Presentation at Adult Literacy Organiser's Association (Ireland) Forum in Sligo 8th February

1. E-LEARNING & ADULT
LITERACY PROVISION –
POSSIBILITIES, OPPORTUNITIES
& PITFALLS
DR. TOM FARRELLY @TOMFARRELLY
IT TRALEE
Forum, February 8th/9th 2018, Sligo
#aloa18

2. CRITICAL TECHNOPHILE

3. WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE
LITERATE IN 2018?

4. COMPLEXITY
“LITERACY INVOLVES LISTENING, SPEAKING,
READING, WRITING, NUMERACY AND USING
EVERYDAY TECHNOLOGY TO COMMUNICATE AND
HANDLE INFORMATION” (NALA 2013, P. 8)

5. EUROPEAN COMMISSION, 2008 P. 4
‘DIGITAL LITERACY IS INCREASINGLY BECOMING AN ESSENTIAL
LIFE COMPETENCE AND THE INABILITY TO ACCESS OR USE ICT
HAS EFFECTIVELY BECOME A BARRIER TO SOCIAL INTEGRATION
AND PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT. THOSE WITHOUT SUFFICIENT ICT
SKILLS ARE DISADVANTAGED IN THE LABOUR MARKET AND
HAVE LESS ACCESS TO INFORMATION TO EMPOWER
THEMSELVES AS CONSUMERS, OR AS CITIZENS SAVING TIME AND
MONEY IN OFFLINE ACTIVITIES AND USING ONLINE PUBLIC
SERVICES’

6. Information/
Cognition
Distance
Provision
‘Media
Savvy’/Participation

7. INFORMATION POVERTY
“CULTURAL NORMS AND INFORMATION
BEHAVIOURS THAT EXIST WITHIN
COMMUNITIES”
ANTHONY MCKEOWN (2016, P.147)

8. E-LEARNING – WHAT’S IN A NAME?
…EDUCATIONAL CONCEPTS WHICH ARE IN
WIDESPREAD USE DURING ANY PARTICULAR
PERIOD ARE OFTEN OF INTEREST FROM A
PHILOSOPHICAL POINT OF VIEW BECAUSE
THEY TEND TO BE USED RATHER UNCRITICALLY,
AND WITHOUT THE PRECISION OF THOUGHT
WHICH MAY ACCOMPANY THE USE OF A
MORE UNCOMMON WORD (OLIVER, 1999,
P.1).Martin Oliver
UCL

9. Distance Education

11. BLENDED

12. DIGITAL SOCIETY? – A DIGITAL DIVIDE!
‘TOO OFTEN THIS KIND OF
ACCESS IS ASSUMED,
PARTICULARLY IN DEVELOPED
COUNTRIES’
(HAYTHORNTHWAITE ET AL., 2007,
P.97).

13. TECHNOLOGY FOR
EVERYONE?

14. HOUSEHOLDS WITH INTERNET ACCESS, 2017
(CSO)
Fixed
Broadband
Mobile
Broadband
State 84% 49%
1 adult, no dependent children 69 52
2 adults no dependent children 85 43
3 or more adults no dependent children 84 49
1 adult with dependent children 76 57
2 adults with dependent children 90 49
3 or more adults with dependent children 88 51

15. “IN GENERAL, LATE OR NON-ADOPTION OF
ICT TENDS TO BE CAUSED BY THREE
FACTORS:
A LACK OF SKILLS;
A FEAR OF TECHNOLOGY AND LOSS OF
PRIVACY; AND
A PERCEIVED LACK OF RELEVANCE”
(TAYLOR AND PACKHAM, 2016 CITED IN SOCIAL JUSTICE IRELAND, 2017 P.
211).

16. HOW ACCESS? (CSO, 2017)
• MOBILES OR SMARTPHONES WERE USED TO ACCESS THE INTERNET BY 83% OF
INDIVIDUALS.
• 96% OF INDIVIDUALS IN THE 16-29 YEARS AGE GROUP USED A MOBILE
PHONE OR SMARTPHONE TO ACCESS THE INTERNET
• WHILE 50% OF INDIVIDUALS IN THE 60-74 YEARS AGE CATEGORY USED THIS
DEVICE TYPE TO ACCESS THE INTERNET. LAPTOPS OR NETBOOKS WERE USED
BY 66% OF INDIVIDUALS TO ACCESS THE INTERNET,
• WHILE TABLETS WERE USED BY 37% FOR INTERNET ACCESS. DESKTOP
COMPUTERS WERE USED BY 25% OF INDIVIDUALS WHILE 8% OF INDIVIDUALS
USED SMART TVS TO GO ONLINE IN 2016.

17. ISSUES FACED BY PROVIDERS (WAGNER AND KOZMA 2005) :
INFRASTRUCTURE & ACCESS TO TECHNOLOGY
• BROADBAND CONNECTIVITY
• LAPTOPS/COMPUTERS
• MOBILE DEVICES
• DEDICATED CENTRES
• TRAINED STAFF
• OPPORTUNITIES FOR CPD FOR EXISTING STAFF

18. THEMES &
ASSOCIATED
ACTIONS

19. THE FOUR ELEMENTS OF TEL

20. BUT!!!!

21. MOBILE
LEARNING/MOBILE
COMMUNICATION

22. HTTP://PROJECT252.DONENDA.COM/
@DONENDA
WHAT’S OUT THERE?

23. CRIME & PUNISHMENT – LOW TECH TEL

24. QUOTES FROM E-LEARNING
‘CHAMPIONS’
HTTPS://ELEARNINGINDUSTRY.COM/INSPIRATIONAL-ELEARNING-QUOTES-FOR-ELEARNING-
PROFESSIONALS
1. “ELEARNING IS CHANGING. AND, WE WILL SEE NEW MODELS, NEW TECHNOLOGIES
AND DESIGNS EMERGE. SO, LET’S DROP THE “E” – OR AT LEAST GIVE IT A NEW AND
WIDER DEFINITION.” - ELLIOT MASIE
2. "WE NEED TO BRING LEARNING TO PEOPLE INSTEAD OF PEOPLE TO LEARNING." -
ELLIOT MASIE
3. “PEOPLE OFTEN TOUT INTERACTIVITY AS THE GREAT BENEFIT OFFERED BY ELEARNING,
YET MOST INTERACTIVITY DOES NOTHING TO EITHER ENGAGE OR INSTRUCT.” - ETHAN
EDWARDS
4. “THE MOST IMPORTANT PRINCIPLE FOR DESIGNING LIVELY ELEARNING IS TO SEE
ELEARNING DESIGN NOT AS INFORMATION DESIGN BUT AS DESIGNING AN
EXPERIENCE.” - CATHY MOORE
5. “TEACHERS NEED TO INTEGRATE TECHNOLOGY SEAMLESSLY INTO THE CURRICULUM
INSTEAD OF VIEWING IT AS AN ADD-ON, AN AFTERTHOUGHT, OR AN EVENT.” - HEIDI-
HAYES JACOBS

25. FINAL THOUGHT
DIANA LAURILLARD (2008 P. 1)
“EDUCATION IS ON THE BRINK OF
BEING TRANSFORMED THROUGH
LEARNING TECHNOLOGIES; HOWEVER,
IT HAS BEEN ON THAT BRINK FOR SOME
DECADES NOW”.

26. REFERENCES
CSO (2016) INFORMATION SOCIETY STATISTICS – HOUSEHOLDS. AVAILABLE FROM:
HTTP://WWW.CSO.IE/EN/RELEASESANDPUBLICATIONS/ER/ISSHH/INFORMATIONSOCIETYSTATISTICS-
HOUSEHOLDS2016/ [ACCESSED 28/1/2018]
DAVIS, N., FLETCHER, J., BROOKER, B., EVERATT, J., GILLON, G., MACKE, J. & MORROW, D. (2010). E-
LEARNING FOR ADULT LITERACY, LANGUAGE AND NUMERACY: A REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE.
WELLINGTON: MINISTRY OF EDUCATION.
EUROPEAN COMMISSION (2008) ANNUAL INFORMATION SOCIETY REPORT 2008 BENCHMARKING I2010:
PROGRESS AND FRAGMENTATION IN THE EUROPEAN INFORMATION SOCIETY BRUSSELS: EUROPEAN
COMMISSION
ANDREWS, R. AND HAYTHORNWAITE, C. (2007) INTRODUCTION TO E-LEARNING RESEARCH IN R.
ANDREWS & C. HAYTHORNTHWAITE (EDS.) THE SAGE HANDBOOK OF E-LEARNING RESEARCH, LONDON:
SAGE PUBLICATIONS, PP. 1-52
MAYER, R. (2014) COGNITIVE THEORY OF MULTIMEDIA LEARNING IN MAYER, R. (EDITOR) THE CAMBRIDGE
HANDBOOK OF MULTIMEDIA LEARNING: (SECOND EDITION) CAMBRIDGE: CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS,
PP. 43-71.
MCKEOWN, A. (2016) INFORMATION POVERTY – INVESTIGATING THE ROLE OF PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN THE
TWENTY FIRST CENTURY. KIDLINGTON: CHANDOS PUBLISHING

27. REFERENCES
NALA (2011) BLENDED LEARNING REPORT. DISTANCE LEARNING SERVICE – NALA. AVAILABLE FROM:
HTTPS://WWW.NALA.IE/SITES/DEFAULT/FILES/PUBLICATIONS/NALA%20BLENDED%20LEARNING%20PROJ
ECT%20REPORT_1.PDF# [ACCESSED 28 DECEMBER 2017].
NALA (2013) INTEGRATING LITERACY - GUIDELINES FOR FURTHER EDUCATION AND TRAINING CENTRES
AVAILABLE FROM:
HTTPS://WWW.NALA.IE/SITES/DEFAULT/FILES/PUBLICATIONS/INTEGRATING_WEB_1.PDF
NALA. (2014). BLENDING TECHNOLOGY INTO ADULT EDUCATION BY TOM O'MARA, NALA. [ONLINE
VIDEO]. 18 SEPTEMBER 2014. AVAILABLE FROM: HTTPS://WWW.NALA.IE/CONTENT/BLENDING-
TECHNOLOGY-ADULT-EDUCATION-TOM-OMARA-NALA. [ACCESSED: 1 JANUARY 2018
OECD (2017) EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITY FOR ALL: OVERCOMING INEQUALITY THROUGHOUT THE LIFE
COURSE. PARIS, OECD PUBLISHING. HTTP://DX.DOI.ORG/10.1787/9789264287457-EN [ACCESSED 21
DECEMBER 2017]
SOCIAL JUSTICE IRELAND (2017) SOCIO ECONOMIC REVIEW 2017 - PUBLIC SERVICES. AVAILABLE FROM:
HTTPS://WWW.SOCIALJUSTICE.IE/SITES/DEFAULT/FILES/ATTACH/PUBLICATION/5007/CHAPTER9.PDF
TAYLOR, D. AND PACKHAM, G. (2016) SOCIAL INCLUSION THROUGH ICT: IDENTIFYING
AND OVERCOMING BARRIERS TO ICT USE STRAT. CHANGE 25: 45–60 (2016) VIEWED AT
HTTP://DSPACE1.ISD.GLAM.AC.UK/DSPACE/BITSTREAM/10265/916/1/TAYLOR_ET_AL-2016-
STRATEGIC_CHANGE.PDF