Using information and communication technologies in adult literacy education: New practices, new challenges

Using a case study approach, this report examines the interaction between new and emerging digital technologies, adult learning and literacies for both educators and learners.

• The findings from this study suggest grounds for rethinking how to further adult literacy education and how it is labelled.
• The study illustrates that it makes little sense to continue to think and talk about literacy practices and the use of information and communication technologies as if they were separate activities: literacy education is equally and simultaneously digital literacy education.
• Adult literacy educators need to understand the new reality of contemporary communication so that they can produce learners who are prepared to contribute actively, critically and responsibly to a changing society that is mediated by the use of information and communication technologies.
• The case study analysis revealed that adult literacy learners need and want a broader technology curriculum than is currently available to them; in particular, they require information and communication technology 'lifeskills' such as online banking and internet searching information. Many adult literacy educators possess the skills and knowledge that their learners need. However, traditional institutionalised understandings of literacy often prevent the development of learning environments and delivery strategies to provide coherent integrated programs that encompass all literacies-old and new. Adult literacy programs that incorporate digital literacies need to take account of settings, contexts and purposes.
• Particular attention is required in the adult and community education sector, which is relatively poorly funded and therefore unlikely to be able to respond to the challenge of integrating the use of information and communication technologies in a timely and appropriate fashion. A coordinated, centralised assembling of resources for teaching and learning with these technologies would be invaluable.
• Because the term 'literacy' is strongly associated with the world of print, it has come to assume the stigma of failure and inadequacy. We need to rethink not only the work of technology-mediated adult literacy education, but also how it is labelled. 'Communication' could usefully replace the word 'literacy' in adult education programs. The advantage would be to focus attention on how the use of information and communication technologies is never divorced from wider communication practices, while at the same time remove the negative impact of the term 'literacy' and its close association with print.

Understanding more about adult learners' digital communication practices and the implications for adult literacy programs represents the fundamental purpose of this study. The research asked what the term 'literacy' will mean in the next decade. What new kinds of literacy practices will adult learners now entering Australia's literacy programs require for life-long learning? How will they gain the literacies essential to communication in the globally extended networks now integral to 21st century workplaces and communities? Are adult literacy educators, grounded by their education and values in the late age of print, prepared to work with these adult learners to help equip them with the new post-print literacies in productive ways? How might current curricula and pedagogy be modified to take account of learners who must become skilled not only at reading the pages of print texts, but also the texts of multimodal websites? How might adult literacy programs change to meet the needs of learners who must make meaning not only with words, but also with digitised fragments of video, sound, photographs, graphics and animation to support communication across conventional linguistic and geo-political borders? What are some useful approaches to professional development and learning that will help educators meet the challenges?

We took account of the literacy research that has theorised everyday literacy practices. We also examined the concentration of work in the area of digital literacy practices. Although little of this research has focused specifically on the adult sector, it is possible to draw on its insights. We then looked at recent research that has investigated the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) for literacy purposes in adult education.

To explore the research questions, we chose a case-study methodology. Five sites were selected to represent a range of adult literacy programs across three states. At each site, we interviewed older and younger educators and learners on two occasions. We also asked them to keep a diary of their technology-mediated literacy activities during the week between the interviews. Our questions focused on the participants' views, experiences and technology-mediated literacy practices in the formal education context, the workplace and the home.

The study produced some important findings that provide a basis for developing systematic, coherent and informed approaches to furthering adult literacy education in an age where literacy practices are increasingly mediated by the use of technologies. They suggest grounds for re-thinking the nature of the work as well as how it is labelled.

We do not claim that the study's findings are generalisable. However, we have aimed to present readers with carefully argued interpretations and claims, and adequate evidence to support them. As researchers, we have tried to provide the elaborate information with which readers can decide the extent to which the case studies are similar to, and thus likely to be illuminating about, their own situations. When the readers of this report 'apply' the findings to their own experience or to similar settings they know, they may then gain a better understanding of their own situations.

In exploring the relationship between adult literacy practices and the use of information and communication technologies, the research suggested that they are inextricably linked. By this we mean that it makes little sense to speak of the 'impact' of technology 'on' literacy. The association between literacy and technology is far more complex than a one-way, causal explanation might suggest.

Some of the educators preferred the term 'communication' rather than 'literacy' to describe their work with learners. They saw 'literacy' as not only strongly associated with the world of print, but also connected to the stigma of failure. With our cultural dependence on print increasingly being replaced by more complex information and communication technology-mediated literacies, the study suggested that it might be timely to rethink our use of the term 'literacy'. A self-conscious shift to 'communication' might serve to focus educators' attention on the multimodal textual practices intrinsic to screen-based reading and writing rather than on the practices associated with the world of print.

In identifying the new literacies required for effective and critical use of information and communication technologies in adult literacy education, the study found that they are multiple, that they are based around the integration of previously separate modes of communication, and that this integration is not well understood by adult literacy educators.

Most of the educators, who had superior expertise to the learners in a range of technoliteracy practices, used information and communication technologies in their programs to provide opportunities for learners to acquire discrete skills for academic or work purposes. They did not believe that everyday information and communication technology applications had a legitimate place in the classroom. The lived information and communication technology experiences of the learners, however, suggested the need for the inclusion of technology 'life skills' such as online banking and internet searching for information.

There was little evidence of attention being paid to the promotion of critical awareness for an informed use of technologies. There were hints of it in the indignation of learners and educators when things did not work, in the complaints about inadequate technical support as compared to more powerful groups within the institutions and community, and an emerging critical perspective amongst some students. But a systematic, integrated approach to critical technoliteracy was not reported at any of the sites.

The findings demonstrated that changes to pedagogical practices associated with the use of information and communication technologies in adult literacy programs are possible, as evidenced by several educators who were able to provide specific learning opportunities for some learners in targeted ways. The potential for further curriculum diversification and enrichment was also apparent across the sites. However, most of the participants told us that if technologies were to be integrated in thoughtful and productive ways, access to reliable, quality technology and the availability of resources to support the acquisition of digital literacies were essential.

The educators differed in their ability and willingness to use digital equipment. Most, however, had some needs for technical skills development. Most also described their own technical skills as self-taught and preferred to learn in this way, only seeking help when necessary. The availability of help, however, was not always present. In order for educators to facilitate the effective integration of the use of information and communication technologies into adult literacy education, concerted professional development activity is needed.

The study reached a number of important conclusions: the enduring value of human contact in educational settings needs to be preserved despite growing interest in the potential of online delivery; opportunities for teachers to consider how the use of information and communication technologies might be integrated into adult literacy education are essential; learners, who are already subject to multiple disadvantages, need access to technology-mediated literacy programs that are well resourced and staffed by educators who are confident and skilled users of information and communication technologies. Overall, there was sufficient coherence across the case-study sites to make a case for curriculum, pedagogical and program reform in adult literacy education.

In addition to this report, the study produced an extended literature review and more detailed descriptions of the case-study sites. The support document is available in Using information and communication technologies in adult literacy education: New practices, new challengers-Support document.