UDL

Universal design.  The first time I heard about UD was at a conference for persons with disabilities in Hermisilio, Mexico.  Based on principles "developed in 1997 by a working group of architects, product designers, engineers and environmental design researchers, led by the late Ronald Mace in the North Carolina State University, UD led the way towards awareness and accommodations for people with disabilities.  

That conference also brought to light the systemic and financial barriers inherent in implementing Universal Design.  One of the students in our group was in a wheelchair and was often prevented from continuing on an outing due to physical barriers, like the height of curbs or condition of a sidewalk.   My Mexican counterparts advocated for the same principles of UD: Equitable, Flexibility in, and Simple and Intuitive Use, as well as Perceptible Information, Tolerance for Error, Low Physical Effort and Size and Space for Approach Use.  However, the ability to achieve these goals were impeded by many obstacles. Not the least of which was a sort of disability illiteracy, that didn't take into account the realities of the individuals that benefited from UD. 

Connecting this to teacher training and curriculum design courses, these same principles are transferred to a Universal Design for Learning.  Online accessibility within the virtual environment encompasses many facets.  Adult basic education learners arrive with learning issues and a host of other needs that should be recognized and supported by principles such as those found in UDL. 

Just as Universal Design connects to architecture through considerations such as wheelchair ramps that are a one-size fits all, there are also considerations such as right-left handedness, or access to anyone who is either sitting or standing that acknowledges the individual.  These same principles need to take into consideration the adult basic learner. 

This is achieved not only by accessing and implementing various tools through learning management systems and assistive technologies, but by strategizing the delivery of content to meet each learner's needs. A focus on holistic delivery and the whole learner, ensures that any potential illiteracy by the developer or the teacher towards basic education learners can be overcome.  

Literacy Quotes

"Literacy is a bridge from misery to hope. It is a tool for daily life in modern society. It is a bulwark against poverty, and a building block of development, an essential complement to investments in roads, dams, clinics and factories. 

Literacy is a platform for democratization, and a vehicle for the promotion of cultural and national identity. Especially for girls and women, it is an agent of family health and nutrition. 

For everyone, everywhere, literacy is, along with education in general, a basic human right.... 

Literacy is, finally, the road to human progress and the means through which every man, woman and child can realize his or her full potential." 
~ Kofi Annan

"Literacy is not a luxury, it is a right and a responsibility. If our world is to meet the challenges of the twenty-first century we must harness the energy and creativity of all our citizens." - President Bill Clinton on International Literacy Day, September 8th 1994

"People are the common denominator of progress. So... no improvement is possible with unimproved people, and advance is certain when people are liberated and educated. It would be wrong to dismiss the importance of roads, railroads, power plants, mills,and the other familiar furniture of economic development.... But we are coming to realize... that there is a certain sterility in economic monuments that stand alone in a sea of illiteracy. Conquest of illiteracy comes first."
-- John Kenneth Galbraith, The Affluent Society (1958)

"As an empowerment right, education is the primary vehicle by which economically and socially marginalised adults and children can lift themselves out of poverty, and obtain the means to participate fully in their communities." 
-- Koïchiro Matsuura, UNESCO Director-General

Separating the Tools from the Learner

I read a perfectly joyful post of the virtual environment by Carey Hilgartner, Online Learning is Being Shipped to the Museum. He shares the excitement and possibilities provided by the tools that can be used online.  He notes, "online learning"  is everywhere and being used all the time, so eventually, the term itself will be relegated to history.  

The tools are tremendous and do hold tremendous possibilities when teaching online.  The issue is sometimes the tools are focused on in lieu of the learner.   We'd never give a student an eraser, a pencil and a calculator, who has never used them, and go right into the content. Yet this is the danger of assuming the tools are the learning.  

Learners at the ABE level require scaffolding and explicit instruction.  One tool used at a time to ensure comfort and confidence can be built.  Sometimes the danger is that a variety of tools are used, as a replacement for being attuned to diverse learning styles, rather than the building up of skills and efficacy first.  

Afterall, the tools aren't the content.  They are a means to achieve an objective, complete a task, learn another skill.  There is only so much cognitive energy that can be delegated to any task. I have seen the beauty of a tool such as a calculator opening up spaces where a learner can suddenly grasp a concept.  I have also seen times when a calculator has interfered with the learning process that needs to be occurring to develop a basic concept. 

It isn't the term or the tools that need to be relegated to history.  It's the assumptions that occur with our learners.  What is occurring at the level of the learner who uses the online tools is a conversation that needs to be happening at all levels. 

Systemic Myths of Online Learning and the Adult Basic Education Learner

"Why should society feel responsible only for the education of children, and not for the education of all adults of every age?" Erich Fromm  

Systemic myths or misconceptions that exist include:
If you can use a smart phone, you can do online learning. Really?!? (that is my disappointed inside voice). My professional voice: this does not capture the reality of adult basic education learners, nor computer or digital literacy, in the slightest.

Someone else will do it.  The compassionate approach is hard to marry to a business model at the post-secondary level.  Pulled and pushed by political and economic forces and paradigm shifts, institutions cut that which isn't sexy or profitable.  Life skills, trans-vocational programs, and adult basic education programs all fall under that sphere. Volunteer literacy programs (the "someone else") play an essential role in the services needed at the pre-highschool level, but in no way can they match dedicated services provided by a community college. 

Class sizes have gone down so literacy levels are rising. (Translation: We don't need it anymore): Statistics are a funny thing, aren't they? Especially when the latest international survey of adult literacy skills precluded those who are Indigenous, ESL, EAL, or with learning needs or disabilities.  Funding models have changed the way learners can access education at the ABE level as well. 

We can just fund or provide short programming that leads directly into a career program or trade. This is a wonderful idea, with the exception of two very pertinent facts.  Firstly, until the prerequisites for trades and career programs eliminate high school English, Math and Sciences, a solid pre-high school curriculum will still be needed to create opportunities for adults who enter at the basic education level.  Secondly, there is no magic curriculum powder that precludes the way the human brain learns.  If a learner is starting at a grade 1-6 level, it is almost neurologically impossible for them to be ready for a grade 10 trades exam in 6 weeks. 

We need to focus more on improving learning at the high school level. Initiatives that integrate transition programming at the high school level are innovative and create successful learning paths for students.  Yet, again, if students' abilities aren't at the high school level, these programs are moot.  In addition, unless teen pregnancy, bullying, sexual abuse, child abuse, learning disabilities, poor teaching or inadequate teaching resources, systemic racism, poverty, and a host of other social issues vanish, we will always need basic education programming at the adult level. 

Online Learning & Basic Education Students - a compassionate approach

There is a wonderful TED Talk by Bryan Stevenson, "We need to talk about an injustice." He represents people on death row, and in this talk, he speaks about the seemingly magic power of a judge to change a child defendant into something he's not - an adult. 

He ends his talk with the thought that "we cannot be full evolved human beings until we care about human rights and basic dignity. That all of our survival is tied to the survival of everyone. That our visions of technology and design and entertainment and creativity have to be married with visions of humanity, compassion and justice."  

So when we start to connect the dots, the vision for adult basic learners from a systemic point of view needs to be one married to human rights and justice.  How often is the word "compassion" used with curriculum development for the disenfranchised learner, the learner for whom the skills and concepts of the educational system need to be explicitly taught - not assumed.  

How often is a students' humanity recognized, when they are marginalized and streamed into the same square hole as their mainstreamed peers.  Systems and institutions sometimes seem to think that they can magically change learners from low-self-efficacy to one of privilege just by standardizing online platforms, providing online classes, and maintaining the status quo that works for the learner operating at a higher literacy level. 

The systemic and administrative myths of the online platform need to be dispelled in order to provide programming that is rooted in the paradigms of justice and dignity. 

October Dedication to Adult Basic Education Students

This month I will dedicate my posts to the adult basic education students who are taking online learning. Particularly those at the post-secondary level, where it can sometimes seem like students are round pegs being squeezed into square holes.  The gaps in service grow more profound due to changing paradigms, along with political and economic factors.

This month I will be writing about issues that create gaps for online students at the pre-highschool levels.  Areas such as standardization, cultural homogeny, translating face to face success online, community building, and learning needs and the issues that contribute to student success.  I will examine some of the realities faced by students who need dedicated programming to achieve the prerequisites to get into a career or trade, and the best practices that go along with those realities. 

“One cannot expect positive results from an educational or political action program which fails to respect the particular view of the world held by the people. Such a program constitutes cultural invasion, good intentions notwithstanding.” ― Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed

Education is a Human Right...but who pays for it?

Education is a Human Right...but who pays for it? The short answer?  We all do. 

Read: Education for All (EFA) from the UNESCO site, Education is not only a right but a passport to human development. It contributes to fostering peace, democracy and economic growth as well as improving health and reducing poverty.

Or, read Education Counts: Towards the Millenium Development Goals (2011) published by UNESCO.  Education represents opportunity. At all ages, it empowers people with the knowledge, skills and confidence they need to shape a better future.

And it is listed in the Indicators of Well-Being in Canada, where adult literacy — the ability to understand and then use information — is a fundamental skill. It is essential not only for participating fully at work, but for everyday life as well (e.g., for choosing products when grocery shopping). With a more literate workforce, Canada is also better able to compete in the global economy.


And as reported by Harmeet Singh in Strategy  (June 1, 2015), “In a developed country, you sometimes don’t realize that a lack of literacy skills can have a detrimental social, economic and even life threatening impact on a person – or an entire country for that matter,” adds Patrick Scissons, chief creative officer at Grey. “We wanted to raise the profile of the importance of literacy beyond just being able to read a book, menu or road sign.”  Check out the video spots here:  World Literacy Canada’s open book

Digital Divide: an eLearning inverse accessibility law

Self-efficacy and the digital divide combine as a definitive barrier to learner engagement. Accessibility is more than the ability to get on a computer.  The anytime, anywhere mantra for online distance education implies shortcuts and skills that don’t take into account under-represented learners, those who arrive with low self-efficacy and low technological fluency.  Learners who are already marginalized by their literacy level and socio-economic status are at risk.  Rhetoric and systems that are not accountable to the realities of learners are then charged with “increasing access for those who are already being served rather than broadening it to underserved groups” (Gunger & Prins, 2011, p 7).  This creates the digital divide.

We can look to a report, E-Mental Health in Canada: Transforming the Mental Health System Using Technology,  produced by the Mental Health Commission of Canada, which examines strategic directions and eMental health possibilities. It raises limitations, however, one being the digital divide. As quoted in the report:  "The 2012 Canadian Internet Use Survey sponsored by Industry Canada found that 83% of Canadian households had Internet access at home. This demonstrates that approximately one in six did not have an Internet connection at home."  In addition, "Only 58% of households in the lowest income quartile had home Internet access compared to 98% in the top income quartile."  This reality "suggests a digital divide" with "the potential to reinforce health inequalities, as those who most need health care are those least likely to have access to services on the Internet – an e-Health inverse care law."

When it comes to education, considering that there are “more socially disadvantaged than advantaged sections of society…where, students who are teetering at the poverty level can seldom afford to buy and maintain computers and Internet service” (Moore, 2012, p. 214), it becomes then, an e-Learning inverse accessibility law.  As such, the concept of accessibility needs to be re-examined. 

Gungor, Ramazan & Prins, Esther. (2011). Distance Learning in Adult Basic Education: a review   of the literature. Institute for the study of Adult Literacy, The Pennsylvania State University.

Moore, Michael Grahame. (2012). A Rare Case of Research in Distance Education in Adult            Basic Education, American Journal of Distance Education, 26:4, 213-216, DOI:    10.1080/08923647.2012.732788

Adult Foundational Learning and the Economy of Education

There has been a call in the adult learning environment to streamline and reduce duplication, eliminate waste, and centralize the post-secondary system. The business model.

The problem is the survival mode in the face of such a climate can also change the climate within an institution.  No longer is even basic education honoured as a human right.  Disenfranchising people because their educational needs don’t fit neatly into time frames and business models, manufactures narratives based in rationalization and rhetoric. Recognition of values-based programming isn't considered worthy of costs, that is, unless the value is according to economy and a quick fix mentality.  

“But students want to get in and out and into employment right away.”  Of course they do!  Besides having many other things going on in their life, who doesn’t want to achieve something they have to sacrifice time and family and money in attaining?  Does that mean post-secondary institutions throw pedagogy, and the brain-based research involved in how humans learn and understand information out the window?   Or throw out any programming that doesn’t conform with the quick fix mentality of a business model? Does it mean ignoring educational needs in favor of the chimerical solution of online-anytime?  It shouldn’t. 

There needs to be a happy marrying of the two components, based on the paradigms of adult learning and proven educational  practices. A standing up for what is right and what works for learners.  Culture, diversity, literacy, numeracy, efficacy, learning barriers, learning disabilities, all should be considered in the delivery of any programming.   Accessibility that is decentralized beyond the technological panacea, and thinking in ways that provide a bridge between economy and education.  

Education is a human right.  But the pressure remains, who is going to pay for it? 

Changing Face of ABE: a photostory project - an ACIFA Presentation

Online distance technology is often heralded as removing barriers and providing access to education for all.   Distance education heralded as anytime, anywhere implies an equal opportunity to learn, which often does not take into account the holistic vision of learners and all that contributes to their academic success.  

The photostory research I am in the process of wrapping up came out of the tension between accessibility and students' reality.  Specifically students who arrive from the margins.  Specifically students whose skills are at pre-high school, with lower literacy and numeracy levels than the average distance student. 

What bothered me about the “anytime, anywhere” rhetoric, is that is is often spoken about without reference to instructors or pedagogy.  It caused me to think : what does it mean to the programming and students who arrive as emergent learners.  Especially those underrepresented learners, the ones with low computer literacy and even lower self-efficacy. Was online learning really the panacea for these learners, would it really “make everything better?”

If you're in Lake Louise for the ACIFA Conference, come talk about the changing face of adult basic educationg.  I'll be presenting on May 25 at 11:15 a.m. about this research, and how traditionally face to face instruction is translating to the online environment.  

Violence and learning - SWEET (Students who have experience extreme trauma)

Last week I had the pleasure of listening to a presentation by Mavis Averill. She has done research on students who have experienced extreme trauma, or "SWEET," based on her experiences working for Boyle Street Education Center.  Mavis says, "Our work is to engage them long enough at school so that we may uncover their strengths and support them in looking at a new way of being; one which leads them away from crime, chaos and loss, to one which includes acknowledgement and the possibility of successful attainment of needed skills to go forward into a life that has more options than the one they came from" (Retrieved from LINK). 

This encapsulates so many themes.  Transformation.  Wellness. Basic education learners, or those who are under-represented by literature and programming. It speaks to modifying and adapting our approaches and programming to recognize the learner as a unique individual who  is more than a receptacle for information. 

One of the overriding barriers within educational environments is the idea that failing is the fault of the learner.  This kind of approach can feed the idea that survivors of abuse have caused their own victimization, as well as issues of power and culpability within teaching practices (Horsman, 2008). Awareness and information that brings to light the very real barriers caused by the experience of violence and trauma upon a students' learning is an often under-represented and not well understood.  

It would serve all educators well to become familiar with research like Mavis's SWEET and the information that can be found on Learning and Violence.net that comes from Jenny Horsman's research.  

Mental Health First Aid

Mental health awareness and the stigma and support to individuals with mental health issues is a huge part of living, teaching and learning.  It was a revelation, a holistic revolution, in my understanding when researching student wellness and mental health.   I'd not fully connected how adaptations, learner engagement, proactive assessment for learning difficulties and disabilities all intertwined with mental health.   It seems so obvious now.  Links to mental health through initiatives around bullying, social media ethics, cultural awareness, and a myriad of others is undeniable. 

It is a matter of choosing what kind of teacher does an educator want to be? We wouldn't tell a student sitting in the classroom who was having an epileptic seizure to just deal with it later and write their exam.  We wouldn't tell a student who needs glasses to just work harder at reading the material.  We wouldn't tell a student who came to us with a bleeding finger that it isn't our responsibility and send them on their way.  Yet, when it comes to mental health issues, they are often dismissed. 

Mental health awareness, mental health first aid, opens doors to viewing and teaching students as real individuals.  Whole, complex beings who require more to learn than being a receptacle for information.   I am now a Mental Health First Aid certificate instructor.  Once again,  how wellness and mental health awareness interconnects within teaching and learning has been reinforced. 

Attitude of Gratitude

Attitude and gratitude.  Positive psychology.  Wellness.  Aspects to the virtual environment that create new possibilities and new challenges. Positive psychology points to a connection between attitude, gratitude, efficacy and learning.  Where are the spaces that open connections to instructor, content and classmates in an online classroom? 

Thinking about student wellness that is mindful of the intersection between learner, instructor, curriculum, course, program, institution and even community embraces a holistic vision.    Especially for students who are isolated, at a distance, and not in direct contact with their instructor, engaging the whole person is essential to placing online learning within a real world framework. 

Using strategies that work in a face to face classroom and adjusting them to the virtual environment is using sound pedagogy.  Discussions, introductions, openers and closers, and relating learning to authentic materials and experiences are all are sound pedagogy.  Connecting students in the class to people, places and things outside of the class that can make learning relevant are essential.  Direct reminders or assignments that connect learning to the institution and the community at large enhance critical thinking and an understanding of citizenship. 

Does an attitude of gratitude enhance learning? Does getting students to state three things they are grateful for at the beginning of class make them 33% smarter, for instance (as I heard on a wonderful TED talk (Sean Achor) I listened to recently)? I'm not sure about the scientific validity.  But if it puts learners in a frame of mind that facilitates learning, why not?  If it puts them in a global frame of mind that benefits others, all the better. 

Scratch and Sniff Education?

What does it mean to lack certain senses in the virtual environment?  Thinking of smell, it led me to the inevitable: scratch and sniff technology.  

I discovered a couple of examples where this technology was used for educational purposes.  In 1987, the Baltimore Gas and Electric Company sent scratch and sniff cards to customers to teach about natural gas leaks.  On the back of the brochure was a drawing of a red flame and the words: ''Scratch this flame with your fingernail. Sniff it. Let your family sniff it and be sure everyone recognizes the odor.''  Unfortunately, the smell penetrated the envelopes without ever being scratched, leading to a lot of false alarms by customers. 

In Northern Ireland, there was a card distributed by police that smelled like cannabis.  It came with other telltale signs of what to look for with marijuana grow-ops, in order to get the public to help identify these operations. 

London's Odette Toilette is a "purveyor of olfactory adventures," offering "adventures which range from education and communication workshops for groups in the fragrance industry, through to corporate entertainment for people who want to offer their team or clients something unusual." 

Then, there was the 1960 Scent of Mystery which tried to incorporate aromas into theatres with "Smell-O-Vision."  It released 30 different scents in the air in conjunction with the movie.   Needless to say, it didn't make it as a part of our ongoing movie experience. 

These experiments with smell do bring up interesting questions around the issue of senses and how they connect to learning in the virtual environment.  Are there ways online educators can capture and capitalize on students' senses in order to create increased engagement and learning?  

Wise Practices

Round Dance Drummer Photo: L. Fors

Interconnections. Protocols. Wisdom.   Yesterday,  I attended a Round Dance in Driftpile, Alberta, a First Nations community.   It reminded me of the first time I heard the term "wise practices." (It was in the document Best Practices in Aboriginal Community Development: A Literature Review and Wise Practices Approach (2010) by Cynthia Wesley-Esquimaux and Brian Calliou).


O. Davis Jr.  (1997) wrote about this approach in an article "Beyond best practices' toward wise practices".

According to Davis (1997), “wise practice, by its very nature, is idiosyncratic, contextual, textured, and probably inconsistent. It is not standardized, not off-the-shelf, and not a one-size-fits-all concept.” 

Interesting. 

This "wise practice" approach as defined by Davis is in response to the tendency to capture a best practice, as the practice, which "unrealistically elevates expectation beyond possibility."  It is the one size fits all mentality, that "commonly ignores reasonable options by its insistence upon a singular path."  

Wise Practices according to Davis operates on three assumptions:

1) Many teachers and administrators understand what guides their professional endeavor. They possess wisdom of practice.2) Wise practices always are situated thoroughly in their context, and recognizable, commonly ordinary individuals use them in real, specific life circumstances.3) Circumstances and life seldom unfold as individual teachers and administrators wish they would. Consequently, reality will be—not just must be—a central consideration of their teaching and administration.

When it comes to online delivery and basic education learners, and the virtual learning environment in general, the tendency for cookie cutters are inevitable due to the nature of the landscape.  It is a space that lends itself to standardization in many ways.  In this teaching place, is essential to question, evaluate and apply an approach that recognizes protocols, is aware of interconnections, and practices wisdom that honours our students' reality.

Davis Jr., O. (1997). Beyond `best practices' toward wise practices. Journal Of Curriculum & Supervision, 13(1), 1-5.

Online Quality versus Instructional Autonomy

Conveyor belt thinking or standardized goodness? The need for predefined structure, organized curriculum and predefined planning for online delivery  far surpasses the onsite classroom. 

In a face to face classroom assignments and information are reviewed as a group. Teacher checks for understanding.  The student jots down notes on the paper that has just been handed out.  Questions, negotiations, clarifications are done within those parameters.  It is immediate and often student directed. Spontaneity is required. Last minute supplements common. 

Online, everything is in print. It is done ahead of time. The course shell on a learning management system is is like a teacher's file cabinet from the old days. Lesson plans, units, assignments, rubrics, handouts, supplemental materials - they are created and defined before the course starts. They are static and teacher directed until a student interacts with it. Questions and negotiations are delayed in a sense.  Email, text, phone calls are an intermediary step to dialogue.  More time has to be given to creating interaction and connections with the students. Lasting minutes that create connections and relations with students have to become common. 

As such, developing a course for online delivery is a lot of work.   Materials need to match between the LMS, synchronous online classes, and student materials. Everything from titles to rubrics to the information and instructions posted on the LMS, to powerpoint slides and recordings, to course outlines and course expectations.   All assignments are created and organized ahead of time, with explicit instructions and rubrics attached to them.  Powerpoint slides and presentations have to anticipate where students are at, what they will need, and how to engage them in the materials.   

Standardization that ensures quality and standards are met may seem a little like conveyor belt thinking.  Structure of an LMS course shell for instance, based on sound pedagogy and research makes sense from a student perspective. Allowing for and accommodating the sweet, tart, tangy goodness of instructional input, creativity and personality  sounds delicious.   The fear in the quest for standardization is that quality comes prepackaged in a course that remains sealed until opened.  Then we have to ask, "Where is the flavour in that?" 

"Most Good" Practices (MOGO)

A discussion around  "best practices" is always an interesting one.  What constitutes "best," who is defining it, and for whom?  In my experience, "best" practices are just good pedagogy.  And good pedagogy relates back to the student, the context and the learning environment.  

I was reminded of this when I ran across a  workshop at the Institute for Humane Education. "Do most good - do less harm" is a mantra that fits with spiritual and environmental practices.  How, I thought, does it fit in with education and the idea of what is "best?" 

"Best" implies a competition.  Sometimes, it's is interpreted as not only the next best thing, but the only thing, the thing that will reach students, get them engaged, reduce attrition and promote success.  Some schools have archives or basements filled with the next best thing, brought in by various teachers throughout the years.  

Often "best" is seen as the panacea to all that ails a particular content area or programming need.  The need to define our learners in their particular context is key to ensuring most good pedagogy.  What is best is dependent on the multifaceted nature of learning and teaching.  The interplay between the complexities of interactions. 

But You Can't Smell It - What is lost in the virtual world?

Full disclosure.  My epiphany.  Face to face teaching as opposed to online teaching - what is lost in the transition to a virtual environment?   You can't smell it.  

I just presented at a conference about online learning for adult basic education students.  I found a part of me felt a little like an imposter.  Like I betrayed (a little) the conventional adult basic education classroom that is literally in your face.  Can virtual learning replace face to face instruction?  Yes (though there is a caveat about needing a mentor that is physically present).  Can it provide the same support that a face to face environment does for under-represented learners at a basic/foundational learning level?  For me right now, that is the predominant question.

After all, at the other end of the virtual superhighway is a person.  A smelling, smelly, noisy, unconsciously vibrating, smiling, nodding, frowning, yawning, feeling student.  Who brings a myriad of experiences, prior knowledge, baggage, barriers, and interpersonal needs.  Teachers who are intuitive, instinctual, and respond to the immediacy of learners sitting in front of them, lose some of those facilities in the transition to online programming.  

Yes, there is good virtual pedagogy.  Yes, there are  ways to translate what works face to face into online teaching strategies.  But I still need to investigate: what are we not smelling?

Conference: OZeLIVE!

So excited to be presenting tonight on the changing faces, changing places of adult basic education students online!
The Changing Face of ABE: a look at online adult basic education

Join me for a discussion about online learning for adult students at the basic education level.  The objective of this session is to address the questions: What barriers and best practices do adult ABE students face? What are effective online programming practices for students at lower literacy and numeracy levels?    In this session, we will briefly take a look at the history of adult basic education at Northern Lakes College*.  In defining what adult basic education is, we will explore how face to face programming has translated to the online environment.  Current research will be used to facilitate discussion and the sharing of of perspectives on the basic education learner online. 

*Northern Lakes College has been delivering basic education programming to residents of northwestern Alberta since 1970.  The College services a region of 163,000km2, and currently has 21 campuses providing upgrading support to a diverse demographic of students, including rural, remote, First Nations and Metis learners.

"Artistic Pedagogical Technologies" - humanizing the virtual world

Beth Perry & Margaret Edwards recommend integrating Photovoice methodologies, virtual reflective centers and conceptual quilting to provide spaces for reflection, interaction and a “quality of social presence that is palpably human” (p. 135).   What wonderful ideas to bring faces into distance instruction.

Perry, Beth & and Edwards, Margaret. (2010). Creating a Culture of Community in the Online            Classroom Using Artistic Pedagogical Technologies. In Veletsianos, George. (Ed.),    Emerging   Technologies in Distance Education (pp. 129-154). Edmonton, AB, Athabasca University Press.

Virtual Pedagogy

Researching online learning right now.   "Good" teaching.  Virtual pedagogy.  Is it a one size fits all?  Can online approaches really support deep (vs surface) learning online?  What skills do instructors need?  What skills do students need?

It is a fascinating journey that I hope to share and learn from as plod my way along the happy road to epiphanies!