Literacy%20Practitioners

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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

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Acknowledgement

• I would like to acknowledge all of the First
  Nations 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.

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Background

• 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

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History of Project

• Responded to call out for proposals by Ministry
  of Training Colleges and University Ontario in
  Spring 2003
• Sioux Hudson Literacy Councils 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

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Literacy in Ontario

• Streamed into categories
• Anglophone
• Francophone
• Native
• Deaf
• Provincially funded, based on learner number,
  learner skills attainment

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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)

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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
  non-Aboriginal 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).

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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).

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Ice Roads In Ontarios Far North
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Going to Australias Outback
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Teacher Assistant Career Training
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Future Heavy Equipment Operators
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BOLD Project
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Mining Project
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Hospital Project
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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 eadyconsulting_at_sympatico.ca 011 61
2 4221 3613 (no machine)
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Research Design - DBR
Design-based Research
Design-based research approach (Reeves, 2006)
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Summarizing the Theoretical Framework
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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.

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Research Questions

• What are the literacy needs of an Indigenous
  community?
• 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 self-identified literacy needs in an
  Indigenous community?
• 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?

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Phase 1

• What are the literacy needs of an Indigenous
  community?
• 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?

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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)

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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

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Limitations

• Internet connectivity
• Access to hardware
• Access to platforms
• Reading, writing and typing skills
• Ethical issues in online interviews and research

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Must dos

• 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

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Practitioner Volunteers Locations
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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

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Roles of Literacy Practitioners in Indigenous
Communities

• Knowledge Broker
• Social Interpreter
• Conduit
• Empowerment Coach
• Advocate
• Liaison
• Community Member
• Facilitator
• Team Leader
• Negotiator

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Emerging Themes

• Need for a better understanding of the
  complexities of the Indigenous learner from both
  a language and a personal perspective.
• Need for improvement of all literacy skills.
• Need to help to better support the children in
  the community.
• Need for literacy to provide a voice for the
  community.

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Positive Approaches

1. Using culturally relevant approaches and
   culturally relevant material
2. Community /learner ownership and community
   development focus
3. Facilitating a mentorship program

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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

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Are we using technology to teach literacy skills?

• Language skills
• Word processing
• Drivers license preparation
• Reading
• Researching
• Writing
• Oral presentation
• Communication skills
• Mentoring opportunities
• Tax filing skills
• Digital photography
• Job searching
• Banking
• Opportunity for higher education courses

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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?

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How can technology change the way we support
Indigenous literacy learners?

• Showcases Indigenous peoples strengths
• Provides literacy and learning services in a
  learners own environment
• Higher education opportunities and job/work
  readiness training programs
• Means of communication
• Professional development opportunities

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• 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 neverit 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 knowthrough books or through
  distance can isolate people

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• 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

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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

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THANK YOU !

• meady_at_uow.edu.au

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References

• 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.
  ETRD, 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-turn-taking online and turn-taking
  face-to-face environment. Journal of
  Computer-Mediated Communication, 10(4), article
  18. http//jcmc.indiana.edu/vol10/issue4/lobel.htm
  l
• Rezabek, Roger (2000). Online Focus Groups
  Electronic Discussions for Research 67
  paragraphs. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung /
  Forum Qualitative Social Research, 1(1), Art18,
  http//nbn-resolving.de/urnnbnde0114-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.

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References (cont).

• Stein, D. (1998). Situated Learning in ERIC
  Digest 195, from http//eric.ed.gov/ERICDocs/data/
  ericdocs2sql/content_storage_01/0000019b/80/15/5e/
  58.pdf
• van der Veer, R., Valsiner, J. (1991).
  Understanding Vygotsky. Oxford, UK Blackwell.
  Adult Education Electronic Version.