Montana LINCS Update
1/19/09
Greetings from Montana LINCS

1.  MTLINCS Research Item #7:  Distance Learning and Literacy

Is distance learning for everyone?

The Reach Higher, America report states the following:

With 73 percent of adults already online in 2006, including those at lower levels of literacy, online learning can be a powerful way to assist adult learners. Touch screens and other userfriendly technologies can provide lower-skilled adults—even those with little or no computer experience—with access to electronic instruction. Bill Gates predicts that voice-activated computers will be the next revolution in technology. That technology may hold promise for lowskilled adults, including nonreaders.

Reach Higher, America:  Overcoming Crisis in the U.S. Workforce, Report of the National Commission on Adult Literacy, June 2008. National Commission on Adult Literacy, http://www.nationalcommissiononadultliteracy.org/, p.25. 

Should you consider reading level of the online learner?  Participants in the GED online program at Vance Granville Community College in North Carolina must demonstrate a 9th grade level or higher in order to be enrolled in online courses.

For all new online students, Reading scores must be at 9th grade level or higher. For all returning "active" online students with a lower than acceptable score to continue in their program, they will be given two months to raise their Reading score to the 9th grade level. Failure to reach a 9th grade Reading level will result in that students being removed from the online program; however, they will be given the opportunity to continue their education program in a literacy lab (classroom) setting until a 9th grade reading level is achieved.   http://www.vgcc.edu/Literacy-Online/literacy-expectation.cfm

Students desiring enrollment in one of our Literacy Online programs but not reading at a 9th grade level can expect to be assigned lessons designed to improve reading skills. The objective is to first raise those reading skills to a 9th grade or better level. A similar program will also be available to provide improvement in basic math skills.
http://www.vgcc.edu/Literacy-Online/literacy-ged.cfm

 

Question:

o    Should you consider a student's reading level in relationship to online learning?

Click here to mail a response to MTLINCS.

2.  SkillsTutor Information for Distance Learning

Scope and Sequence:

Click here for information about SKT Scope and Sequence or go to http://www.achievementtech.com/ and click on Scope and Sequence.

3.  Book on Research

Tracking Adult Literacy and Numeracy Skills:  Findings from Longitudinal Research

Edited by Stephen Reder and John Bynner

    • ISBN: 978-0-415-95858-5
    • Binding: Hardback
    • Published by: Routledge
    • Publication Date: 4th November 2008
    • Pages: 412

Understanding the origins of poor literacy and numeracy skills in adulthood and how to improve them is of major importance when society places a high premium on proficiency in these basic skills. This edited collection brings together the results of recent longitudinal studies that greatly extend our knowledge of what works in raising skill levels, as well as the social and economic returns to improvement.

Many fundamental research questions in adult education involve change over time: how adults learn, how program participation influences their acquisition of skills and knowledge, and how their educational development interacts with their social and economic performance. Although a growing number of longitudinal studies in adult basic education have recently been completed, this book is the first systematic compilation of findings and methods.

Triangulating findings from different methodological perspectives and research designs, and across countries, this text produces convergence on key conclusions about the role of basic skills in the modern life course and the most effective ways of enhancing them.

4.  Is a College Degree a Buffer Against Unemployment

Taken from the 1/15/09 Thursday Notes from OVAE

Adults with college degrees appear less likely than those
lacking a high school credential to become unemployed, according to the
Washington Post.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/03/AR2009010302143_pf.html

November 2008's unemployment rate of 3.1 percent among
adults holding a college degree or higher was lower than the 6.7 percent
rate for the general population that month-and far below the 10.5
percent rate for adults without a high school diploma. College-educated
workers may have been more vulnerable to job loss in previous economic
downturns, but they found jobs more quickly than workers who lacked a
college degree, the Post reports.
 

P.S.  Remember -- if you are having trouble with the links in this email, go to the Email Archives at the top of the MTLINCS homepage at http://www.nwlincs.org/mtlincs/index.htm  .  Also if you no longer wish to receive this mailing, please let me know!  Thanks!

Norene Peterson
Adult Education Center
415 N. 30th
Billings, MT 59101
 norenehp@bresnan.net