NSWALNC Reading Group - Digital Literacy: what, where and in whose interest? Presented by Jill Finch - 5.30pm 15 Oct 2020

You are invited to a presentation on Digital Literacy by Jill Finch, experienced adult literacy teacher, policy activist and wonderful colleague to many of us, followed by a discussion of a reading by digital literacy scholars Colin Lankshear and Michele Knobel.

Date: Thursday 15 October, 2020

Time: 5.30 - 7 pm

Where: on Zoom 

Register: Trybooking  https://www.trybooking.com/BLUJK   or https://www.trybooking.com/664076 

Please find the abstract for the session below.

Digital literacy: what, where, and in whose interest? 

Even before the "C word" hit this year, digital literacy and online delivery were looming large in our LLN world. Now they are front and centre. But the change has been abrupt, and most of us don’t yet have a clear shared understanding of what digital literacy is, or what the big issues are moving forward. 

This session will look at some questions about digital literacy teaching and learning in different settings in community, college, and workplace.  

• What exactly do we mean by digital literacy? (Or literacies….? ) And who is 'we' here? 
• What makes it different from teaching print literacy?  
• What models or metaphors are we using? (Toolbox? Toyshop?) 
• What risks and issues do we need to be thinking about? 
• What adult education touchstones can we draw on? 

Reading for discussion:

Lankshear & Knobel 2015  Digital Literacy and Digital Literacies: Policy, Pedagogy and Research Considerations for Education, published in theNordic Journal of Digital Literacy.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/284918725_Digital_Literacy_and_Digital_Literacies_Policy_Pedagogy_and_Research_Considerations_for_Education  

NSWALNC Reading Group - 5.30 pm 3rd September 2020

                      A Lifelong and Life-Wide Framework for Adult Literacy Education 

Stephen Reder, Portland State University

Access the article at: https://www.proliteracy.org/Portals/0/pdf/Research/ALE%20Journal/ALE_ResearchJournal-v002_01-2020-48_Reder.pdf

Discussion questions:

In this article, Reder argues that “adult literacy education needs to be repositioned within a new framework of lifelong and life-wide learning, a framework in which new policies are formulated, programs are designed and evaluated, and research is funded and carried out” (Reder, 2020, p. 48). 

·       To what extent do you believe this argument also applies in the Australian context? What are some specific reasons for your response?

·       Do you see similar problems in the current Australian programs that Reder sees in the US programs?

·       Do you believe that a lifelong and lifewide policy is also needed in Australia? What might be some of the difficulties achieving in such a policy here?

EMAIL nswalnc@gmail.com to join the discussion on Zoom.

Reading and Discussion Group - 5.30 pm Thursday 25 June 2020

Maintain and support your professional connections and engagement with recent research in the field of Adult Language Literacy and Numeracy by joining the NSWALNC Reading and Discussion Group.

Reading and Discussion Group Article - Adults’ numeracy practices in fluid and unstable contexts—An agenda for education, policy and research?

Keiko Yasukawa & Jeff Evans 

Zeitschrift für Weiterbildungsforschung volume 42, pages343–356(2019)

Access the article in pdf at https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s40955-019-00145-z.pdf

Register: To join the Reading and Discussion Group and/or AGM please register at https://www.trybooking.com/BJXTT 

Abstract

Numeracy practices are always dependent on the social context in which they emerge. These contexts, however, are unstable because of a range of technological and socio-political changes. How does this instability affect people’s agency in the world? After reviewing key approaches to numeracy practices research, we distil key findings from recent numeracy studies. We introduce the concept of the numerate environment to examine the context in which opportunities, supports and demands present themselves for people’s numeracy development, explaining how cultural-historical activity theory can be used to analyse the effects of changes in numerate environments. We consider examples of social trends likely to effect such changes and conclude with implications of shifts in people’s numerate environment for future educational provision, policy and research.

Discussion question

1.     What is your understanding of the numerate environment? What do the authors argue is the value or usefulness of this concept?

2.     The authors claim that people’s contexts of numeracy practices are often unstable, and this in turn affects people’s agency in the world. What do they mean by this?

3.     What examples can you give of an unstable context of numeracy practices? How does the concept of the numerate environment help you to understand the effect on people’s agency in this unstable context?

4.     From the discussions of the article, what questions would you like the authors to address?

5.     How is the concept of  unstable contexts of numeracy practices reflected in your practice and the curricula you deliver?

NSWALNC AGM Thursday 25th June 2020

The NSW Adult Literacy and Numeracy Council will hold its Annual General Meeting on the 25th June 2020 at 6.30 pm.

To join the meeting which will be held via Zoom please register at:
please register at https://www.trybooking.com/BJXTT 

Email nswalnc@gmail.com for meeting papers.

Workshop - 'Art and Adult literacies: Using images and artefacts in teaching literacy'. Dr Roslyn Appleby, University of Technology Sydney

SOLD OUT The NSW Adult Literacy and Numeracy Council presents a Zoom Workshop

'Art and Adult literacies: Using images and artefacts in teaching literacy'.

Dr Roslyn Appleby, University of Technology Sydney

Thursday 28 May

5.30-7.00 pm.

Ros was a keynote speaker at our 2019 ACAL conference where she presented a paper on Animals, Arts, and Adult Literacies. At the end of the presentation, many conference participants wanted to hear more about how they could engage with the visual arts and multimodality in their teaching and learning. Ros has kindly offered to share some of her ideas in this Zoom-based workshop.

Please Register for the Workshop at: https://www.trybooking.com/BJRDP 

For further information please email the NSWALNC at NSWALNC@gmail.com

NSWALNC Executive Meeting Agenda 1 May 2020

The NSW Adult Literacy & Numeracy Council Inc

1 May 2020

Executive Meeting

AGENDA

1.     Apologies:
        Attendance:  

2.     Minutes of the Previous meeting

3.     Business Arising

4.     President’s Report

5.     Treasurer’s Report (March and April Financial Summaries)

6.      ACAL Representative’s Report

7.      NSW Conference 2020 Report

8       Reports on teaching during COVID-19

9.      Zoom reading group suggestions 

10.    Zoom workshop by Ros Appleby for end of May 

11.    AGM

12.    Any Other Business

2020 NSWALNC Annual Conference 14 December 2020

3.       Put Monday 14 December 2020 in your diary for the NSWALNC Annual Conference. Further details are on their way.