This handbook presents course information, reading materials, and sample exercises for a distance education course designed to enhance an understanding of the nature of workplace literacy needs and to show how to develop and teach in workplace literacy and basic skills programs. The first section of the handbook discusses the structure of the course, the assessment scheme, texts, and assignments. The second section presents brief introductions and reading materials for the two required modules of the course, which address the need for workplace literacy and planning issues. The third section presents six elective modules (consisting of reading materials, sample exercises, and lists of resources) which address writing a proposal, conducting a task analysis, designing curriculum materials, selecting supplementary materials, developing lesson plans, and constructing evaluation measures. (RS)