Valuing Literacy

So now I reflect on what I learned and how I used it. In preparing my study, I first looked at the training manuals we use for teaching computer classes. They use non-contextual learning; they teach students how to perform tasks in a program. When I teach, I try to give my students context for using the skills. The books normally follow a company through their office tasks, and I try to apply these to the students’ everyday work environment. But then I started thinking about the culmination of the training. There isn’t a final exam or grade. I thought about the degree I earned last year for four years’ work at VCU. I wondered if the certificates students receive have value. I do have a bias in that I would like to think that the certificate actually had value for the student and was not simply documentation of completion. My case study was to try to find out if my hopes were realized, so I don’t know that I could be fully objective; I needed to make sure I recognized my biases.

In preparing interviews, I knew that the topic would make it difficult to have direct interviews. I don’t have co-workers to whom I could direct questions, other than the director for the program I teach in. Stephanie, the director of Think Again, was very helpful in telling me about the program, how classes are selected, how faculty are selected, and the purpose of the program. I asked her about the students who take the class, and she indicated that many of them were either currently working in a subject for which they were taking a class or wanted to work in a field and needed some classroom training to get experience before trying to get employment. I prepared questions for interview surveys, because I thought that was the best way to direct questions regarding the training and the resulting certificate. It was a difficult set of questions to craft, because I needed to start with the reason for the training and lead into the value of the certificate itself. I think as a student it would be difficult to answer the latter set of questions simply because most of us don’t really think of setting a value for a piece of paper, so responders would need to think about what that paper represented. This is not something we spend much time reflecting on. My survey had fifteen questions, and I tried to keep them open ended, but there was no question that I was leading them to think about putting value on the certificate. Had I phrased my questions differently, I think I might have been a little more – maybe cynical – about putting value on a piece of paper. It would cause responders to question the value of the training as a whole and the paper as a representation of their efforts. No one wants to think that work they put forth is not of value, so of course they would want to respond that the training, hence the certificate, would have value.

It was difficult conducting phone interviews with hiring managers. Going in asking for information about their employees and how they work to improve their skills is something recruiters and managers would like to put a good face to. Again, no one wants to think that training is of little value in a job, so managers would like to think that the representation of the training, the certificate, would have value. As I discussed training and its value in a corporate environment, I found something I thought I might but was hoping I wouldn’t, from a personal/professional satisfaction perspective. Managers felt that training was helpful, but practical experience was more valuable in most cases. Some certificates, or what they represented, had more value than others. According to one manager, having the ‘initials’ on one’s signature block, made a difference in the perception of an employee. For one company, the staff create a professional plan each year that includes training. This is considered important for all employees, clerical to professional. The recruiters and manager I interviewed were trying to be helpful. I think that asking them to discuss the value of a certificate for training kind of geared them to putting value on it, because it would be defeatist for someone professional to answer that formal training was of little value. 

I would like to have interviewed students who had taken training at some of the local ‘universities’. One school has the tag line, “It’s all about the training”. When I think of college, I think of learning, not training. But looking at some of the offerings online, I saw more of a focus on training for employment, so for these certificates, there would have been more value. I had the opportunity to talk to two people in a medical office who had the type of positions advertised by local ‘colleges’. One had begun in the office as a temp and learned the job as she worked, so when the position was advertised, she had the experience rather than the training, but got the job. The second person had taken the training for the position. She indicated that while the training and certificate helped her get the job, it was a lot of money for a position that could be taught on the job.

Taking the raw data to conclusions was difficult. In the background I kept hearing my voice telling me that there should be a value to the certificates. When I heard neutral comments or read responses in the survey that were not always positive, I was a little dismayed. My vested interest didn’t exactly interfere, but I did try to put the best light on what I heard/received. I had wished that there were a way for students to have had face to face interviews with someone who was more neutral. I’m sure a consideration for them was to please me as the interviewer. The same consideration applies to the recruiters and hiring manager I interviewed. I indicated at the outset what I was going to be discussing, so I’m sure they wanted to put a positive spin on the value of training and the certificate it represented. Most respondents to the survey either provided the certificate to their supervisor for their personnel record or hung it in their office space. The physical representation of their achievement was valuable enough for them to have the reminder in their office. The key words I heard were achievement, accomplishment, commitment, and recognition.

It would not be a stretch to say that coming from a different perspective, that is, different stakeholders could legitimately come to different and valid conclusions. The value of the certificate depended on what the certification was. One recruiter said that the certificate could help, but all three indicated that it would not be a deciding factor. As a stakeholder, hub workers could come to different conclusions. They might find that the certificate helped them find employment or achieve a promotion, but others might find that while the certificate was nice, it didn’t necessarily change their position or perception by others in the organization. As a trainer/educator, yes, I did have my bias hoping to find that all stakeholders would find value in the certificate. My values definitely impacted on my findings. I think like all researchers, we have results we would like to find, and we look for those results in what we receive. It would be interesting to have someone outside the environment look at the survey results and interview answers and see what they came up with. Realistically I have to admit that the certificate as a literacy event has some value to everyone who earns it, but does not always have the value I would like to find.

At some point I may have the opportunity to review this and take it further. Recognizing my position both as a student and a teacher has given me perspective on tangible representation of intangible skills. I read chapter 5 of Belfiore and continued reading into chapter 6.  In it, the authors talk about the social practices of the literacies. I tried looking through this lens at my research. While some of the motivations for literacy learning included recognition, respect, and status – something I heard from my surveys – I also was struck by how my view of the certificate as a literacy event was more managerial than objective. I wanted to think the certificates had value in the workplace. In practice, though, I have formed an opinion that the literacy event meant less than I would have hoped. The theory and the practice were somewhat at odds. Employers in theory would like to have certified employees, but if a student or employee had certified, it did not necessarily empower them. As I read, I wondered if a student would take more initiative in their job as a result of what they had learned. Could a former student question a supervisor with the knowledge they had attained as a result of their training? Could the certification give them more of a voice than they might otherwise have? I am sure this varies in differing work environments. Did it make them a better communicator to co-workers and supervisors? These are questions I don’t have answers to. Did I do critical research? I think to an extent I did. Having read Belfiore again, I think I might look at the literacy another way, as weaving into practice rather than the end result.

So the first semester of my literacy journey ends. I learned that I have so much more to learn, which seems to be the case for every class I take. Thank you all for sharing your knowledge and patience.

Joyce M.

Big Data

"We now generate more data every two days than we did in aggregate from the dawn of early civilization through the beginning of the 21st century...this is called the 'Big Data Revolution'" (Gerencser, 2008).  The words big data revolution  have a frightening overtone, but I don't have a context for what they really mean.  Gerencser (2008) gives a business and security perspective on the meaning; it is disturbing to read about the vulnerabilities of  intellectual property, and our national security, to hackers with criminal intentions.  For some background, Mark Gerencser is a managing partner in a large, defense contracting firm in Northern VA.

I suppose I'm in denial about the ways Google, Facebook, Yahoo, this blog, etc. continually collect information from every key stroke I make.  I'm forced to ask myself if it is a coincidence that I receive marketing ads about specific things I look at while surfing the Internet.  Denial, denial, denial.  Technology is good for us.  That's my story, and I'm sticking to it! 

I recently came across a publication from the U.S. Dept. of Education, Outreach and Technical Assistance Network (OTAN)  Expanding evidence approaches for learning in a digital world (2012) that once again made me face big data.  "This report discusses the promise of sophisticated digital learning systems for collecting and analyzing very large amounts of fine-grained data ("big data") as users interact with systems" (OTAN, 2012).  This is something called education data mining.  To be clear, the "users" who "interact with systems" are our children sitting at their school computers doing their assignments and taking tests.  "Various stakeholders in the education community have different perspectives and needs, but all share an interest in understanding how to use digital learning systems, the data they generate, information, and evidence to address specific challenges in the U.S. education system.  The opportunities digital learning resources create and the data they produce have important implications for each stakeholder group"  (OTAN 2012).  Now I have a vision of children chained to computers that capture every keystroke they make. 

Given my recent discovery of the way literacy is treated as an independent variable that can be quantified and studied, the concept of education data mining gives me pause.  I implied the adult education system could be better run as a business model, however, education data mining points me in a very different direction.  Who are the stakeholders and what is at stake with our education system? 

Education data mining allows for something called design-based implementation research (DBIR).  This is a different way to conduct education research, one that systematically assigns "users" (our children) to random test groups and collects data as it happens (as our children are sitting at their computers in the classroom).   Called "rapid A/B testing," its results  allow digital learning systems (the computers in our children's classrooms) to be enhanced based on the user's input.  I'm over simplifying this because I can't begin to fully understand it, but I think it means the software on the child's computer would adapt based on the way the child responds to prompts.

I'm not able to hide my fear and apprehension about big data, DBIR, and its implications for the future of education.  I read the words "address specific challenges in the U.S. education system" (OTAN, 2012) and I can't help but think it's a challenge we created because we're trying to quantify knowledge and measure it in a way that is self-promoting.  Furthermore, the "specific challenges" include some human elements that are completely overlooked by classroom "learning systems." For one thing, the student must be present to input data.  How does DBIR address the drop out rate?

My naive idea about running adult education as a business seems comforting compared to a big data/DBIR  model in which we can engineer learning (and learners?).  Adult education is going digital with GED testing in 2014.  I think we need to be on the look-out for new "challenges" we will create from that data.  I need to remind myself to question the Truth, question the ideology, and question what is at stake. 

Thank, Susan.






 

Viewing My Teaching

I teach computers. That's what I tell people I do for a living. In the past I've defined myself as a trainer, because that's what job descriptions called what I do. Years ago I took career counseling and one of the main recommendations was that I teach people to do their jobs. Twenty five years later, that's what I do. I think I do it well, although I always question my abilities after a difficult class (don't we all?). Now my sense of self sees a teacher. I thought I taught computer literacy, but Coiro points out that the digital literacy is so much more. In interviewing supervisors and managers, digital literacy was being able 'to tell a story with the software'. I actually heard that twice, in reference to Microsoft Excel. He writes, "Reading purposefully to solve problems using the Internet also means knowing what to pay attention to while being aware of the increasing range of digital techniques . . ." So now I can't even say someone is computer literate if they can work on the computer - they have to be able to understand how to use the computer to learn.

I teach Introduction to Computers and the Internet. I think everyone would be surprised at how difficult it is to teach someone what the internet is. For adults, it's teaching them that they can go somewhere that doesn't exist, get something that doesn't exist, and move it to somewhere that doesn't exist.

And for the record, I spelled reassurance incorrectly on a previous post. I know it's nothing, but it's been bothering me. My bad.


Joyce M.

Changing Face of Literacy

            As I am taking two classes, and find common threads between them, I decided this week I would blog about the face of literacy and the influx of technology.  This previous week my other class, a reading one, asked us to share an image of someone using literacy in technology on Blackboard.  Fresh home from work the other day, my daughter (who is on spring break), was sitting at her laptop chatting on Facebook.  I ran right off with my assignment in mind to retrieve my camera (my phone doesn’t have this level of technology).  Seconds later I had several shots of her using literacy and technology.  Her reaction though surprised me as she asked why what she was doing fit the requirements of my task.  So I sat down with my English major, who is also an editor on the school newspaper, and resisted shaking her.  Facebook is definitely a popular use of technology, and a form of literacy as we have discussed in class.

            Today, on another similar thread, I was riding with my husband on an errand when he made a reference to reading The Blind Side.  If he had suggested we bungee jump off the Empire State building I could not have been more surprised.  You see the key background information you need, besides his fear of heights, includes that the only book I’ve ever seen him read is Howard Stern’s Private Parts.  This being one of the few books I won’t read, my sister gave it to him for Christmas one year wrapped in brown paper, with her own title of choice, Fine Literature.  Truly I don’t even know if he finished Stern’s book, but today I stared at him in shock and said, “You’re reading what?”  “Sure,” he replied and then justified, “It was free.”  I am a bit of a cheapskate so I was sure he felt he needed to justify the cost of buying a book I knew he’d never finish, but I was still stuck on, “You’re reading…”  He expanded, “I got it on the Kindle, when I fly I’ve been reading it.”  Wow.  I sat stupefied still, knowing that given a plane flight, he’d never open a book, but apparently he’d open a Kindle.

            Enter this afternoon, tax season.  So I’m reading screen after screen on my H&R Block At Home tax software, thinking that doing the taxes is getting easier each year I use this software.  I submit it, super, it’s done.  I do my daughter’s return, she’s getting some cash back, super, and it’s done.  I start my son’s and still in my tracks.  He’s a college graduate, living at home, who we still feed.  Oops, I need to go back and un-claim him on our form which has already been submitted.  What a literacy nightmare!  Going backwards, trying to understand how to undo something I did with such confidence.  My blood pressure rises, my husband swears he will do it next year, I curse, I do worse, and I finally break down and call the 800 number.  While my husband, who worries about my blood pressure, talks to someone with no confidence at H&R Block, I continue to curse and stumble through the software.  Finally finding what I need I proceed while my husband falsely tells a stranger how helpful he has been?  It’s now (sort of) done.

            So the face of literacy is changing so much that my English major daughter doesn’t recognize it when she uses it, my husband is now reading a book, and my over confidence in my abilities has been knocked down a few pegs.  All of this technology scares me to some degree when I think of those without technology in our society, or those who cannot access it due to their reading level.  I fear we are soon going to be leaving behind a whole level of our population.  Even in my high school classroom the students are leaving me behind (their cell phones are far beyond mine).  We are urged to teach with technology, but fight over limited lab space, but that is a rant for another day.  Today I’m just going to worry about those that are being left out of literacy because they cannot access technology… sort of like how we won’t be able to read the Declaration of Independence someday because we’ve stopped teaching cursive.

Working with Adults

I teach adults; working with adults is, in my opinion, more difficult than working with children or adolescents. I have taught Sunday School, coached sports, and led Girl Scouts and Cub Scouts. When you work with children (I will use this word to cover both children and adolescents), there is a definite distinction between the leader of the class and the students. When working with adults, there's a different dynamic. The students know they need to be there, but they're not in the habit of taking instruction from a stranger. People are sometimes better computer learners because there's not the interaction between adults requiring social skills. I have to balance what I need to teach them against getting them to accept me as a teacher. I have five minutes at 8:00 a.m. to make these people trust me. I have to give them confidence that they can learn and make them comfortable enough to take instruction from me. When reading Belfiore, I was struck by how the researchers interacted with the employees. In most cases, the researchers learned, rather than taught. Teaching software requires the ability to teach software, not a redundant statement. I know teachers who couldn't teach software, and software users who couldn't teach it. This class is reminding me of why I enjoy my job.

I don't know how much television people watch, but I watch more than my share, and watch it during the daytime. There is a capital D Discourse that is in danger. I see a lot of commercials for online universities. I don't know how much people know about these, but basically you pay up front for your degree and then take classes, most of which, if not all, are online. There's a literacy that's being lost in doing this. The commercials take the position that learning isn't always best in a classroom, that "you're an individual and want to learn your way". As I see it, there's a problem with this. There are literacy skills learned in a classroom that aren't learned if the person is never in a classroom for lectures or discussions. In a classroom setting, you learn to listen and you learn to discuss. If everything is done on someone's own time, they never learn the importance of punctuality or politeness. They don't learn the respect for the professor's knowledge. The student is learning information and using their available skills to complete assignments. I learn so much more than what is being taught in class, and I couldn't get that by being in front of a computer. That's my take on it.

Digital Literacy - Birth Mom Found Through Viral Post

Yahoo! News - ABC News: I was thinking about ADLT 612 class discussion on Identity a few nights ago when I saw this article about a young woman's use of FB as a literacy tool in her search for information about her identity.  Amazing! Birth Mom Found Through Viral Post.

Where the "Web-Deprived" Students Study...

Interesting article from Yahoo! News:

The Web-Deprived Students Study at McDonald's

The Triangle of Digital Literacy and Diversity

As a recent grad from the M.Ed in Adult Learning Literacy track, Susan asked me to contribute to the blog.  I thought I’d try to add to Kristin’s treatment of issues surrounding computer-based GED testing in an article she wrote for the Virginia Adult Learning Resource Center’s Progress newsletter last year.  I see three diverse, and distinctly disjointed digital literacies in adult education with regard to learners, teachers and trainers/academics on a daily basis.  While I have never been enrolled as a student in an ESL or GED program (which would surely give me an improved vantage point), I have spent more than ten years as both an instructor and a trainer in the field.   Honestly working through the mundane logistics of making digital literacy work for everyone may help us cultivate a more democratic approach to adult education that takes into account all three perspectives.  It just so happens that the man who steered me to my very first adult teaching job, Jason Guard, has written about the same topic today on the Distance Education Skill Share blog.

Our learners’ show us all the time their positive attitudes towards technology, though generally they don’t demonstrate much of a grasp of word processing, saving documents, etc.  But even, or sometimes especially, students at the lowest levels of academic literacy (unschooled to third grade equivalent) show the greatest enthusiasm for assistive software that helps them with phonics and pronunciation, reading, writing and basic math.  Fifty year old men who can’t read and have never operated a computer before often pick up the use of a mouse and some commands like “enter,” “shift” and “backspace” within days of beginning school.  Soon they’re working independently for short periods in multi-level classes when the instructor has to address higher functioning students.  Nineteen year olds happily watch Khan Academy videos about equivalent fractions on laptops.  ESL learners willingly struggle to write up autobiographical Language Experience Approach (LEA) paragraphs with the help of a typing-to-speech program.  Adult education teachers sometimes underestimate these learners just because their incoming digital literacy hovers at low levels, overlooking their openness to, and enthusiasm for technology.

While instructors’ own levels of digital literacy are somewhat higher than those of their students, the scenarios just described are still not easy to realize.  They exhaust the most resourceful and energetic adult literacy practitioners.  The phonics program was likely borrowed from an Exceptional Education teacher, but a local school IT person needed to be physically present to load and authorize running the executable files that make it interactive.  The Khan Academy videos had to be downloaded by the teacher at home since any site with streaming content is blocked by the school or municipal system’s filters.  School and government organizations’ Flash Player and Java often run several iterations behind even when content’s not blocked, rendering sites like Teacher Tube and aggregator like United Streaming non-viewable.  Older urban and isolated rural regions lack the infrastructure for the required bandwidth too, making synchronous or simultaneous classroom eLearning difficult.   The older desktops couldn’t play mp4s, so they could only be watched on the single newer laptop.  When looking up LEA lessons before class, the teacher encountered numerous firewalls against sites with online storage (such as Google docs) or those that contain the flagged words “blog” or “lyrics.” Messages popped up warning that the requested sites violated the Internet acceptable usage policy of the school system or county government.  A large number of adult education programs in Virginia are located institutionally, physically, and in terms of funding within K12 school systems and correctional facilities that present all these obstacles to digital literacy.  So who wouldn’t give teachers a pass on integrating technology?  It would be so much easier simply to run off more copies like they’ve always done. 

With all that in mind, imagine instructors’ responses when the latest scholarly articles circulated by professional development organizations and presented at annual conferences recommend using Facebook, YouTube, Skype and Twitter in the adult literacy classroom to enhance language acquisition or numeracy.  While this cutting edge discourse fascinates and inspires graduate students like us, it also fosters cynicism in the field.  Trainers keep us up to date on ‘what works’ for adult learners under optimum conditions, yet they must resist presenting technology integration as an easy fix.  To the contrary, practitioners’ efforts at successful implementation open a Pandora’s Box of daily institutional and emotional barriers.  Technological best-case advice from the perceived ivory tower jaundices whatever’s left of practitioners’ will to implement computer-facilitated learning.  The field is looking for clear-eyed, setting specific, realistic guidance.  When they don’t get it, a loop is inadvertently created whereby teachers dismiss technology-related professional development, while trainers become increasingly frustrated with what they perceive as instructors’ recalcitrance towards new ideas.

So promoting digital literacy in the obtuse triangular paradigm of the academy, the field and literacy learners is not actually easier, but it is our professional duty.  We demonstrate our efficacy to our students and likely improve retention when we stay abreast of educational technology.  We model persistence and problem solving when we overcome challenges associated with ensuring digital literacy in real time, in the presences of our learners.  In the spirit of King, on this MLK day, consider that true participatory democracy now necessitates this new kind of literacy, and that facilitating it is one way that we, as adult educators, can show that our moral development actively strives to catch up to our “technological abundance.”

Defining Digital Literacy

Adult education programs often fall short of addressing the digital literacy needs of low educated, low literacy English language learners, many of whom may not have Internet access on demand. Adult ed programs do a decent job of providing access through libraries, skill source centers, and adult education settings, however, access is only the beginning. Digital literacy encompasses a skill set that must be learned and practiced so that it can be put to use in an online setting. To that end, digital literacy is a competency for teachers, too. It is not enough to publish lofty goals for adult education programs using buzz words such as 21st century skills or technology integration without a professional development component. The most needy learners require skilled teachers. Program resources devoted to data collection and reporting do not address the digital literacy needs of these learners or their teachers. Valid data and program success, in this writer's opinion, begin with teachers.

I've been following blogs and postings by David Rosen, who pointed me in the direction of a technology self-assessment tool http://www.adultedonline.org/index.cfm If you want to assess your own digital literacy skills / technology integration, give it a try. Furthermore, I am sharing David's definition of digital literacy. I think his words get to the heart of what it means to be digitally literate, for us and our adult learners.

re-posted courtesy of David Rosen  http://davidjrosen.wordpress.com 

At one end of the spectrum digital literacy means basic comfort and competence in using computers, smart phones, electronic tablets, and other web-accessible devices. Toward the other end it means what some call information literacy, the ability to judge the quality of information one receives through electronic means. If literacy is getting meaning from print, then digital literacy is getting basic meaning from what you read — or have read out loud to you – through the use of a digital electronic device. It is also, at the higher end of the spectrum, sorting out wheat from chaff, using the higher order thinking skills of analysis, synthesis, and evaluation.

For me digital literacy involves reading widely, keeping informed, knowing when and how to be critical and when to embrace new information, new ideas. It also means how to approach new technologies – hardware and software – skeptically, fearlessly, and with enthusiasm. It means being limber in how one thinks, agile in using technology, expecting as normal seismic shifts in new information and communication tools.

Digital literacy is also fun. Unlike print literacy, we expect through digital literacy to be offered visual and sound embellishments of text. Digital magazines should be beautiful to see and hear. They should be interactive, with opportunities for talking and writing about what we read with others.

Digital literacy opens a door to digital learning. We are seeing the dawn of online courses, digital chautauquas and online study circles. We are also seeing the early stages of using digital technologies to learn anywhere, anytime, and as fast or slowly as one wants, with more easily accessible and better learning resources.

David J. Rosen, Ed.D. is President of Newsome Associates in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts. His interests include integrating technology in the adult education classroom, using technology for learning outside the classroom, and education and employment for out-of-school youth. He is an implementation advisor for the Learner Web, a major national adult learner support initiative.

Yahoo! News No Book Library?

Yahoo! News Yahoo News No Book Library

Any thoughts?