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.