This chapter discusses a range of issues that together paint a picture of the impact, potential, and challenges of using digital technologies in adult education.

Adults with learning disabilities (LD) attending adult basic education, GED programs, or community colleges are among the lowest performers on measures of literacy. For example, on multiple measures of reading comprehension, adults with LD had a mean reading score at the third grade level, whereas adults without LD read at the fifth grade level.…

Team teaching is a great strategy to convey systems thinking to students, families, and communities and to help learners gain multiple perspectives. Learners benefit from the professional interaction among skilled instructors. This article uses a program of land stewardship to demonstrate the advantages of team teaching. Both the advantages and…

Project ALERT (Adult Literacy Enhanced & Redefined through Training) was a 3-year effort to develop and deploy a number of innovative approaches to delivering workplace literacy programs to business partners, including manufacturers and unions. The project designed, developed, and implemented workplace literacy programs tailored to the…

The final report presents descriptions of activities, procedures, evaluations, recommendations, and conclusions of two series of workshops undertaken to inform ABE teachers in New England of innovative techniques in teaching English as a second language (ESL). Workshop participants were introduced to fresh and provocative teaching methods that…

The emotional and paraconscious characteristics of an adult who is faced with the need to learn to read make the use of the suggestopedic instructional method, which operates below the level of consciousness, attractive. Among learner characteristics to which suggestopedia can be directly applied are integrative and instrumental motivation, and…

This document consists of four issues of a newsletter focused on the spectrum of technology use in literacy instruction. The first issue contains the following articles: "Five 'Big' Systems and One 'Little' Option" (Weisberg); "Computer Use Patterns at Blackfeet Community College" (Hill); "Software Review: Educational Activities' Science Series"…

To benefit adult basic education (ABE) teachers, national, state, and regional efforts need to be made for systematic dissemination of 309 (Adult Education Act) Projects' innovative teaching strategies. ABE teacher training programs need to be established at colleges and universities and state certification requirements need to be revised.…

This report profiles 13 exemplary adult literacy programs and 6 innovative practices throughout Canada. Compiled through personal contacts of the researcher and knowledge of the field, the programs described represent institutional programs, workplace programs, and community-based programs. For each of the programs, the following information is…

This issue begins with "Listen to a New Word: Publishing from the Grassroots" (Rachel Martin) about a movement to publish the writings of adult literacy participants. The article looks at what these writings have to say about the world and why the world needs to listen. "Effective Practice: Panning for Gold" (Zona Johnson,…

This document reports on an international meeting under the auspices of World Education, Inc., concerning adult literacy and family life planning. The consultation attempted to study and assess progress achieved by various organizations in Thailand, the Philippines, and Indonesia in the area of concern. The Bangkok Consultation emphasized…

A participatory approach to adult literacy education aims at getting the learner to function at the highest level of responsibility possible regarding program activities; it demands an active approach. Characteristics of a participatory literacy program include the following: activities that emphasize what learners already know, learners…

This document contains part of the final report from the first meeting of the Inter-American Council on Education, Science, and Culture, held in Vina del Mar, Chile, in 1970. The report presents general policy and guidelines which should be followed in the establishment of adult elementary education programs. The general discussion covers literacy…

The effectiveness of employing educationally advanced inmates as one-to-one basic education tutors for inmate students was evaluated. In conjunction with this evaluation, an experimental study of the most efficient material presentation and testing techniques using this manpower resource was conducted. Three different modes of presenting…

This report considers the basic skills levels of adults in Kansas, the provision of basic skills training by public and private agencies, and policy options for improving the basic skills of Kansas's workforce. Following a detailed executive report, chapter 1 reviews the workforce challenge, economic and technological changes, and shifts in…