Is there an online glossary of adult basic skills terms?

Colleagues,

Someone asked me today if  knew of a glossary of terms in the field of adult basic skills/adult basic education. I do. You'll find one on the Adult Literacy Education (ALE) Wiki at http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/ALEGlossary

Please share this link with your colleagues and, if you want, add to or suggest changes to improve the glossary.

David J. Rosen

djrosen123@gmail.com

 

Comments

David, that is one long list of very clear definitions. Thanks. I wonder if you and/or others would share some ideas on how to use such a resource. Would it serve as a "dictionary" for those of us working in adult literacy? Would there be any way to use it as a teaching tool? Thanks.

Leecy
Moderator, Reading and Writing Community

Hi Leecy, and others,

The ALE Wiki glossary was developed for adult basic skills practitioners (of all kinds) who want a definition to a puzzling term or acronym. The idea was also that if one doesn't find a good definition there for a term, and finds one elsewhere, it -- or a variation of it -- could be added to the glossary. (If it's a quoted definition, the source should be cited.) That's one of the virtues of a wiki, it can easily be updated, by anyone. The "Wikiteers" of course check to be sure that additions make sense, and that spam or graffiti are immediately removed -- this has generally not been a problem on the ALE Wiki.

I would be interested to hear your -- and others' -- ideas about how the glossary might be used as a teaching tool. I suppose it could be a model for a group of students developing their own glossary, for example, of terms unique to their community. If someone does that, let us know! A "maker" project-based learning product like that could certainly raise awareness of the complexity of glossary- or dictionary-making! It would also be a 21st century skill as defined by the U.S. National Technology Plan.  http://tech.ed.gov/netp/

David J. Rosen

djrosen123@gmail.com