Transcript Literacy Practitioners’ Perspectives on Adult Learning

Literacy Practitioners’ Perspectives on Adult Learning Needs
and Technology Approaches in Indigenous Communities
Michelle Eady University of Wollongong, Tony Herrington Curtin University
From Strength to Strength ACAL 1-3 October, Freemantle WA
Acknowledgement
I would like to acknowledge all of the First
Nation’s Learners and Practioners who have
opened their hearts and minds to the idea of
online Literacy Learning. I would like to
acknowledge Aboriginal community members,
the traditional custodians and owners of the
land on which we meet here today. I would also
like to acknowledge the elders both past and
present of this and other nations represented
here.
Background
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Canadian
University of Wollongong Alumni, 1996
Fort Severn
Northwest Territories
Sioux Lookout
Teacher, college (TAFE) instructor, distance
projects coordinator
• International Scholarship UoW – PhD in
Education
History of Project
• Responded to call out for proposals by
Ministry of Training Colleges and University
Ontario in Spring 2003
• Sioux Hudson Literacy Council’s “Good
Learning Anywhere” proposal and business
plan accepted December 2003
• Four organizations approved at this time for
pilots to run from January 2004 to March
2005
• Project continues and is funded through to
March 2010
Literacy in Ontario
• Streamed into categories
– Anglophone
– Francophone
– Native
– Deaf
• Provincially funded, based on learner
number, learner skills attainment
Some Comparisons…
• Western Australia
– 2,525,500 sq. km square kilometers
– 1,600,000 people
– Population density 0.84 people per square
kilometre (2007)
• Northwestern Ontario
– 385,000 square kilometers
– 234,771 people
– Population density 0.6 people per square
kilometre (2006)
Canadian Statistics
• 31% of Aboriginal people living on reserve in
Ontario have less than Grade 9 or no formal
education at all, compared to 10% in the nonAboriginal population - more than triple the
rate.
(Registered Indian Population by Region and Type of Residence, December 31,
2005. … , Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development – 2006).
• Aboriginal high school graduation rates reports
a 33% successful high school graduation rate
compared to the “mainstream” population rate
of 66% (Stats Can, 2001).
Australian Statistics
• Australian Bureau of Statistics document
entitled, “Aspects of Literacy: Assessed Skill
Levels Australia -1996” reports approximately
44% of Indigenous Australians have low
literacy levels in Standard Australian English,
compared with 19% of non-Indigenous
Australians (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 1996).
• Indigenous Australian people are much more
likely to live in remote areas than the rest of the
population, and that there is a higher level of
urbanisation among the non-Indigenous
population than the Indigenous population
(Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2002).
Ice Roads In Ontario’s Far North
Going to Australia’s Outback
Teacher Assistant Career Training
Future Heavy Equipment Operators
BOLD Project
Mining Project
Hospital Project
I am looking for some help…
• I am looking for some volunteers who have
worked or are currently working with
Indigenous literacy learners who would like
to participate in a focus group that will
contribute to this research
• Possibly two 1 hour focus groups to
discuss what the literature says, and what
you feel you know about working with
Indigenous literacy learners
• Please contact me if interested!
Michelle Eady
[email protected]
011 61 2 4221 3613 (no machine)
Research Design - DBR
Design-based Research
Analysis of Practical
Problems by
Researchers and
Practitioners in
Collaboration
Development of
Solutions Informed
by Existing Design
Principles and
Technological
Innovations
Iterative Cycles of
Testing and
Refinement of
Solutions in Practice
Refinement of Problems, Solutions, Methods and Design Principles
Design-based research approach (Reeves, 2006)
Reflection to Produce
“Design Principles”
and Enhance
Solution
Implementation
Summarizing the Theoretical Framework
Socio-Cultural
Theory –
Vygotsky
Global
Academic/
Training/
Entrepreneural
Culture
Dominant Culture
Workplace Culture
E-Learning
Instructional
Design - Henderson
Gender
Religion
Class
Indigenous and
Ethnic Minorities
Culture
Situated Learning
Theory – Lave and
Wenger
Phase One
- common themes in
literature
- identify gaps
development of
the research
questions and
design
- interviews with
distance literacy
practitioners and
community
members
- data integrated
with reviewed
literature
Phase Two
-identify framework
-qualitative approach
- Vygotsky, Lave and
Wenger, Henderson,
and Jarvis
Phase Three
- first cycle of the
collaborative
community
engagement
Proposals submitted
- newly revised collaborative
community engagement
delivered in second cycle
Approved
research
takes a turn
back toward
Phase 1
- collaborative
community
engagement
development process
- created together with
the community focus
group
- after second cycle focus
group will meet a final time
Phase Four
- connections between
collaborative
community
engagement data and
literature
- identify the guiding
principles for designing
and implementing
synchronous literacy
experiences for remote
Indigenous learners
The research problem
The vast majority of Australian Indigenous
learners, both urban and remote have low
literacy needed for personal and
employability goals and there is a need to
engage these learners in effective ways
that
results in improvements of these statistics.
Research Questions
1.
What are the literacy needs of an Indigenous
community?
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What are the self-identified literacy needs in an
Indigenous community?
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What are the perceived needs and approaches to these
needs as shown in the literature?
What do literacy practitioners perceive to be the literacy
needs in Indigenous communities?
What are the literacy needs of an Indigenous community as
perceived by community members?
What types of support systems are available to the
community?
How can self-identified literacy needs for an
Indigenous community be supported by online
synchronous learning technologies?
Phase 1
1.What are the literacy needs of an
Indigenous community?
a) What are the perceived needs and approaches
to these needs as shown in the literature?
b) What do literacy practitioners perceive to be the
literacy needs in Indigenous communities?
Online Focus Group Research
Traditionally, focus groups, regardless of
purpose, have been conducted in a face
to face situation. But today, electronic
communication technologies have
enabled researchers to utilize new
approaches to this form of research.
(Rezabek, 2000)
Advantages
• Can involve individuals from many
different geographical areas
• No limit for data flow in number of words
generated
• Alternative pathways
• Cost effective
• Recordable
– Data sharing
– Various research methods
• Immediate feedback
• Visual interactions
Limitations
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Internet connectivity
Access to hardware
Access to platforms
Reading, writing and typing skills
Ethical issues in online interviews and
research
Must do’s
• Decide what platform to use asynchronous or synchronous
platforms – or both?
• Recruit online participants
• Establish online rapport and trust
• Feel comfortable with platform
– Know how to troubleshoot
• Match interviewer and interviewees
– Someone who is aware of the field
– Understands who they are in the picture
Practitioner Volunteers’ Locations
Training and Experience
• Advance diploma in Fine Arts, Cert IV Training and
Assessment, Masters of Education
• Bachelor of Arts, Dip Ed Secondary, CELTA
• Bachelor of Science, Grad Dip Ed,, Adv Dip LLN in
Vocational Education
• Grad Dip Adult Education, Grad Dip Aboriginal and
intercultural studies
• Bachelor of Education
• Masters of Professional Education and Training
• Ph D in Education, Bed, CGEd and Dip Workplace
assessment and training
• Social work degree, communication studies and post
graduate social work
• Diploma of Community development
• Group average experience 11 years 6 months
Roles of Literacy Practitioners in
Indigenous Communities
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Knowledge Broker
Social Interpreter
Conduit
Empowerment Coach
Advocate
Liaison
Community Member
Facilitator
Team Leader
Negotiator
Emerging Themes
1. Need for a better understanding of the
complexities of the Indigenous learner
from both a language and a personal
perspective.
2. Need for improvement of all literacy skills.
3. Need to help to better support the children
in the community.
4. Need for literacy to provide a voice for the
community.
Positive Approaches
1. Using culturally relevant approaches
and culturally relevant material
2. Community /learner ownership and
community development focus
3. Facilitating a mentorship program
Are we using technology?
Type of Software:
• Social Computing/Networking
• Blogging
• Face book
• Email
• Skype
• Elluminate
• PowerPoint
• e-books
• Google Groups
• Various games
• Digital Story
• Photo Story
• Movie Maker
Are we using technology to teach
literacy skills?
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Language skills
Word processing
Driver’s license preparation
Reading
Researching
Writing
Oral presentation
Communication skills
Mentoring opportunities
Tax filing skills
Digital photography
Job searching
Banking
Opportunity for higher education courses
Barriers to Meeting Needs
• Government requirements, policies and
funding issues
• Organizational capacity
• Lack of equipment, lack of internet
• Are we meeting the needs at all?
How can technology change the way
we support Indigenous literacy learners?
• Showcases Indigenous people’s
strengths
• Provides literacy and learning services in
a learner’s own environment
• Higher education opportunities and
job/work readiness training programs
• Means of communication
• Professional development opportunities
I feel as though that the experience that you
can have through computers is that there is
incredible mediacy (active and creative
products of media)…and that it's a little bit like
drawing, that you have that sort of impact…
and even though it never…it won't replace
being in front of a person and hearing the
vibrations and the sound of their voice and
looking into someone's eyes, it enables to cut
through a lot of layers that you know…through
books or through distance can isolate people…
So using computers and technology can
spark creativity and a sense of hope that
starts a little kindling of fire within people
that they want to go and meet those
people that they want to go to those
places and actually move towards
exposing themselves to something new.
So I think you know this is what the
technology can do. OPFEG_Kelvin_24/09
Next steps
• Communities views
• Communities needs
• Guiding principles based on common threads
through literature, practitioners and community
• Engaging community in a collaborative
community literacy project based on strengths
and needs
• Design-based principles for policy makers,
practitioners, and communities to support
effective practice of online technology in
Indigenous communities
THANK YOU !
[email protected]
References
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Anderson, T., & Kanuka, H. (2003). E-research : Methods, strategies, and
issues. Boston, MA Allyn and Bacon
Evans, A., Elford, J., & Wiggins, D. (2008). Using the Internet for qualitative
research. In Handbook of Qualitative Research in Psychology: Sage.
Flick, E. (2009). An introduction to qualitative research (4th ed.): SAGE.
Henderson, L. (1996). Instructional Design of Interactive Multimedia: A cultural
critique. ETR&D, 44(4), 85-104.
Lobel, M., Neubauer, M., and Swedburg, R. (2005). Comparing how students
collaborate to learn about the self and relationships in a real-time non-turntaking online and turn-taking face-to-face environment. Journal of ComputerMediated Communication, 10(4), article 18.
http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol10/issue4/lobel.html
Rezabek, Roger (2000). Online Focus Groups: Electronic Discussions for
Research [67 paragraphs]. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung / Forum:
Qualitative Social Research, 1(1), Art18, http://nbnresolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs0001185.
Reeves, T. C. (2006). Design research from a technology perspective. In J.
Akker, K. Gravemeijer, S. McKenney & N. Nieveen (Eds.), Educational Design
Research (pp. 52-66). UK: Routledge.
References (con’t).
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Stein, D. (1998). Situated Learning in ERIC Digest 195, from
http://eric.ed.gov/ERICDocs/data/ericdocs2sql/content_storage_01/0000019b/80/1
5/5e/58.pdf
van der Veer, R., & Valsiner, J. (1991). Understanding Vygotsky. Oxford, UK:
Blackwell. Adult Education [Electronic Version].