all sizzle...

Wendell writes on his blog about another industry-driven approach to adult literacy: "with due respect"

"There's a myth that Business is a vital stakeholder in literacy; that Business supports adult literacy work, though it naturally wants us to spend conservatively. But there is no such thing as Business. There are only business people. Some of them are friends of literacy. Some of them are not."

Food for thought.

my life as a squirrel

I have been thinking about squirrels quite a bit lately so it was nice to see how squirrel behaviour, science and adult learning all come together in this article from the New York Times.

Over the past several years, scientists have looked deeper into how brains age and confirmed that they continue to develop through and beyond middle age.

Many longheld views, including the one that 40 percent of brain cells are lost, have been overturned. What is stuffed into your head may not have vanished but has simply been squirreled away in the folds of your neurons.

This is good news for those of us that work in adult literacy. Many of the learners who come to literacy programs are in middle age as are many of us who work there. We are all familiar with this phenomenon:

Start boiling water for pasta, go answer the doorbell and — whoosh — all thoughts of boiling water disappear. Indeed, aging brains, even in the middle years, fall into what’s called the default mode, during which the mind wanders off and begin daydreaming.

There is more good news -- this dreamy default mode does not mean the internet has killed our attention spans. Even though "neural connections, which receive, process and transmit information, can weaken with disuse or age,":

The brain, as it traverses middle age, gets better at recognizing the central idea, the big picture. If kept in good shape, the brain can continue to build pathways that help its owner recognize patterns and, as a consequence, see significance and even solutions much faster than a young person can.

So what does this mean for adult learners and educators? Even more good news. Keep doing what you have always been doing:

Educators say that, for adults, one way to nudge neurons in the right direction is to challenge the very assumptions they have worked so hard to accumulate while young. With a brain already full of well-connected pathways, adult learners should “jiggle their synapses a bit” by confronting thoughts that are contrary to their own, says Dr. Taylor, who is 66.

Teaching new facts should not be the focus of adult education, she says. Instead, continued brain development and a richer form of learning may require that you “bump up against people and ideas” that are different. In a history class, that might mean reading multiple viewpoints, and then prying open brain networks by reflecting on how what was learned has changed your view of the world.

Whew! Thank you science. And thank you middle age for my squirrel brain.

on a boat on a river

Over on Facebook, a colleague posted a link to Connectivism as Learning Theory by Eyal Sivan and said this:

Just came across info on "connectivism", a theory of "network learning" based on principles of chaos, complexity and emergent meaning-making ... and it was a Manitoban that came up with it! Here's some brain food about social and educational connectivism, sparked by the new theory. In case you're bored. :)

Connectivism is a learning theory (or is it?) developed by George Siemans and Stephen Downes.

So is it a learning theory? I am not sure (as Eyal says, "I’ll leave that to the teachers.") but here is what Mr. Siemans says:

Connectivism’s relevance increases when we consider a new method (or metaphor) of learning. The achilles heel of existing theories rests in the pace of knowledge growth. All existing theories place processing (or interpretation) of information squarely on the individual doing the learning. This model works well if the knowledge flow is moderate. A constructivist, for example, can process, interpret, and derive personal meaning from different information formats…as long as the flow doesn’t overwhelm the learner. What happens, however, when information is more of a deluge than a trickle? What happens when information flows too fast for processing or interpreting?

Once knowledge/information flow becomes too rapid and complex, we need to conceptualize a learning model that allows individuals to learn and function in spite of the pace and flow. A network model of learning (an attribute of connectivism) offloads some of the processing and interpreting functions of knowledge flow to nodes within a learning network. Instead of the learning having to evaluate and process every piece of information, she/he creates a personal network of trusted nodes (people and content). The learner aggregates relevant nodes…and relies on each individual node to provide needed knowledge. The act of learning is offloaded onto the network itself – i.e. the network is the learning. This view of learning scales well with continued complexity and pace of knowledge development.

from What’s wrong with established theories of learning?

He also says this:

Our natural capacity for learning is tremendous. We overcome many obstacles and restrictions to achieve our goals. It’s also an example of the short-sighted nature of some learning programs. The problem rests largely in the view that learning is a managed process, not a fostered process. When learning is seen as managed, an LMS is the logical tool. When learning is seen as a function of an ecology, diverse options and opportunities are required.

from When learning goes underground…

If you are on Facebook and want to join the connectivism learning circle happening there, click here.

And if you want to see a ecological approach to curriculum, check out the National Film Board site for Waterlife -- a deluge made up of a connected series of trickles where we can forage, explore and connect the trickles we choose to create our own deluge.

esl literacy readings

Here are a couple of good ESL Literacy resources that have been mentioned on the National Institute for Literacy Adult English Language Learners mailing list recently:

1. How Should Adult ESL Reading Instruction Differ from ABE Reading Instruction? by Miriam Burt, Joy Kreeft Peyton, and Carol Van Duzer of the Center for Adult English Language Acquisition, March 2005

Increasing the English reading skills of adult immigrants is an important task. Unfortunately, little research exists on how adult immigrants learn to read in English and which instructional practices are the most successful. In order to provide evidence-based suggestions for teaching reading to adult English language learners, this brief summarizes the research base on adult English speakers learning to read and the suggestions for instruction from these studies (Kruidenier, 2002). Then, using findings from a synthesis of research on adult English language learners learning to read (Burt, Peyton, & Adams, 2003), the brief describes how these learners differ from native English speakers and how these differences should affect instruction.

2. Volume 24 of the Minnesota and Wisconsin TESOL Journal is a special issue on Research and Best Practice Concerning the Instruction of ESL Learners with Low Levels of Literacy

Literacies author James Simpson (Skills for Life in England, Wales and Northern Ireland or Be careful what you wish for) especially recommends Patsy Vinogradov's article: “Maestra! The letters speak.” Learning to Read for the First Time: Best Practices in Emergent Reading Instruction.

announcement: endangered languages program

Sacred Earth Network - Endangered Languages Program
by Jane Simpson
[passed on from the Foundation for Endangered Languages]

Media release:

Sacred Earth Network, a non-profit organization located in Petersham, Massachusetts, is continuing its Endangered Languages Program after its successful launch in 2008. Endangered Languages Program aims to support preservation and revival of those indigenous languages which are threatened with extinction and which are vital to indigenous cultures of Siberia and North/Central America. One of the components of the Program is financial assistance to projects working towards these goals. In 2008 we offered assistance to eight grassroots language preservation projects in Russia and the US.

With the deadline approaching soon - May 15th 2009, we would like to spread the word out to underfunded grassroots initiatives about financial assistance that we are offering to projects that work towards preservation of indigenous languages particularly in North America.

We are very much hoping for your assistance in dissemination of this information among interested organizations and individuals. If you would like to post this information on your website or newsletter you are encouraged to do this. If you would like to point out further contacts the coordinator would be very grateful as well.

Please address inquiries about the Endangered Languages Program to the Program's Coordinator, Mariyam Medovaya, at mariyamsacredearth AT gmail.com

r u telling me?

Frank Zappa talks about creativity and taking chances:

I read about this interview, and the transcript which I copied here, at Cartoon Brew: Leading the Animation Conversation

“One thing that did happen during the Sixties was some music of an unusual or experimental nature did get recorded or did get released. Now look at who the executives were in those companies at those times. Not hip young guys. These were cigar-chomping old guys who looked at the product that came and said, ‘I don’t know. Who knows what it is. Record it. Stick it out. If it sells, alright.’ We were better off with those guys than we are now with the supposedly hip young executives who are making the decisions of what people should see and hear in the marketplace. The young guys are more conservative and more dangerous to the art form than the old guys with the cigars ever were. …Next thing you know [the hip young executive has] got his feet on the desk and he’s saying, ‘Well we can’t take a chance on this because that’s not what the kids really want and I know.’ And they got that attitude. And the day you get rid of that attitude and get back to ‘Who knows. Take a chance.’ That entrepreneurial spirit where even if you don’t like or understand what the record is that’s coming in the door, the person who is in the executive chair may not be the final arbiter of taste of the entire population.”

To see more of Frank's 'Who knows. Take a chance.' spirit click here.

habits and habitats

I have been evaluating some of the ways I participate in the online world and what it means for my learning process and how it helps me reflect upon what I learn and make meaning. I reread a couple of articles and thought I would share them with you here.

Here is what Etienne Wenger says about why it is important to be connected:

We are essentially social beings. We live in societies, of course; but more fundamentally perhaps, it is our participation in social communities and cultural practices that provides the very materials out of which we construct who we are, give meaning to what we do, and understand what we know.

As valuable as information is, information by itself is meaningless—as are the sounds of an unknown foreign language. Information only takes meaning in the context of the social practices of the communities that give it cultural life. It is therefore through our membership in these communities that we come to know—and to be empowered by what we know.

In fact, isolation as a principle is either illusory or paralyzing —except perhaps when it is part and parcel of the practice of communities that give it a social meaning, as in monastic seclusion or in the process of writing. Our very identity of individuality is a matter of belonging.

Etienne Wenger,
“Communities of practice: where learning happens”,
Benchmark Magazine, Fall Issue 1991
Downloaded from www.ewenger.com/pub/index.htm
(click on papers and scroll to the bottom of the list)

And here is what Stephen Downes says about how to stay connected:

1. Be Reactive
...The first thing any connected person should be is receptive. Whether on a discussion forum, mailing list, or in a blogging community or gaming site, it is important to spend some time listening and getting the lay of the land. ...

2. Go With The Flow
...When connecting online, it is more important to find the places to which you can add value rather than pursue a particular goal or objective. The Web is a fast-changing medium, and you need to adapt to fit the needs of the moment, rather than to be driving it forward along a specific agenda. ...

3. Connection Comes First
...If you don't have enough time for reading email, writing blog posts, or posting to discussion lists, ask yourself what other activities you are doing that are cutting in to your time. These are the things that are often less efficient uses of your time. ...

4. Share
...When you share, people are more willing to share with you. In a networked world, this gives you access to more than you could ever produce or buy by yourself. By sharing, you increase your own capacity, which increases your marketability. ...

5. RTFM
...RTFM stands for "Read The Fine Manual" (or some variant thereof) and is one of the primary rules of conduct on the Internet. What it means, basically, is that people should make the effort to learn for themselves before seeking instruction from others. ...

6. Cooperate
...Offline people collaborate. They join teams, share goals, and work together. Everybody works in the same place, they use the same tools, and have the same underlying vision of the project or organization.

Online, people cooperate. They network. Each has his or her own goals and objectives, but what joins the whole is a web of protocols and communications. People contribute their own parts, created (as they say in open source programming) to "satisfy their own itch." ...

7. Be Yourself
...What makes online communication work is the realization that, at the other end of that lifeless terminal, is a living and breathing human being. ...

“Seven Habits of Highly Connected People”,
eLearn Magazine, April 18, 2008
Available at www.downes.ca/post/44261

And on the topic of being connected and making meaning ...
Update: I wrote about enjoysthin.gs on Monday. Since then Ted Roden, who created the site and is nurturing this community, made a tutorial video. It is such an easy peasey way to share online it might work nicely for a group of students or co-workers as a way of starting discussions or cheering each other up on those days when we need cheering up.

enjoysthin.gs - The Basics from Ted Roden on Vimeo.

fanatics in the attic

happy weekend!

research

happy weekend!

research into practice

"Research has helped us to understand the impacts of violence on learning and to identify ways to address them. How can we move this research more widely into literacy practice? This question was a starting point for research by eleven practitioners from across Canada."

In Moving research about addressing the impacts of violence on learning into practice they describe their research and share what they learned in print and multimedia presentations.

The launch for this website, the book and the DVD is here in Toronto on Friday, December 12, from 2:00 – 4:00 p.m. If you can make it to the launch you can meet the Ontario-based researchers for this project and watch some of the multimedia pieces, listen to readings and join in the discussion.

If you will not be in Toronto on Friday, don't worry. You can watch the multimedia pieces and find the readings by visiting the website. It is a great place to stop, learn, reflect and explore.

The Toronto launch will be held here:
OISE/UT, 7th floor, in the Peace Lounge
Department of Adult Education and Counselling Psychology
252 Bloor Street West, Toronto (St. George subway station)

literacy unknown

Wow. That was a long break. I went to Calgary to the Health Literacy Institute hosted by the Centre for Literacy of Quebec and Bow Valley College. I spent three days in Calgary at the institute, three days in Edmonton meeting with Literacies colleagues and touring the city and then two days on the train travelling from Edmonton back to Toronto. You can see some of what I saw over at storyjuice.

The institute was an amazing event. I wish that you all could have been there. It was a meeting of people who brought academic theory, practical experience and wide and deep understanding of how to put research into practice and how to develop research out of practice. The one caveat that struck me is one that often strikes with regards to terms such as health literacy, information literacy, computer literacy, financial literacy, etc. It seems that there is always a point where general literacy, in the reading and writing sense of that word, gets mixed in with the concept of comunicating complex and complicated information in ways that can be understood, evaluated and used by a diverse group of people. I think that we need to be careful to ensure that health literacy (and all of those other kinds of literacy) is not be dependant upon or integrated with reading-and-writing literacy. People have a right to good information that they can use to manage their health and other aspects of tehir lives regardless of their ability to get information from print materials.

And that always leads to questions about the word literacy: what does it mean? does it now mean so many things that it actually means nothing? In the history of the English language, no group has had much longterm success in trying to control meaning and usage so it is unlikely that the literacy field will ever be the place where the definition of literacy lives, but how well does the word serve us now? How well does it describe the work, the learning, the research, the teachers and the learners?

gift horse

Just in case you missed this ...

The OLES Call for Proposals for Literacy and Essential Skills for Those Entering or In the Workplace is now open. The call is pretty narrow -- in this call OLES will support two types of activities:
* A. The development and application of new tools and models that help individuals entering or in the workplace to improve their literacy and essential skills; and
* B. The adaptation, distribution, promotion and application of existing workplace focused literacy and essential skills tools and models

The rationale for the workplace call seems to reflect the change from a literacy-as-a-human-right approach to a literacy-as-a-vehicle-for-economic-competitiveness rhetoric described by Nancy Jackson in her interview with CBC's The Current on June 12, 2008. (Click on part 2 -- Nancy is on from about 3:55 to 14:40. Thanks Alpha for this link.)

Focusing on the workplace makes sense. According to the 2003 Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey (ALLS), 76% of individuals with low levels of literacy and essential skills are in the labour force; either working or looking for work. Many of these Canadians face labour market challenges, including a lack of access to training and skills upgrading, lower earning potential, greater risk of being unemployed, and more difficulty in finding a new job if they do become unemployed. At the same time, Canada is facing skills shortages in certain occupations, sectors, and regions. For their part, employers report having difficulty finding people with the right mix of technical and literacy and essential skills needed for the workplace.

But --

In 2008-09 OLES plans to launch several Calls for Proposals (CFP), each with a specific theme. Themes will be based on needs identified through ongoing research, consultation, and dialogue with partners and stakeholders. Having different themes will allow OLES to better respond to Government of Canada priorities and to improve the success of Canadians in their families, communities and at work.

So perhaps we should not yet give up hope that there will be opportunities for the kind of field-expanding-and-deepening exploratory research, reflective practice and professional development that the National Literacy Secretariat tried to foster and nurture during its tenure.

P.S. At Literacies we are wondering if any of the proposals submitted to OLES in October 2007 were funded. We have heard about a number of proposals that were rejected but none that were approved. Does anyone know what was funded from that call?

hippy hippy rapal

Sorry for the long absence. I got home from my travels late last Tuesday to find that my internet connection was down -- or mostly down. No excuse really. There is always the internet café just a 5 minute bike ride away. The internet was not the only thing that was down. I was sort of down too. I have been on the move for three weeks and was not ready to stop. I wanted to keep going and felt a bit grumpy about having to come home and stay in one place for more than three days in a row. All better now. Still want to move around and am making plans but can probably settle down for now.





The RaPAL conference ended so well. My last day I went to two amazing workshops. I spent the morning with Julie Collins who told us about a variety of storytelling projects. She has worked with a diverse range of people -- striking miner's wives, travellers, street involved people and now me.

In the afternoon Canada's own Bonnie Soroke told us about her work with HIPPY (Home Instruction Program for Preschool Youngsters). Bonnie is the coordinator of the HIPPY plus program at HIPPY Britannia in Vancouver. The HIPPY Plus program combines the traditional HIPPY program with an adult literacy program. The program acknowledges that all parents have levels of competency in different literacies and builds on those strengths to broaden the boundaries and deepen community connections using non-text and creative methods. Bonnie told us we could use art supplies to take notes and reflect on what we were learning. Something that resonated with me was when she told us that one reason some of these parents are isolated from parts of the community is lack of access to transportation. I used play dough to make some rides for them. Later she told us that the HIPPY Plus workers wanted to come to the conference but could not because of costs. That resonated with me because I always feel a seesaw of glad-I-have-this-opportunity and sad-that-others-do-not when I get to attend a conference, especially one that involves travel and hotels. I made a plane for the HIPPY plus workers and am sure they will share it with all of us.

the art of measurement

Background: I am working on a project about reporting requirements and accountability frameworks in adult literacy in Canada.

My coworker was just in New York and went to the MoMA. She saw the Marcel Duchamp sculpture called 3 Standard Stoppages. She described it to me and as she did, I started to see why she thought that this sculpture would resonate with me as I am doing this work. One of the things Duchamp did when building the sculpture was dip a metre length of string in ink and let it drop into what ever shape happened. Each shape was different but each one was a metre. If you cannot see that it is a metre, it is not because it is not a metre, it is just that you are not used to seeing metres that way.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh! Immediately I felt better. Thank you M. Duchamp. Thank you art. Thank you Tannis.

Here is what it says on the MoMA page:

It is "a joke about the meter," Duchamp glibly noted about this piece, but his premise for it reads like a theorem: "If a straight horizontal thread one meter long falls from a height of one meter onto a horizontal plane twisting as it pleases [it] creates a new image of the unit of length." Duchamp dropped three threads one meter long from the height of one meter onto three stretched canvases. The threads were then adhered to the canvases to preserve the random curves they assumed upon landing. The canvases were cut along the threads' profiles, creating a template of their curves creating new units of measure that retain the length of the meter but undermine its rational basis.

As it pleases!

Music.

...undermine its rational basis!

Poetry.

what we've been waiting for

...Maximising the impact of practitioner research: A handbook of practical advice by Mary Hamilton, Paul Davies, and Kathryn James is ready for download.

Here is what they found:
"Well-supported and resourced practitioner research is best placed to develop practice because it encourages critical and reflective inquiry. It throws light on, explores and challenges accepted practices and wisdom from the inside as well as the outside. It provides the opportunity to recognise and use practitioners’ knowledge, and to identify and promote innovative practices, which mushroom constantly in so many places."

Exactly.

There is much wisdom in this book. It is a great resource for all those contemplating research in practice or working in research in practice and for all of us who wonder what exactly research in practice is and whether or not that is what we are doing in our programs on a daily basis.

"This handbook attempts to provide useful, practical and realistic advice for those who manage practitioner-research programmes whilst also acknowledging that this is a contested area with competing views about what practitioner research is, how it should be done, who should do it and what the point of it all is."

A manual that acknowledges the grey areas and does not idealize the conditions and contexts in which literacy is practised and researched...thanks Mary, Paul and Kathryn!

big thinking 1.5?

BigThink was launched earlier this month as a YouTube for intellectuals. They felt that someone needed to bridge "what was an evident gap between credible, informed editorial opinion and the less controlled freestyle of online social media." Okay then.

Their about-us video starts with this quote from Edward R. Murrow: The newest computer can merely compound, at speed, the oldest problem in the relations between human beings, and in the end the communicator will be confronted with the old problem, of what to say and how to say it.

By providing access to an Expert Network, the BigThinkers hope to encourage an online discussion that is "open across all geographies, boundaries and jurisdictions - not limited to one class, rank or station." They post videos of interviews with academics, politicians, writers, artists and presidential candidates. Site users can respond by posting videos or text comments or they can post their own ideas and questions for debate. TED Talks meets YouTube? Or YouTube meets YouTube?

So who are the BigThink experts? Here is what the BigThinkers have posted on their FAQ page: The Web has no shortage of self-anointed experts, and the Expert Network is our way of reclaiming a little nook of cyberspace where depth of knowledge and expertise still reign... we look to a range of factors, including a person's body of published work, peer recommendations, professional honors, and popular interest. Fame is by no means a pre-requisite to be an expert, however. If you think you qualify, we invite you to apply to be one of our experts and share your knowledge with the world.

Just keep in mind what Edward R. said: Just because your voice reaches halfway around the world doesn't mean you are wiser than when it reached only to the end of the bar.

Here is how the BigThinkers respond to the question, "What's an idea?":
...by submitting an idea, you're entering it into the public sphere. Sure, some of your ideas will be greeted with hearty hurrah's [sic], but others might be met with strident disagreement. But that's the fun of it. Enough preaching to the choir, enough ideological isolationism. We want to pull you into a lively and challenging debate.

What preaching to the choir? What ideological isolationism?

BigThink seems to be a kind of Old School Library/Web 2.0 hybrid. On the one hand they are channeling Andrew Keen (the Expert Network) and on the other, David Weinberger (mission statement: to move the discussion away from talking heads and talking points, and give it back to you).

It will be interesting to see how this site develops. In the meantime, there is some engaging and accessible content over there. Just remember that Ed warns us: Most truths are so naked that people feel sorry for them and cover them up, at least a little bit.

(photos taken from this tribute to some old school journalists/barroom intellectuals.)

learner centred

On Wednesday, January 9, 2008 Statistics Canada released a summary of the International Survey of Reading Skills 2005 in The Daily

"The study ... was a follow-up survey of the Canadian component of the 2003 International Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey (IALLS) that measured literacy skills among individuals aged 16 to 65 in Canada and six other countries.

The ISRS reassessed about 2,000 Canadians from all literacy level[s] but focused on those whose literacy scores in the IALSS fell into levels 1 or 2, the lowest of five."

Here is my favourite part:
"The study suggests that the approach to improving reading levels for people with the lowest proficiency will likely have to vary from individual to individual. That is because their specific reading skills differ widely and thus, the teaching methods will vary according to learners' needs."

Really?

manitoba initiative

Last fall, the Adult Secondary Education Council (ASEC)Manitoba started publishing a new journal. The inaugural issue of the Journal of Adult Learning in Manitoba features several interesting articles, including:

• a history of adult literacy work in Manitoba
• a practitioner's account of how her classroom has changed since she began approaching literacy as social practice
• an article outlining how instructors can teach chemistry when they work in a site with no lab
• a history of ASEC, which links teachers in adult high schools

The stunning artwork on the cover is by designer Kae Sasaki.

These days, it's rare to get good news about adult literacy work. How inspiring to see this new initiative from Manitoba. Long may JALM prosper!

news from nwt

The latest NWT Literacy Council Newsletter - Literacy Matters - tells us about the Ulukhaktok Literacies Research Project. This is a two-phase project "to determine what constitutes indigenous literacies in Ulukhaktok and what elements of these literacies can still be seen" and then to "repatriate Inuinnait traditional knowledge (language, literacies, narratives, values and beliefs, etc.) through viewing and visiting historical photographs and Inuinnait cultural materials currently held in the British Museum in London" in partnership with the British Museum, the Kitimeot Heritage Society, the University of Lethbridge and the Inuvialuit Cultural Resource Centre and the community of Ulukhaktok.

"The research questions that guide the study are: How do we, Inuinnait, remember our ways? What knowledge, stories and language will long lost Inuinnait pictures and things (clothes and tools) trigger?"

There is a CBC video about the RCMP in Ulukhatok here. The story is from a southerner perspective but you get some amazing winter views of this beautiful village and some of the people who live there. You can also see high school students using uluit.

In March 2008, there will be an exhibit from phase 1 at the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre that will focus on the literacies that the Kangiryuarmiut used on their long distance walks. "It will include information such as:

• How they told the time (without today’s clocks)
• How they knew where to go (without today’s maps)
• The songs they sang and the games they played when they gathered together"

ripples

RiPAL BC has just updated their website for the new year. What a good role model they are.

They are highlighting 3 projects.

• From the Ground Up - an innovative project that is employing an outcome measurement approach
• Toward a “Whole-Life” Approach: Addressing learning disabilities in Adult Literacy Settings
• Connecting the Dots - a project is exploring the impact of accountability on literacy practitioners and funders
  

Check out these projects and all the good resources at RiPAL BC.

And speaking of BC, Literacy BC has hard copies of Focused on Practice: A Framework for Adult Literacy Research in Canada to distribute.

"We can all work together to make research in practice matter. In every part of the country, adult students face similar struggles. Literacy practitioners across Canada need to be able to share their research and ideas, as they did in this study."

Anita Abbott - Rabbittown Learners Program, NFLD and Labrador

"This encouraging piece of work focuses clearly on the qualitative results garnered by recording 'the natural flow of community and classroom life'. It articulates what research in practice means, how much time and skill it takes to collect this kind of data, and why it matters in the field of adult literacy. The national scope of participation and contribution is impressive."

Vicki Noonan - Malaspina University College, British Columbia

If you would like a copy, contact them.

Oh - and have a great weekend.