Group items tagged

Catherine Davis outlines 5 simple things to do when designing e-learning for adults with low level literacy skills or for non English speaking adult (ESL) populations. Basically it is: simple interface without bells and whistles; simple short sentences; lots of visuals (infographs) and photos; on-screen text and visuals that support audio - audio is the driver of the pages; provide supplemental full audio transcript

Good to incorporate this into the proposal and brings up the need to investigate using audio and video as much as possible

published in 2011, excellent chart on page 8 of The Extended Workforce: Old and New Realities, 3 columns headed Dimension, Old Reality, and New Reality. Reports that type of work by extended employees has changed from primarily low-skilled, low-value work to high skilled, high value knowledge work, personal profile of workers has changed, reasons for becoming an extended worker have changed.

New report about adult literacy in technology rich environments. Majority (greater than 60%) of those with low numeracy, reading, and problem solving capabilities are high school graduates. Hispanic and black Americans have the lowest skill levels. 2/3 of low literacy adults are employed, but 40% have earnings in the bottom 1/5 of wage spectrum. Talks about solutions - most are collective actions across a wide spectrum of public and private organizations. "...the first and overarching strategy of this national call to action is for stakeholders to act collectively to raise awareness that transforming learning opportunities for youth and adults is a means of reaching shared goals.

mentions wage theft experienced by NFL cheerleaders, fast food workers, low-wage workers

the guardian on low wage workers in the sharing economy and their vulnerability to abuse because they lack basic labor rights.

Walmart's harm to its low-wage workers

Post by Katie Salen, July 26, 2012, Leveling Up project at Connected Learning Research Network. I like this emphasis on individual and collective gains in connected learning networks. And how connected learning is "value additive." Excerpts: "Further, because connected learning, as a model, advocates for experiences that offer low barriers to entry and information, social supports for learning, and diverse opportunities for the development of interest and expertise, it must also advocate for outcomes that are both individual and collective in nature. It is no longer enough to develop metrics and pathways for individual outcomes; we must also find ways to recognize outcomes produced by groups or communities and provide pathways for collective participation. Or so our hypothesis goes." As a community, the members of Ravelry produce knowledge and expertise, projects and products with academic, civic, and peer value. The welcoming nature of the site and the mere existence of the thousands of groups it hosts are mechanisms inviting participation and the development of shared knowledge. Conversely, the environment provides individuals with opportunities to acquire social, economic, and cultural capital, to learn domain-specific content and skills, and develop metacognitive skills and learning dispositions. Unlike models of learning that center solely on individual outcomes and competition for zero-sum resources and rewards, like those seen in most schools, Ravelry exemplifies how connected learning is value-additive, elevating individuals and collectives in an integrated way. High-functioning connected learning environments are characterized not only by engaged learning at an individual level, but by high quality content and standards and collective purpose that is shared by all participants.

Blog post by David Truss, Pair-A_Dimes, January 4, 2011, on learning at work by professionals, i.e., teachers. Has much more good stuff to say than this excerpt but I find this useful for Information Overload. Another term I ran across lately--practical obscurity--in relation to why we are now part of NSA's scope--because costs have fallen so low to monitor so much behavior online--voice and text--that what was once unavailable without a lot of costs is now quite feasible for someone to monitor, such as NSA, Google, Facebook, etc. Excerpt: "I read a post recently by Jeff Utecht, whom you have worked with, that said this: "Today at school I answered personal e-mail, updated my Facebook status, Tweeted, looked up flights for winter break, and even read articles that didn't pertain to school. And they say we're becoming less productive at work. What really is happening is the line between our work life and our social life is becoming blurred more and more every day." and he continues: "Sure I use some of my work time to do social things, yet I get home from work after 3pm and answer work e-mails, text faculty members about a computer problem, and work on lessons and things that need to be done. So it's an even swap. I'll use some of your time, you can use some of mine.""

article by Steven Mintz for the Chronicle of HE, July 22, 2013 Excerpt: "But the most important challenge involves a shift in the way students consume higher education. Instead of attending a single institution, students receive credit in multiple ways, including from early-college/dual-degree programs, community colleges, online providers, and multiple universities. Students are voting with their feet, embracing online courses and undermining core curricula, which served as a cash cow, by turning to alternate providers, and pursuing fewer majors that require study of a foreign language." Fifteen innovations: 1. e-advising 2. evidence-based pedagogy 3. decline of lone eagle teaching 4. optimized class time 5. earlier educational transitions 6. fewer large lecture classes 7. new frontiers for e-learning 8. personalized adaptive learning 9. increased competency based and prior learning results; 10. data driven instructions 11. aggressive pursuit of new revenue 12. online and low-residency degrees at flagships 13. more certificates and badges 14. free and open textbooks 15. public-private partnerships

Very interesting blog post on how to convert casual readers into activists on Mashable by Geoff Livinston, May 13, 2010. 1. Stop thinking of them as slacktivists 2. Steward people up the Twitter engagement ladder from very low involvement (reads the tweet) to medium (retweets) to high (makes a donation or takes action) or very high (takes action and actively encourages others to do so). 3. Reevaluate the donor funnel to see where people are talking about issue online, listen, reflect back on what you're hearing, invite small acts of engagement, thank people and tell them the difference their acts made, listen some more, invite them to speak... 4. Shift your attitude to understand what hot buttons are to trigger support, cultivate them and make them feel appreciated. 5. Create new calls to action.

blog post by Marilyn Achiron citing Tyler Cowen, economist at George Mason University in VA on teaching yourself to learn, July 29, 2015. We have cited Cowen in our blog posts at least once. He is a Uber fan and favors marketplace economics for settling competitive battles. He also embraces ongoing, online learning that people set up for themselves.

From Virpi--great visual and explanation of low-ego leadership that social networks can be started with.

interesting article on young Swedish director who died at age 36 after finishing his low-budget documentary on Sixto Rodriguez on an iphone film app and who won an Oscar in 2014. Talking about inspiring in so many ways!!!! The Looking for Sugarman story led to our becoming fans of Rodriguez and renaming Metro Jethro "Sugarman"!

article by Amanda Hess, XXfactor, July 23, 2014 ""Minority and women leaders' engagement in diversity-valuing behavior may be viewed as selfishly advancing the social standing of their own low-status demographic groups."" So the trade-off is to get promoted yourself, but not help other women or people of color get promoted. In order to enter the executive suite, women have to backseat their desire to bring in more women or other diversity, and the stereotype of women not helping others advance is reinforced.

Explains part-time work trends are worrisome, article by Ylan Q. Mui in Washington Post, July 2014 ""What we're seeing is a growing trend of low-quality part-time jobs," said Carrie Gleason, director of the Fair Work Week Initiative, which is pushing for labor reforms. "It's creating this massive unproductive workforce that is unable to productively engage in their lives or in the economy.""

Marcin Jakubowski speaks to open source development of farm hardware that can be replicated by others at low cost. "Newly relevant DIY maker culture"

great study on costs of intermittent employment on low-income wage earners and their families, by Nancy K. Cauthen, Annette Case, Sarah Wilhelm, September 2015, funding by Annie B. Casey Foundation

Karen Lawson Consulting writing for Edward Lowe foundation identifies three elements of delegating: giving someone a responsibility that's not part of their job description but yours, authority, and accountability

Women having been knocking at the gates of men's power for decades. But while the gates may be open, the number of women reaching top positions of power is disappointingly low.

Kami Griffiths, for NTEN, on the need for digital inclusion and literacy, January 25, 2016