The publication of College and Career Readiness Standards in Adult Education has accelerated our ability to try developing and piloting online, cohort-based, actively facilitated courses aligned to the standards. I would love to hear from any of you who have experience in teaching 4th-5th grade level Reading and Writing, some experience with fully online, cohort teaching and learning, contextualized instruction, and willing to try to create an accelerated course at this level that provides learners with opportunities to demonstrate their achievement of the standards. The courses will consist of six, one-week modules, and it is possible (probable) that the Level C standards would have to be divided into two, six-week courses (we are at present looking at dividing the math into at least two six-week courses, if not more). We have identified an online course designer interested in working with us, and we have on staff a manager of instructional technology who is the resident expert on the LMS we're using. I have managed whole degree programs online and supported K-12 programs online, so the question is, can we design an online program that works for low-literate adults?
We'll be matching online learners with case managers and tutors on the ground in addition to the active facilitator online, with the hope that these three among them can support and encourage our learners to get through the pilot course. Please send your suggestions regarding people who might be interested in helping us create a pilot course via this discussion or to my work email renyij@freelibrary.org. I'm also open to all ideas and suggestions about what to think about as we embark on this adventure.
I can send a copy of our guideline for the structure and content of the courses and the entire online experiment if you are interested.
Thanks for your input!
Judith Rényi
The Mayor's Commission on Literacy
Philadelphia