Colleagues,
Just back from the (again fabulous) National College Transitions Network (NCTN) conference, I was reminded that national conferences like these provide some great opportunities for graduate students to learn more about the field. This also reminded me that one of the purposes of LINCS is to do that; I would like to hear from those who may be graduate students (and perhaps adult education classroom teachers as well) about ways that the LINCS Communities of practice and other LINCS resources could better meet your needs.
In the Technology and Learning Community, although it's hard to know for certain, I believe we have quite a few graduate students. I have met some of you, and sometimes -- if you introduce yourselves, you let us know about that role in your professional life.
So here, off the top of my head, are some possible ways that the Technology and Learning CoP might be useful to you:
- You may, perhaps now, but certainly at some point, be interested in whether or not there has been research conducted on a topic you are interested in, including research in higher ed or K-12 that may have bearing on your work in adult basic skills education. For example, I just read a great literature review of over 50 studies conducted on how technology has been used from 2003 - 2013 with 6th-12th grade students at risk of dropping out. Some of the key findings were both surprising and some were uplifting; most fit well with the needs of many adult basic skills learners. Perhaps that literature review would be of interest in your own studies or research
- You may wonder if anyone else has chosen the same research topic that you are working on and how they are approaching it
- You may wonder what kinds of project-based learning other adult education graduate students may be doing.
If you have questions like these -- or others -- now or sometime, feel free to post them here. You'll probably get more useful advice if, when you post your question(s), you also provide some context -- why is this question important to you, how have you been exploring it so far, is this an assignment or is it something you are just interested in learning on your own, and so forth.
I hope you will post your questions to the Technology and Learning CoP so other graduate students, and others, might be able to offer their perspectives. After all, we are a community of practice here.
David J. Rosen, Moderator
Technology and Learning CoP
djrosen123@gmail.com
Comments
Great idea, David! I'm a graduate student getting my Masters in Education at Northeastern in eLearning and Instructional Design and working in the adult ed context. I'm doing it the very slow way, one course at a time so I'll be at it for a while. I've thought of, but haven't used, the LINCS community for school work, so it's good to get the reminder that this is a resource for that too. In my current course I've been looking at social media use, and would be interested to hear from anyone using social media on a regular basis, particularly in conjunction with distance or blended learning. I'm curious if adult ed programs put social media policies in place the way many K-12 and higher ed institutions do or if it just isn't used enough for programs to bother with that. On another note, I'd be interested to hear if people think that including social media in PD efforts would make it more engaging for them or just a nuisance.
Leah Peterson
Assistant Director
EdTech Center @ World Education
I have been in different PD sessions in which the same tool was used with dramatically different responses from me. In one case, the PD concentrated on a very specific application of the tool that I personally did not have a use for, nor did I feel the net gain of that implementation would be worth it for me to try that use. In contrast, the other PD approached the tool as a resource that opened many option for learning and the PD process even created a few learning options the presenter did not intend. That PD of exploring positive ways a tool can be used and how each use increased efficiency, efficacy or simply more learning options resulted in a wonderful PD!
I use social media almost daily with students, but it is only used if the student chooses to. For example, communication is a concentration of mine and I spend much energy helping learners find tools they choose to use to digitally communicate with me through the semester. For some the phone is their choice, others prefer email, some want Facebook, and I recently have been getting requests for Snapchat and Instagram. In all cases, I ask the learner what to share with me why the tool they chose is the best for them. I then share my requirements to ensure safety and security within that tool. I had a hard time with Instagram because I could only see it as a way of sharing photos. After sharing this concern with learners, I was shown how video was the feature the learner wanted to use in order to get help from their social network. This was cool, but I still was skeptical. Sadly, the student never attempted to communicate with me, nor did the student respond to my attempt at initiating discussion within that tool's environment.
As for adult ed programs and policies, my personal experience in working with over a dozen programs in Maine leaves me feeling that it is almost a 50/50 split. Almost all of the programs must use the basic acceptable use policies, but many of the programs get the many blocked filters removed for the adult learners. For those programs that have a much more open Internet, the rational that was used was, "In order to be able to teach adults to positively function on the Internet, we need to be able to work as closely as possible in the Internet settings that one would experience in the workplace or on a college campus." The IT people still did not like that push, but the logic of having adults learn how to navigate an adult world responsibly and safely was a strong argument to allow for variations in policy to be created. I know one program that had to push this discussion for 4 years, with constant request and discussions, before a change in policy was implemented. It is not always an easy process. The program I am currently in is wide open and does not use the same network or policies as the school system.
Hope the above helps in your efforts to find out how others experience social media. I would love to hear from others on this as well. Have others experienced the death of any given tool in a PD session that was poorly designed? Are adult ed policies on social media the same with schools? If not was there struggle to get different policies?
T & L CoP Colleagues,
Some adult basic skills teachers are creating Facebook private groups for their classes. Often this is because Facebook is a platform that most of their students know and use for social purposes, so the learning curve to use the private FB group is not steep. FB private groups, for example, are great for promoting the use of writing in English both for immigrants learning English and for native speakers. One interesting phenomenon is that some of these FB private groups develop a life of their own where, after a couple of months, the students take over, and don't need the teacher's prompts or leadership. In some cases they last well beyond the end of the class, and become a kind of class alumni association. This has some very interesting possibilities for programs that have tried, without success, to develop student alumni associations before the age of the smartphone and student Internet access.
Have you created a FB private group for your class?
Has anyone here used a Facebook private group to create a student alumni group?
Susan Gaer and I co-host a private FB group for adult basic skills teachers (including ESOL/ESL) who are using FB private groups -- or want to learn how to use them -- with their classes. If you want to join, email me.
David J. Rosen, Moderator
Technology and Learning CoP
djrosen123@gmail.com
We use a private Facebook group as part of the course I'm taking and have spent some time comparing it to the experience of a LMS discussion board. In many ways it's similar, or could be the same, but in practice, on FB, posts tend to be chattier and I'd be more likely to post something that wasn't a direct response to a discussion prompt. In the LMS, conversation is very directed and often more formal. As you say David, for people who are used to using it, it feels more like a natural discussion than forum posts. Depending on the size of the course and number of posts though, it can get hard to follow.
Leah Peterson
Assistant Director
EdTech Center @ World Education
Thanks Leah for these great questions. You wrote that you would like to hear:
I too would love to hear some answers to these questions from our colleagues here.
The Literacy Cooperative of Greater Cleveland in Ohio uses social media to promote literacy, including adult literacy. It has been so successful that the traditional media -- T.V. stations for example -- have noted the level of Twitter and Facebook activity on certain issues and have picked these up for their news shows, accelerating the level of marketing of literacy in the community. Their social media connections are an "asset" for all their member organizations, including for example K-12 schools, libraries, museums, occupational training programs, as well as adult basic skills programs, and member programs can use this social media asset to promote their own programs and events.
I wonder if social media is used this way in any other adult literacy coalitions.
Literacy Mid-South, a volunteer tutoring adult literacy program in Tennessee, has developed an app called "literacy mid-south" for its tutors . It is available free in the ITunes store and possibly elsewhere, and includes professional development for tutors as well as resources they can use with their learners, including videos, in reading, math, job skills, health, financial literacy, technology and in other learning areas; it also has forms that volunteer tutors need for reporting purposes. I believe this app makes PD -- and reporting -- for volunteers much more accessible and engaging.
David J. Rosen, Moderator
Technology and Learning CoP
djrosen123@gmail.com