenting education. (workplace literacy, family literacy).]

>

> 3.2. Functional Context Education: Making Learning Relevant in the

21st

> Century (2005 edition). [Functional Context Education (FCE) materials

> available online in several nations; the Adult Literacy and Life

skills

> (ALL) survey, National Adult Assessment of Literacy (NAAL) survey; FCE

> in

> historical perspective, (1860-Present) including Paulo Freire and

> Learner

> Centered, Participatory Literacy Education. Methodologies used in

adult

> literacy research for determining what is relevant to youth and adult

> learners; five case studies illustrating the application of FCE in

> parenting, vocational training, and health literacy.]

>

> Part 4. Listening and Reading Theory and Practice With  Adult Learners

>

> 4.1. Auding and Reading: A Developmental Model. [This is the first

book

> applying modern cognitive science to oracy (listening to and speaking

> language) and its transfer to literacy development with children and

> adults. It presents an early version of Gough's "simple model of

> reading"

> stating that Reading=Decoding+Comprehension (measured by listening).

It

> provides an extensive review of research on language development,

> relationships of listening to reading, and the evaluation of four

> hypotheses

> derived from the simple model presented in the book.

>

> 4.2. Teaching Reading With Adults. [This paper discusses literacy as

the

> mastery of graphics technology. It shows how the basic elements of the

> graphic medium - its relative permanence, its ability to be arrayed in

> space, and its use of the properties of light - work together to

permit

> literates to generate (write) and access (read) massive collections of

> knowledge; to analyze and synthesize discrete information into

coherent

> bodies of knowledge, and to perform complex procedures with accuracy

and

> efficiency.

>

> 4.3. Seven Pioneering Adult Literacy Educators in the History of

> Teaching

> Reading With Adults in the United States.  [Throughout the 20th

century

> both Synthetic and Analytic methods of teaching reading were favored

by

> different adult literacy educators. Favoring the Synthetic or "code"

> methods are Harriet A. Jacobs, J. Duncan Spaeth  and Frank Laubach.

> Favoring the Analytic or "meaning making " methods are Cora Wilson

> Stewart, Paul Witty, Francis P. Robinson, and Septima Poinsette Clark.

> This

> paper discusses teaching innovations introduced by each of these

> pioneers in

> adult literacy education.]

>

> 5. Policy Papers

>

> 5.1. Toward a Multiple Life Cycles Education Policy: Investing in the

> Education of Adults to Improve the Educability of Children. [This

paper

> argues for education policy that recognizes that literacy is

transferred

> across generations from parents to their children. Therefore, we need

to

> have a much larger investment in the education of youth and adults who

> are

> parents or who will be parents. Adult literacy education affects

> multiple

> life cycles. An extensive review is presented of research on early

> childhood education, relationships of parent's education to children's

> literacy, parenting and preschool effectiveness, and other issues.]

>

> 5.2 Reforming Adult Literacy Education: Transforming Local Programs

Into

> National Systems In Canada, the United Kingdom & the United States.

> [Activities are underway in these three nations for transforming adult

> literacy education from a variety of disparate programs into organized

> systems of education for adults. Activities include:1. Scale of Need:

> determining how many adults are in need of adult basic skills

education.

> 2.

> Access to Provision: determining how many adults are aware of, have

> access

> to and enroll in adult literacy education provision. 3. Nature of

> Provision: determining the nature of the delivery system of adult

> literacy

> provision. 4. Quality of Provision: determining the need for improved

> quality. 5. Accountability of Provision: improving methods for

> determining

> student learning and other outcomes.]

>

>

>

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