Crowdfunding Innovation in Adult Education

I don't know how I'd missed out on Brenda Dann-Messier's keynote speeches at so many of the conferences that I've attended in recent years. But I made it to this year's Virginia Literacy Leadership Conference this year, and I'm so glad I did.

The conference brings together community based literacy organizations (CBLOs) from across the state of Virginia, and here I was exhibiting for a product called GED Academy and another called Computer Essentials. Most people just walk on by because CBLOs typically handle literacy-level and ABE learners and refer GED learners to their local adult ed programs.  But, there's always room for innovation.  The new GED calls for a stronger foundation of basic skills and pretty wide range of computer skills, and these things are going to affect CBLOs.     

Dann-Messier speaking in Virginia

Making Technology Transformative 

Dann-Messier talked about her work with Dorcas Place in Providence, Rhode Island.  Early in her talk she mentioned that her organization made great strides helping people learn well beyond the GED, and they were able to do this by embracing innovation at every turn.  Whoa. Most adult educators are struggling with the idea that very many of their GED students are interested in studying for a goal beyond their high school equivalency credential.  But how about embracing innovation at the same time?  Bigger gains and more ambitious goals can be an outgrowth of innovation... that is, if the innovation prioritizes the needs of adult learners and rewards motivation.  But that's not been the experience of most adult educators.  And there are more pessimistic views on this, of course.

How Do YOU Promote Online Learning?

Rather than talk about any one prescription for the best way to expand adult education into the the online environment, I'd like to turn it over to YOU.  This is not optional extroversion.  This is a basic function of any adult education program: promotion. Marketing. Advertising.  Spreading the word. Let's see some examples, either from your program or one that's caught your attention.   They say people need to see something seven times before they react.  Surely you can come up with one.

Send me an email at jason(at)essentialed(dot)com with your website, a flier, an ad, a story, anything that puts online learning on the radar of prospective ABE/GED/ESOL learners.  It can be an example of something that needs improvement, that you want input about (but try not to post someone else's thing as "what not to do" ...unless it's a giant faceless corporate ad).

Here on the left is a flier from the window of  a community based literacy organization storefont.  It's supposed to grab people on the street and bring them inside and from there, launch them out onto the web. But who will respond? Probably more people with internet access and personal computers than those who aren't online (though even that's a starting point).  It creates buzz. People might tell other people. It creates urgency, noting the need to finish before 2014.  What do you think about it?

I look forward to adding your examples so we can discuss them and hopefully inform our future promotional efforts to attract great candidates for online learning.   

 

COABE 2013 in The Big Easy

After playing host to the annual COABE conference last year in my home state of Virginia, I've been looking forward to visiting somewhere a little further afield for the most important gathering of the adult education landscape. From March 24-28, New Orleans is clearly the place to be for adult educators. This couldn't be a bigger occasion, either, with the new GED™ test looming.  Since starting my adult education career amidst the transition to the 2002 GED test, I've been eager to be a part of the community conversations surrounding a new test that shape instruction for years to come.  That's why you've got to get yourself to COABE, to grab all the good ideas out of the air and put them to good use.  And that's why the show has got to go on without me.
  

I've been aching for 'cafe y beignet' since visiting Cafe du Monde in 1999.

The Big Easy Rigorous

It's a little ironic.  I had pitched a couple sessions to the COABE conference planning committee back in 2012, and they were both accepted.  Computer-based instruction for digital literacy and innovative GED preparation are both growing needs in the adult ed field.

Everyday Learning via Multiple Media

How often do you learn from YouTube?  You have a curiosity, or you need a quick tutorial, maybe a product review, and you YouTube it. Me? Maybe twice a week.  This is technology-assisted adult education in everyday life.  Case in point:

My son Jasper and I are playing Lego Harry Potter, Years 1-4 on the Wii. Jasper is almost five and he loves Legos. I'm an overgrown kid who loves Harry Potter (though, not really in video game form).  He can't figure out how to find all the ingredients for the cauldron that will give us some special ability so we can open a door and move on to the next stage (and he's a little challenged by two controllers with all their buttons), so I'm basically playing the game for him and impressing the heck out of my son (he takes over during fights - his favorite part).

Jasper playing World of Goo, an endlessly fascinating game.

When I get stuck in these video games, and I can't walk my son through the valuable reasoning lessons that make video games such immersive learning experiences, I then model my researching skills. Yes. I YouTube it and find that several people have uploaded screen-casts of their quick run-thrus of the video game stages that give me fits.

Digital Literacy is a Civil Right

21st Century citizenship. This is the topic of the new era in adult education.  It's also pressing on my mind as I write this, today being Martin Luther King's birthday.  Where to start? This is huge.  Let's go back in time a bit before we look at integrating technology, not just into instruction, but into our learners' daily lives.

Adult education has always been a civil rights issue.  Literacy instruction in America's most dis-empowered populations (slaves, indentured servants, women and immigrants) gave rise to gainful employment and civic participation. Workers rights initiatives helped establish the industrial unions that built the middle class, made American manufacturing a driver of the global economy and gave us basic standards like the weekend and the eight hour work-day.

A New Frontier of Basic Skills  
Don't get complacent as you reflect on the accomplishments of adult education's legacy.  On balance, there is arguably more unfinished business and progress lost at this point.  Now, we need to add more literacies to the mix, namely digital literacy.  Oh goody, more work to be done.  Job security for adult educators (aka: an overwhelming underfunded mandate with insurmountable odds).

2013: The Year of the Blended Learner

If a clear division still exists between the traditional classroom and online distance learning, then a hybrid model like blended instruction seeks to muddy those waters.  Another grey area to explore and master may not sound like an appealing prospect for the new year, but those two low-tech vs. high-tech scenarios are polarizing over-simplifications that I believe hold us back as educators.  That's one of many reasons why blended learning is such an exciting prospect for 2013.  It's about giving teachers and learners more options to meet our challenges and more opportunities to speed up or slow down the pace of instruction.

My prediction for the field of adult education in 2013 is the widespread adoption of blended learning.  We will get over the fad diet of 'flipping the classroom' (sorry, Khan), and we'll get serious about immersing our learners in technology-rich learning experiences inside and outside the classroom.  We will go further than simply 'integrating technology' in our classroom instruction, and we'll make computer-based instruction a standard component of every learners' ABE/GED/ESOL experience.

I'm not exaggerating or being sensational about this. 

The Two Most Important Weeks In Distance Ed

It's December 21st and most adult education programs are closed for Christmas, through the middle of next week, or for a longer winter break until after New Years.  Classes ended a week ago or longer.  Classes won't start until the second week in January. This is the most important two weeks the adult education calendar.

There will be a big spike in GED class enrollments in early January. New Year's resolutions, presumably.  The focus of services shifts to intake, assessment, placement, and orientation.  The momentum of last year's progress has collected some dust.  Higher level or self-directed learners encounter the irony of 'hurry up and wait.'  Think highway miles on your car versus start and stop city miles.  Adults' relationship with continuing education is already intermittent, and then you factor in the wear and tear of starting and stopping in accordance with class terms and schedules.  

Learning is 365
Despite the cyclical nature of public programs and traditional classroom services, the needs of adult learners can be served every day of the year.  We're not going to put a dent in the 40 million people needing GEDs without removing barriers to participation, like summer break and winter break.