Author Archives: johart1

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ALaN WA Newsletter May 2013

Welcome to edition 6 of the Adult Literacy and Numeracy Network of Western Australia Newsletter!

Views expressed by contributors to the newsletter are their own and, unless expressly stated, do not reflect the opinions of their employers/organisations.

This contents page links individually to each article enabling you to go immediately to those of your choice. Alternatively, if you go to the main blog link, you can access the articles by scrolling down the page.

We welcome your comments and contributions to our newsletter. If you are an Adult Literacy/Numeracy practitioner in Western Australia or indeed, anywhere in the world, we invite you to subscribe and comment. If you interested in joining the GoogleGroup for our network, please visit our “How to join” page and complete the online form.

Contents

1. Joining the conversation!

Commenting on discussion forums and blogs is a great way for you and your students to share your ideas and opinions.

2. CGEA is now re-accredited until 2018!

CGEA is newly re-accredited here are links for curricula downloads and links for finding National and State numbers.

3. CGEA network files.

A reminder and update for ALaN Network GoogleGroup members on accessing the shared documents

4. Literacy for empowerment?

The WA Adult Literacy Council Conference is coming up soon – find out about this year’s theme as well as checking the dates for your diary

5. Does texting help or hinder children’s spelling skills?

A great piece to make you think – and we hope you will add your comments and opinions too!

6. New online numeracy resources

Exciting new resource from VALBEC – checkout this review!

7. Foundation Skills Training Package (FSTP) released.

The FSTP has now been released and can be downloaded – discussion will continue!

8. Lino.it for learning!

An online sticky note tool that is easy for students to learn and use, as well as being fun and enabling them to write for an authentic audience.

 

 

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Joining the conversation!

Introduction

Our newsletter, like the ALaN Network GoogleGroup, is a way of starting conversations. The conversation may continue through other media but often the most useful way to join that conversation is to comment on the initiating post. Please! Please! Join our ALaN conversations – add comments to posts in the newsletter and in the GoogleGroup.

About commenting

Many very well known and experienced writers of online articles/bloggers say that the discussion that happens through the comments is the most important part for them, so being able to join in through commenting is a great way of sharing your own ideas as well as giving feedback to the writer. If someone has already made a similar comment to what you have in mind don’t be put off! You can still add your comment in support of an opinion already expressed – maybe expand on it a little, add further thoughts  or put your own slant. Also don’t be put off if you disagree – you can still comment – expressing disagreement is fine as long as it is done with respect and in an appropriate tone. Personally, I always think of the “feedback sandwich” and (especially if I disagree) try always to begin and end my comments on a positive note.

Commenting online in a public (eg the newsletter which is a blog) or semi-public (eg the GoogleGroup) discussion forum is a little bit different from providing feedback privately or within a very small closed group. Comments are an important part of both discussion forums and blogs. However remember that commenting is public feedback and so it is important to bear in mind your own security/safety as well as the tone and potential impact of your comments.

ThinkBeforeYouPostResize

“Good” commenting

Good commenting is very much about:

  • Adding value to the conversation. You don’t have to say something totally new to do that, reinforcing someone else’s idea/opinion is fine.
  • Being respectful of others’ ideas and opinions even if you disagree. There is nothing wrong in disagreeing with someone through a comment it is how you do this that matters.

This Lifehacker post although several years old makes great points about good commenting that you may find useful for your students and for yourself.

Ideally when I am introducing students to commenting I give them these links:

or similar ones and then ask them to make their own list. I do also have “Guidelines for commenting” that I can share with colleagues for use with their students who may be commenting on blogs or taking part in discussion forums. Some of the points overlap with those made in made in the Lifehacker post mentioned above but I also raise issues of safety for the commenter and others.

Conclusion

Just as with face-to-face interaction respect is important! Making respect explicit is especially significant in asynchronous online interaction because we lack the body language and audio cues that can soften a possibly hurtful comment. This is one reason why using “emoticons” is so much part of online conversation.

Commenting in forums and on posts is the “life blood” of online interaction. So PLEASE join our conversations here in the Newsletter and also (if you are an ALaN GoogleGroup member) in the group. You could start with a comment on this post!

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CGEA is now reaccredited until 2018!

The Certificates in General Education for Adults (CGEA) 2013-2018 is here at last.

As we expected, there isn’t a lot of change mostly adding digital literacy into the reading and writing stream. There are also some changes to elective rules and a welcome attempt to reduce the problem of tedious and repetitive assessment.

But, of course, there are all new numbers:

  • 22234VIC Course in Initial General Education for Adults
  • 22235VIC Certificate I in General Education for Adults (Introductory)
  • 22236VIC Certificate I in General Education for Adults
  • 22237VIC Certificate II in General Education for Adults
  • 22238VIC Certificate III in General Education for Adults

The courses are accredited for the period 1 July, 2013 to 30 June 2018.

The curricula can be downloaded from the Victorian Training Support Network

NOTE you will need to scroll to the bottom of the list to find the NEW CGEA.

Also NOTE that as previously ALL the curricula are bundled into each of the five differently named documents. This means that you  only need to download ONE of the docs. There are separate executive summaries for each qualification.

New national unit numbers can also be found on the TGA website – enter the National course number in the search box. At the time of writing this the courses were designated “Non-current” as the course become the current course on July 1 2013.  From this date all new students will enrol in the new qualification. Current students can continue to complete their qualification requirements according to the CGEA 2007-2013.

WA numbers have been assigned and are now available from VETinfoNet.

We will be sharing the work of identifying changes in the ALaN Network Google Group. For a start there is a PowerPoint (available in the Group) from the curriculum maintenance officer at Victoria University. If you find anything that you think other CGEA teachers should know about regarding the new curricula then please post in the GoogleGroup.

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Lino.it for learning!

Introduction

There are lots of simple, fun to use, online tools that we can use to stimulate interest in writing. One of the simplest is “Lino”. This is a simple cloud based “sticky note” system – although it is certainly more than just a place to put notes. There are several of these available online including “Wallwisher” one of the early ones and the first one I used. However this article is about Lino and some creative ways to use it with students.

I like using online tools because they provide opportunities for students to write for an authentic audience ie someone other than their teacher/lecturer. This audience may be their fellow students or can be broadened out by sharing links more widely with students or teachers/lecturers globally.

Signing up and some of the fucntions

Signing up to Lino is very easy and your students don’t need to sign up to add to your canvases. Only users who intend to create canvases need to sign up. However students often sign up because they can use Lino for reminders, “to do” lists and taking notes.

There are a number of different functions available. You can drag and drop sticky notes of different colours or colourless ones and then add your own text to them. Images, files and videos from several video sites can also be included.

Once you sign up you get a Home Page with one canvas “Main” this gives you a run down on creating a new canvas adding stickies and also the other tools available for editing. You can use Lino as a memo and task management system but I have only used it for activities with students and as a contributor to Linos made by other members of my global network.

Lino.it creatively for student engagement

Lino is used by educators worldwide, with students of all ages and across a variety of subject areas. This example is from a school teacher based in Perth (I met him through my global network on Twitter and he has become a good friend both actual and virtual). He created a Lino for his students and other people across the globe to post ideas for World Water Day 2011. The response both within the school he was at and globally was huge! The Lino is embedded here – you can move around within it with click and drag. Also if you move your mouse to the bottom right hand corner you will see a thumbnail of the whole Lino.

I have used Linoit mainly for student feedback:

However it also works well for:

  • writing stimulus – with an image (and example) for a short piece of writing, I did one for writing a Haiku that was planned for use this year although this is now unlikely as my Institute has decided to cease delivery of CGEA;

As this will probably not be used with students I would be delighted if anyone felt they would like to visit “Write a Haiku” and add their own Haiku to the page 🙂

  • brainstorming ideas for collaborative work;
  • individual students – sign up and make their own for “to do” lists and reminders

 Conclusion

For me the two best aspects of Lino are: its ease of use; and the opportunity for students to create writing for others than just their teacher to read. I believe strongly that students in a face-to-face situation, a blended situation or entirely online as mine have been for the last few years must have access to technology in their learning. This not just because of the opportunities to write for authentic audiences but because they will need to use technology to survive in their future lives at work and at home.

Please explore and investigate and add your comments – would your students like this? Would you use it with your students? Do you already use it with your students – share your/their Linos?

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Foundation Skills Training Package (FSTP) released

The FSTP is now available on TGA – Foundation Skills Training Package

This TP has not yet been implemented here in Western Australia because nominal hours have not yet been assigned. However it is time to assess possible uses for 2014.

The FSTP units are based on very small chunks of the Australian Core Skills Framework (ACSF) so they may be suitable for recognising discrete mathematics or numeracy, literacy and digital literacy skills and knowledge needed in industry contexts.  However, the units might not provide the broad set of generic skills to ascertain level appropriate for entry purposes into other courses, even when packaged together to make a qualification. They are most suitable to support students already in a vocational course.

As identified in the Western Australian consultation that preceded the development of this Training Package:

  • the bank of units are likely to be more more useful in WA than the full  qualifications
  • WA already has support for vocational students in the forms of CAVSS and USIQ so we may use the FSTP less than states that don’t have suitable products for integrated support
  • Teacher expertise is still the most critical need whatever the curriculum product used eg the high level skills to address literacy and numeracy learning needs. These skills include the need to address issues such as identity as a learner and the impact of previous learning failure as well as how to teach the many different sorts of LLN skills. Teachers also need to be able to create an environment that allows students to build on their strengths as they broaden and deepen their skills.

Please share your questions and observations as you dip into the TP, either here for the whole world to see or back in GoogleGroup if you want to discuss it just with members of the ALaN Network.

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ALaN WA Newsletter August 2012

Welcome to edition 5 of the Adult Literacy and Numeracy Network of Western Australia Newsletter!

Views expressed by contributors to the newsletter are their own and, unless expressly stated, do not reflect the opinions of their employers/organisations.

This contents page links individually to each article enabling you to go immediately to those of your choice. Alternatively, if you go to the main blog link, you can access the articles by scrolling down the page.

We welcome your comments and contributions to our newsletter. If you are an Adult Literacy/Numeracy practitioner in Western Australia or indeed, anywhere in the world, we invite you to subscribe and comment. If you interested in joining the GoogleGroup for our network, please visit our “How to join” page and complete the online form.

Contents

1. Training rangers in the Kimberley: a WELL project

Our  story this month is the Kimberley where ranger training is taking on a new dimension with the addition of a WELL program.

2. Language, literacy and numeracy (LLN) practitioner scholarships program

Scholarships for approved study.

3. Images “fit for purpose”

If you or your students ever upload or email images this article is for you. Using a free, simple to use tool to resize images for easier uploading.

4. Report from WAALC conference 2012

A must read whether you were able to attend the conference or not.

5. Certificate IV qualification for the delivery and assessment of foundation skills – update

The industry body took on board the feedback from stakeholders – we made a difference!

6. ‘Literacy and Numeracy Studies’ free journal

Checkout this free online journal

7. Certificates in General Education for Adults Review

The CGEA curriculum is up for review

8. LLNP Innovative and Research Project Funding round

A funding opportunity

9. CGEA Google Group Activity 2012

What’s happening in the group?

10. 2012 NSW ALNC Conference 10 December, 2012

An update on the conference at the end of the year

11.  Reading during the International Year of Reading!

Add your reading ideas

12. Adult Learners’ Week 2012 – Short Story Competition

Join the people’s choice voting for the short story competition

 

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Images “fit for purpose”

Introduction

Ability to carry out simple image editing quickly is very significant in making our images “fit for purpose”. If you do any of the following with images: use them in online publishing; email them especially if recipients have Inbox restrictions; put them on websites and find they take a long time to open/download; use them where image size on the page is important; save them where storage capacity is limited. Then you need to know some basic image editing techniques and have access to simple tools for doing this. So that you can resize images easily to suit their purpose.

The table above gives a  rough guide to sizes, but experience will tell you what sizes work best for you in your own context.

A suitable editing application

My own personal preference is a free downloadable tool called PhotoFiltre.

From my perspective the main advantages of this particular tool are these:

  • Small (4MB) so I can keep a copy on a USB drive to put on any computer at need – useful if you don’t have the access to download and install executable files on school/college computers due to organisational restrictions;
  • Free to download and use for private and education purposes so it can be installed anywhere without licensing issues;
  • I can recommend it to colleagues and students who can then use it without incurring cost; and also without large download time – significant in our infrastructure poor region;
  • My often not very tech savvy students, and sometimes colleagues, find it easy to use;
  • Simple short user guide – mostly written in plain comprehensible English
  • Quick to open and to access the tools I (and many others) use most frequently
  • Handles a good range of image formats

The main PhotoFiltre tool that I use is “Image size” to adjust the size of my images. However I do also regularly use: “Paste as new image” – extremely useful for screenshots used in “How to” resources; and “Crop” – to produce an image without extraneous clutter.

Adjusting image size

For me the way that I can easily and quickly resize an image is probably the most important feature of PhotoFiltre. Accessing the Image size” tool is most easily done via the “Image” menu at the top of the screen.

Resizing by reducing the number of pixels is probably the quickest and easiest way for most of us to reduce the size of the image file.

Making sure that your image is the right size for purpose is critical. When you import an image into a document and reduce the size within the document this has no effect on the size of the image in terms of file space. For example if you have a 60KB text document and you insert a 500KB image your document file size will be 560KB. Even if you reduce the visible dimensions of the image within the document your file will still be 560KB. This has impacts on download time and inbox capacity. Both “png” and “jpg” are widely supported.

Image saving format

The default file saving format on installation of PhotoFiltre is “bmp” (bitmap). This format is less widely used than in the past and therefore no longer supported by a number of commonly used tools and applications. This makes it a good idea to change the default file save format to “png” or “jpg” as shown below.

Conclusion

I hope you find this introduction to getting your images fit for purpose to be helpful. You could find it especially useful of you are planning an article for this newsletter. If you can submit your images already resized it saves us time in editing and contributes considerably to the smooth and timely publishing of the newsletter.

If you have any questions or comments about image sizes please put them in a comment on the post and I will do my best to help.

 

Jo Hart (Aug 2012)

 

 

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ALaN WA Newsletter June 2012

Welcome to edition 4 of the Adult Literacy and Numeracy Network of Western Australia Newsletter!

Views expressed by contributors to the newsletter are their own and, unless expressly stated, do not reflect the opinions of their employers/organisations.

This contents page links individually to each article enabling you to go immediately to those of your choice. Alternatively, if you go to the main blog link, you can access the articles by scrolling down the page.

We welcome your comments and contributions to our newsletter. If you are an Adult Literacy/Numeracy practitioner in Western Australia or indeed, anywhere in the world, we invite you to subscribe and comment. If you interested in joining the GoogleGroup for our network, please visit our “How to join” page and complete the online form.

Contents

1. Project Based Learning for Youth – CGEA II or III

Our  story this month is from Perth where young people are taking ownership of their learning in this project based approach to CGEA.

2. Do you (or your students) Toon?

A look at engaging students through an online cartoon making tool.

3. CGEA Curriculum changes

CGEA Review and Version 4 Implementation

4. Moderation EGE

A Planned Moderation meeting for EGE

5. IBSA Foundation Skills projects status update

Catching up with IBSA’s current Foundation Skills projects

6. IBSA Scope new TAE qualification

New qualification for delivering and assessing Foundation Skills

7. Conference Updates

An update on the conferences happening in the near future

8. Teaching Strategies for LLN Teachers

Brief review of article from the Literacy and Numeracy Stuudies Journal

 

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Do you (or your students) Toon?

Introduction

my students are all off-campus and so are using their own computers with widely varying software. Many of my students are also not particularly computer literate so expecting them to use sophisticated features of word processing or presentation packages is not an option. The strategy I adopt for a lot of work with my online students is to use mostly (though not always) online tools. This post is about using one of them – ToonDoo – an online cartoon making tool.

How do we use ToonDoo?

I have been using ToonDoo myself for several years to create occasional texts to engage student attention and to break up heavily text based resources.

Then about 3 years ago I first used it with online students when we created a cartoon together via virtual classroom (Elluminate). Each student was given control of my desktop in turn to add their own “bit” to the cartoon. These students then signed up to ToonDoo and made their own cartoons. I have also shared my use of ToonDoo fairly widely through webinars and associated blog posts.

Recently I have extended the use of ToonDoo with my students as part of my National Vocational E-Learning Strategy project Extraordinary Learning For A Digital Age (ELFADA) funded under the Partnerships for Participation initiative. This was part of a mini-project on digital safety. The students learnt about ToonDoo in a virtual class session through an Application Share demo and together we created a Toon. This was shared through the course blog in a post on visual texts.

The next step was for the students to visit a series of links to cartoons each addressing an aspect of digital safety. They chose some of these to review and evaluate.

Finally the students created their own cartoon choosing a topic from those they had learned about through our work on staying safe online, they then published a blog post with links to their cartoon, or with the cartoon embedded. These are two of the student posts,  Jordan’s looking at scams and some consequences and Meg’s with a warning to take care what you share.

Conclusion

I have found using ToonDoo to be a great engagement tool for students and will continue to use it with my own online students. I also find that ToonDoo is used easily by students across all three levels that I currently teach online. In common with many other online tools it is relatively simple to use – this is a huge bonus for online students who don’t always have a lecturer available for immediate help.

Please use the comments to share your own and your student experiences with ToonDoo or other cartoon making tools. Or if it is new to you let us know if you think you might try this with your own students.

Jo Hart

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ALaN WA Online Newsletter No1 December 2011

Welcome to the first edition of the Adult Literacy and Numeracy Network of Western Australia Newsletter!

Views expressed by contributors to the newsletter are their own and unless expressly stated do not reflect the opinions of their employers/organisations.

This contents page links individually to each article enabling you to go immediately to those of your choice. Alternatively if you go to the main blog link you can access the articles by scrolling down the page.

We welcome your comments and contributions to our newsletter. If you are an Adult Literacy/Numeracy practitioner in Western Australia or indeed anywhere in the world we invite you to subscibe and comment. If you interested in joining the GoogleGroup of network please visit our “How to join” page and complete the online form.

1. Editorial/Introduction

2. The ALaN Network – GoogleGroup and GoogleDocs

An ALaN Network facilitator introduces the core networking tools used by the Network

3. WAALC 25 years on.

Members of the Western Australian Adult Literacy Council celebrate the 25th anniversary of WAALC

4. A week in the life of a Kimberley lecturer

We hear about an eventful week for a lecturer in the Northwest

5. Free Downloadable Resource

An extended wordsearch activity

6. CGEA numeracy units – being reviewed

Keep up with the review process

7. Certificate 1 in Entry to General Education moderation

The Certificate 1 in Entry to General Education (EGE) moderation arrangements for 2012