Friday 16 September 2011

Engaging low-level adult learners both on and off-campus

Seminar NSW ALNC 2011 

Desiree O'Regan, Marian Koo, Jenny Kelly and Lynne Robson

Thursday 15 September, 2011 at UTS, Building 10, Level 5, Room 580

This presentation gave a snapshot of various means used to address the language and literacy needs of low-level learners both on and off-campus in the Lidcombe / Auburn area.

Teaching is an artful blend of a variety of methods. There is seldom one best method. This presentation is about some teachers’ journey into exploring different ways of maximising student learning and developing students into self-directed learners.

See photos, listen to the keynote addresses, and access many of the presentations from the 2010 ACAL Conference hands up... hands on... ACAL held its annual conference in Darwin this year, attracting some 200 participants from all states and territories and Timor Leste. . 

Numeracy teaching - value free and culture free?

Dave Baker, Reader in Numeracy and post-16 Numeracy at the London Institute of Education in the UK, was a keynote speaker at the ACAL Conference in Fremantle last year. Baker's presentation "What counts, who counts; developing understandings of numeracy teaching from international and cross cultural experiences", is available online.

It sounds so obvious, but maybe if we start numeracy teaching with what adult students actually know, they may better understand some of the more difficult aspects of numeracy.


Dave Baker’s work in developing understandings of numeracy teaching from international and cross cultural experiences leads him to argue for seeing numeracy as social practice, rather than a more abstract and theoretical approach, or from a deficit model.