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Blog: What Works?
SK Practitioner Reports
Published Resources
Electronic Resources contains multiple evidence-based research reports, evidence-based teaching strategies, on-line materials, and links to research and literacy practice Websites.
Saskatchewan Literacy, Basic Education and English as an Additional Language
Literacy Timeline, see a brief slide-show timeline of how adult literacy education grew up in Canada from the point of view of CUPE. This slide-show accompanies the CUPE book, Learning in Solidarity. Click here to see how adult literacy education has served workers in Canada for over a century.
Literacy Learning in Saskatchewan: A Review of Adult Literacy Programs (1989), is a province-wide evaluation conducted and written by Judith Hindle as undertaken for the Saskatchewan Literacy Council and conducted during the 1987-1990 Saskatchewan Literacy Campaign. Check it out. Judith has included a chapter and fascinating overview of the history and development of adult literacy programs and program delivery in Saskatchewan up to 1989. We thank Judith Hindle for her enthusiastic agreement to make it public and SIDRU, at the University of Regina, for putting it into digital format and making it widely available.
The Saskatchewan Literacy Network – Saskatchewan's "go-to" centre for so much of the province's adult literacy development is the Saskatchewan Literacy Network. Check out their Website for resources, events and updates on provincial, national and international activities. In addition to building communication across literacy provider organizations, SLN's mandate includes helping to strengthen literacy and essential skills, engage stakeholders, and provide support to the wide network of literacy providers in Saskatchewan.
Canadian Practitioner-Based Websites
"Keep up the good work and continue the grassroots approach, not top down, [keep it] instructor initiated and solution-focused." —Saskatchewan RiP Practitioner (from the 2010 Sk. RiP External Evaluation)
Ontario Practitioner-Based
AlphaPlus Especially strong on electronic supports and the use of digital literacy with how-to suggestions, this Website also focuses on literacy and basic education research that has been conducted in Ontario, including in the Francophone and deaf communities of adult literacy.
Canadian Literacy and Learning Network. This CLLN Website is especially helpful in that it houses many of the more recent Canadian reports on adult literacy–statistical reports, the Movement for Canadian Literacy submission for a Pan-Canadian literacy plan, even the petition form to advocate for promoting literacy education as submitted to the federal government some years back. The website also has a valuable learners section listing helpful materials for self-study and instruction, as well as plain language Learners' Stories. You will also find a number of good links to other websites (although these need to be updated).
Essential Skills Ontario. This new Essential Skills Ontario Website is hosted by the Ontario Literacy Coalition based in Toronto. The Website has a number of purposes, including: A Research and Policy section that highlights Essential Skills Ontario's latest research and initiatives and an easy-to-use Resources section where you can find all of Essential Skills Ontario's downloadable documents, online resources, and information on webinars. New to the Canadian electronic resources scene, it is really worth checking into regularly.
British Columbia Practitioner-Based
Decoda This comparatively new Website takes up where Literacy BC left off. It contains RiP studies as well as many recent Essential Skills reports and updates. See Research-in-Practice reports conducted by British Columbia practitioners.
International Practitioner-Based Websites
"If practitioner research can allow us to identify aspects of learning or allow us to improve in our teaching, then it is definitely an extremely important part of any teaching course and a process that should be undertaken within each of our teaching contexts. Tutors [teachers, instructors and trainers] should welcome the opportunity and set aside any anxieties or concerns they have about embarking on the process." —Participant in literacy action research, United Kingdom
UNESCO and Effective Literacy Practices World-Wide:
Here is UNESCO'S dedicated website on literacy programs around the world. The website is managed by UNESCO's Institute for Lifelong Learning located in Hamburg, Germany. The website is continually updated and contains a large number of international reports, resources and international news updates.
As the home page explains, the main objectives of this Effective Literacy Practices website are to:
facilitate access to pertinent information on adult literacy and numeracy programmes for all literacy stakeholders, including policy-makers, researchers and practitioners;
encourage synergies and cooperation through the sharing of experiences and lessons learned;
identify current trends, challenges and information gaps in literacy in order to provide a global overview of the field; and
promote adult literacy and education as a means of enhancing lifelong learning.
United States of America Practitioner-Based
LINCS Literacy Information and Communications System A U.S. federal government sponsored website providing a huge range of resources for literacy practitioners—from workplace to family literacy to policy documents. Similar to NALD, this Website contains literature reviews, reading teaching strategies information and information on the economics of literacy. It focuses on both adult and child literacy.
NCSALL National Centre for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy This centre for literacy was located at Harvard University for several years but their federal contract has since ended. The information that is still on the NCSALL Website remains relevant today.
PALPIN Pennsylvania Adult Literacy Practitioner Inquiry Network This valuable website is under the Learning from Practice project sponsored by the Pennsylvania state government. The multiple Research-in-Practice reports are now in the huge USA ERIC data base (Education Resources Data Base) . You may need to use Google to get to PALPIN but it is well worth it. You will find discussion-based Practitioner Inquiry reports and action research reports here under various literacy headings.
Rhode Island Adult Education Teacher Inquiry Project. This Website provides a listing of resources & activities in the US as well as activities in Rhode Island. www.brown.edu/Departments/Swearer_Center/Literacy_Resources/inquiry
Canadian Academic Literacy Websites
The Canadian Centre for Research on Literacy (CCRL). Located at the University of Alberta, Edmonton, the CCRL is one of the few Canadian universities to have established an electronic resources Website for literacy in the English language. You will find current, peer-reviewed and other published articles, books and chapters from the faculty of the UofA in this Website. These resources concern adult and child literacy, as well as other areas of adult education interest.
Check out the latest blog installment
Re-Inventing The Saskatchewan Action Research Network (SARN) & Allan's Farewell
"Knowledge For The People:" The Antigonish Movement
Not the Exclusive Right of the Favored Few
Jane Addams & Hull House
The Little General & the Moonlight Schools of Kentucky
Literacy Under Slavery: "To Taste the Forbidden Fruit"
Adult Literacy Education: Where Did We Come From?
Welcome to the Saskatchewan Action Research Network… SARN 2016-2017
"Lessons Learned In 2015-2016" Adult Literacy/Basic Education & Transformative Learning
Pauline's Story: From Basic Education Student to Superintendent of Education
Archives Select Month September 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 July 2015 May 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 October 2014 September 2014 June 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 May 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 September 2012 June 2012 May 2012 March 2012 January 2012 June 2011