Using ICT to develop
literacy and numeracy
A guide for learning centres working with adult learners
www.learndirect.co.uk
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All content of this guide is owned and controlled by Ufi Limited (“Ufi”)
© Copyright Ufi Limited 2001 all rights reserved, except where otherwise indicated.
The content of the guide in whole or part may not be modified, reproduced,
republished, uploaded, posted, transmitted or distributed in any way, except where
otherwise indicated. Any such use is strictly prohibited and may constitute an
infringement of the copyright and other intellectual property rights of Ufi.
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CONTENTS: Page 1
Contents
Overview
Part One: Learning and Teaching with ICT
8 Introduction
18 Planning for learning with ICT
25 Wordprocessing
33 Spreadsheets
39 PowerPoint
44 email
50 Internets and intranets
58 Learning packages
69 Using multimedia resources
Part Two: Managing ICT and Basic Skills Provision
80 Introduction
91 Getting to know the learners
99 The staff team
109 Marketing and promotion
121 Interview and enrolment
Part Three: Links and resources
132 Web links
136 learndirect packages
137 Acknowledgements
137 Centres Visited
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OVERVIEW: Page 2
Key Symbols
Staff Development Activity
Personal Development Activity
Worksheet
Checklist
Exemplar Activity

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Overview
The Basic Skills Issue
In 1999 a report entitled A Fresh Start was published by the Working Group on
Post-School Basic Skills chaired by Sir Claus Moser, drawing from the 1996 International
Adult Literacy Survey. It found that 20% of adults in England – perhaps as many as
7 million people – have problems with the basic skills of numeracy and literacy.
The Moser Committee found that lack of competence in basic skills affected people’s
lives in a variety of ways.
• Employment: Lack of basic skills represents a real barrier to finding work –
especially as literacy and numeracy skills are needed in so many jobs.
• The Economy: If employers are unable to find suitably qualified staff this has a
negative effect on the economy in general.
• Social Relations: Adults with literacy and numeracy needs of their own are less able
to support their children’s learning.
• Community Life: Lack of basic skills can limit people’s ability to participate in the
community and become active citizens.
Strategies
In December 2000 the DfEE published Skills for Life: The national strategy for
improving adult literacy and numeracy skills. The report identified a number of
priority groups that need specialist provision to improve their literacy and numeracy
and outlined its strategies for meeting its targets.
• A Cabinet Committee: chaired by the Secretary of State for Education and
Employment to lead action across departments and the designation of the Minister
for Lifelong Learning John Healey to take specific responsibility for basic skills.
• Adult Basic Skills Strategy Unit: The establishment of a new unit in the DfES to
support the cabinet committee, to oversee effective implementation of strategy at
local level and to work closely with the Learning and Skills Councils to plan provision.
• The Adult Literacy and Numeracy Core Curriculum: A new and comprehensive
Adult Literacy and Numeracy Core Curriculum based on national standards published
by the QCA which clearly outlines the literacy and numeracy skills that adults need
for the 21st Century.
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OVERVIEW: Page 4
• Basic Skills Tutors: More basic skills tutors will be recruited and trained through
a new DfES initiative designed to increase the number of qualified tutors. FENTO
and the Basic Skills Agency are planning a comprehensive development programme
which will cater for the needs of the full range of tutors – from volunteers to those
working at Diploma level.
• Flexible Learning Opportunities: A number of Government Departments have
taken up the challenge to provide a range of flexible learning opportunities including,
for example, drop-in centres and family learning centres as well as encouraging
new types of provision in colleges, schools and libraries. UK online centres and
learndirect centres have been set up to reach out to the community particularly
to those who do not normally participate in adult learning provision.
• learndirect A new range of ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) and
non-ICT learning packages, specifically designed for basic skills learners has been
developed through Ufi for use in learndirect centres.
• PAT 15 Projects PAT 15 is one of the Policy Action Teams which reports to the
cabinet office. As a result of its report Closing the Digital Divide the Government
is now undertaking a number of measures to support access to ICT in deprived areas,
including facilities in local learning centres and research and development projects.
Research Project
This Guide is based on findings from a research project commissioned by Ufi and
carried out by the Institute of Education, University of London. The project set out to:
• investigate whether Information and Communication Technologies can help to
develop skills in literacy and numeracy
• identify good practice in basic skills provision through ICT in a variety of
learning centres.
In conducting the research and producing this guide we worked closely with staff from
a number of centres who shared their expertise with us and gave us feedback on early
drafts. We hope that this process of exchange and collaboration will continue and would
welcome comments and suggestions.
The full research report is available from the Ufi research team.
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The Aims and Purposes of this Guide
This Guide has been designed to help staff in learning centres to develop ways of
working that attract and support basic skills learners to develop skills through ICT.
It provides examples of current good practice from a variety of learning centres
and includes:
• findings from the research project
• extracts from interviews with staff and learners
• examples of learning and teaching with ICT
• ideas for staff development activities.
We saw some very good practice on our visits to various centres. However it is
important to remember two things:
• We are not recommending one single approach to development – there are a number
of models that can be used by centres to meet the different demands upon them.
• ICT itself is continuously changing and developing and the way that we work with
new technologies in education and training is evolving as well. We hope that this
Guide will provide a basis for staff from different centres to share their practice and
develop new strategies for supporting adult literacy and numeracy learners
through ICT.
Who should use this Guide?
This guide will be useful for all staff working in learning centres in particular:
• staff who have not had much experience of basic skills learners including ‘front of
house’ staff, learning resources assistants, tutors and technical staff
• tutors who have experience of basic skills learners but need to develop their capacity
to support learners through ICT
• managers responsible for staff development and team building.
Some topics will be more relevant for some staff rather than others but each section
is designed to help teams of staff to work together and share their expertise.
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OVERVIEW: Page 6
How to use this Guide
The Guide is divided in two main parts:
Teaching and learning with ICT
This part of the Guide looks at the impact of using ICT (Information and Communication
Technologies) with adult learners to improve literacy and numeracy. It will be useful for
all staff including:
• those who have experience of working with basic skills learners but are exploring
ways of using ICT in their teaching
• those with a more technical background who are unfamiliar with basic skills learners
and their needs.
Managing ICT and basic skills provision
This part of the Guide looks at how learning centres are ensuring that they meet the needs
of adult learners who need to improve their literacy and numeracy skills. It will be useful for:
• centre managers who are developing their ICT provision
• centre managers who are developing their adult literacy and numeracy provision
• staff with professional development responsibilities.
This Guide can be used in a variety of ways. There is a range of staff development
activities which learning centre managers and co-ordinators can use and adapt
according to their own needs. Ideas for ‘customising’ the activities to meet local needs
are included where appropriate. The Guide is available in paper format and on the web
and the web version will be updated as appropriate.
Staff Development
Group activities have been emphasised because good team work was identified as one of
the positive factors in a successful centre. The activities are designed to be embedded in
the ongoing management and development structure of the centre rather than as add-on
activities. However the activities should be adapted to meet your particular needs and could
be used to support stand alone staff training days or other development activities.
Induction or Personal Development
It is also possible for the Guide to be used as a basis for induction or as a personal
development guide for individual members of staff working closely with a mentor
or line manager.
Individual interest
Of course it also hoped that staff will dip into the Guide on an individual basis to get
information and ideas.
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Part One
Learning and Teaching with ICT
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PART ONE: Page 8
Learning and Teaching with ICT
Using ICT to develop literacy and numeracy: A guide for learning centres working with adult learners
1.1 Introduction
This part of the Guide looks at the impact of using ICT (Information and Communication
Technologies) on improving literacy and numeracy. It will be useful for all staff including:
• those who have experience of working with basic skills learners but are exploring
ways of using ICT in their teaching
• those with a more technical background who are unfamiliar with basic skills learners
and their needs.
Part 1 contains nine sections which explore in greater depth the ways that ICT can be
used with learners to develop their literacy and numeracy skills.
Each section contains a suggested staff development activity designed to last about an
hour which can be timetabled to take place over several weeks or combined into an
intensive programme. Where appropriate there are suggestions for individual work.
Why use ICT?
This Guide is based on findings from a research project commissioned by Ufi and
carried out by the Institute of Education, University of London. We found that the use of
ICT could have a positive impact on learning and that learners are using ICT in a variety
of ways to develop their literacy and numeracy skills through:
• standard wordprocessing and spreadsheet packages
• email
• presentation software such as PowerPoint
• various computerised learning packages e.g. on CD Roms
• the Internet and local Intranets
• combinations of all these as part of integrated assignments.
Incentive to Study We found that the opportunity to learn about ICT is a definite
incentive in encouraging learners to come along for sessions and this finding supports
other research in the area1. Adults realise that they need ICT skills for work, or to help
their children with homework, or to participate in community activities.
1Getting Better Basic Skills – what motivates adults available from the Basic Skills Agency. www.basic-skills.co.uk
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PART ONE: Page 9
Tutor: They are all very keen. On this course everyone was very keen to use one.
They see them on the TV all the time, on the adverts as well, and they don’t want
to get left behind. They want to make sure that they know how to use a computer,
and know about the Internet because they have children that use it and they want
to know what they are doing and to be able to help them. So ICT definitely
motivates them.
Literacy, numeracy and ICT Also, basic skills learners often feel more comfortable
about enrolling for sessions to develop their computer skills when they would be too
embarrassed to attend sessions to improve literacy and numeracy alone.
Tutor: I think it’s motivating, it’s something that the student will admit to – using
the computers rather than learning literacy and numeracy – so it’s face-saving.
I think it’s modern and up to date, it’s where everyone sees everything going, and
is, therefore, again more motivating for the students.
Motivation on course As well as encouraging learners to start a course ICT can also
have an ongoing positive effect on their motivation to learn.
Tutor: Yes, I’ve got one particular student who – well a basic skills tutor would
understand – you’re looking for some way to motivate that person. He would turn
up every week but I could never find the way to get him to do what I wanted him
to do – but he was extremely motivated by the computer. I overheard him one
night going out saying, ‘That’s the best lesson I’ve ever had.’ It’s a success story
for someone like that … but the whole evening group, there are 14 of them, have
really moved on with it and they’ve asked me to find other programs to use.
Mixed ability Centres find that ICT can make it easier to cater for groups of learners
working at different levels or on different topics.
Tutor: It was good for group teaching. We had evidence that a group of mixed
ability students, some working at entry level and some top of Level 1, could all
achieve with the same program and that wouldn’t have been true teaching them
with paper.
Concentration A number of students say that they find it easier to concentrate when
using the computer and tutors also observed some marked differences.
Manager: Our main finding – and what spurred us to carry on with it – was the
attention students would pay to the program; they’d sit forward straightaway and
concentrate for 20 minutes. Whereas we might not get them to concentrate for 5
minutes in an ordinary classroom.
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PART ONE: Page 15
STAFF DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITY 1
LEARNING AND TEACHING WITH ICT
Aims
• To become more familiar with the Adult Literacy Core Curriculum and the
Adult Numeracy Core Curriculum.
• To consider how ICT can support the development of literacy and numeracy as
described in the Adult Literacy Core Curriculum and the Adult Numeracy
Core Curriculum.
This activity is designed for a team of staff working together with a manager
or facilitator in order to share their expertise. You could work independently
by using the sheet Personal Development Activity on its own.
TIMING One hour session with follow up work
INTRODUCTION Explain the aims and purposes of the activity
5 minutes
GROUP WORK Ask staff to work in small groups looking at particular sections of the
Adult Literacy or Numeracy Core Curriculum. Spend some time
organising these groups to ensure that they include staff with both
ICT skills and basic skills experience if that is possible.
1. Ask them to identify areas of the curriculum where the use of ICT
is mentioned specifically – either as a skill or as an exemplar activity.
2. Then ask them to think of ways that ICT can support skills
development in literacy and numeracy and to outline the ideas and
skills on an OHP.
20 minutes
WHOLE GROUP Ask each group to present its ideas to the whole group.
25 minutes
RESOURCES Copies of Adult Literacy and Numeracy Core Curriculum, ICT
facilities, transparencies, OHP, copies of Personal Development
Activity sheet and the chart Skill and Ideas
FOLLOW UP Identify two members of staff – one for numeracy and one for
literacy skills – to compile the ideas from the groups and circulate
these to the whole staff.
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Learning and Teaching with ICT
Using ICT to develop literacy and numeracy: A guide for learning centres working with adult learners
PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITY 1
LEARNING AND TEACHING WITH ICT
Aims
• To become more familiar with the Adult Literacy Core Curriculum and the
Adult Numeracy Core Curriculum.
• To consider how ICT can support the development of literacy and numeracy as
described in the Adult Literacy Core Curriculum and the Adult Numeracy
Core Curriculum.
You can use this sheet to work independently or as part of a group.
• The Adult Literacy Core Curriculum and the Adult Numeracy Core Curriculum
define the skills that adults need to develop. The purpose of this session is to give
you the opportunity to look at the curriculum in a context where you have the
opportunity to explore and discuss its requirements and to think about how ICT
might be able to help learners to achieve their learning goals.
• You will find that the Adult Literacy Core Curriculum and the Adult Numeracy
Core Curriculum are divided into different levels. Work on either numeracy or
literacy at one particular level and look at the various skills. Identify those that can
be supported by ICT and those that cannot. Briefly indicate how ICT could help.
Use the chart SKILLS AND IDEAS to organise your response – for example:
Area: LITERACY: ENTRY LEVEL 1
SKILL YES/NO ICT IDEA
Speaking and Listening SLd/E1 No? ..well possibly Make a presentation using
PowerPoint or an OHP...
Engage in discussion with
another person
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PART ONE: Page 18
Learning and Teaching with ICT
Using ICT to develop literacy and numeracy: A guide for learning centres working with adult learners
1.2 Planning for learning with ICT
Integrating ICT into teaching and learning requires some planning – even if you are an
ICT wizard or a curriculum expert. Staff teams can support each other by sharing their
skills and expertise – this is particularly helpful when teams have a range of experience
and expertise (see the ‘Dream Team’ activity in section 2.3). However the way that you
use ICT will be constrained by a number of factors. This section identifies the main
factors that influence how ICT is used to support learning and teaching and also
provides a checklist to help you to assess your capacity and the areas that need
development.
1. The learning environment Are you expecting to teach a whole class, facilitate a
workshop session or oversee a drop-in session? What sort of physical environment
will you be working in? Does it allow for whole group teaching, one-to-one sessions,
small groups etc.?
Centre manager: We have arranged the computers in a wheel shape – which we
find very effective. It lets students work individually but it is much easier for them
to sit next to each other and work together – and for tutors to sit down and help.
We also have a partitioned area without computers which is ideal for tutorials,
group discussion or just working with books or worksheets.
2. The computers in your Centre How many computers are there? How versatile are
they? Do they support program with sound; do they have headphones; are they
connected to the Internet or an in-house Intranet; can they run complicated packages
or are they just about able to cope with simple wordprocessing? Are there enough
computers for each student to work independently or will they have to share? This is
OK but make sure that you devise activities which call for pair work and establish
some ground rules for working together.
Tutor: I would like to emphasise that you can start with one machine and build up
from there. We started with a stand-alone machine you know. I worry that
anybody reading this could sit back and say ‘We can’t possibly do that’ but you
can – you just have to build up gradually.
3. The availability of other equipment and resources – such as Digital Cameras,
Colour Printers, large Monitors for whole class teaching, Scanners for copying
images into the computer.
Manager: You can imagine – can’t you – taking out a video camera in an indoor
workshop situation or into a nursery or into a museum; and the sorts of moving
images that can be very quickly Cut and Pasted on to an Audio File that students
recorded.
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PART ONE: Page 19
4. The variety of software That is ‘office’ Software such as wordprocessing; Graphics
software which allows you to create and manipulate images; communications
packages for sending emails or accessing the Internet; learning packages which offer
a whole programme of learning.
Tutor:… we do some wordprocessing, yes … we use the paint facility as well
…we do some work with the discs Issues in English… the Reading Discs…
The Number Disc… We have used the BBC disc, Count Me In… I’m trying to
think what else we have available… we use the Internet and we have a college
Intranet where we have our own basic skills area… and the students use email
a lot.
5. Your ICT skills Are you very proficient and able to use a variety of packages or are
you struggling to get to grips with basic computer skills?
Tutor: We’ve had some in-service training within the college. I haven’t done any
specific courses on IT other than that. I found that I had picked up most of the
skills of Wordprocessing quite by chance, and it was Databases, Spreadsheets
etc. that I had no knowledge of. But we’ve had in-service training, particularly on
using the Internet, building Websites, using Databases – we’re encouraged to do
it by our manager
6. Your experience of working with basic skills learners Have you taught literacy
and numeracy before; are you clear about the variety of reasons why adults need
support in basic skills; are you familiar with the Adult Literacy and Numeracy
Core Curriculum?
Tutor: I’ve been working for about twenty one years doing basic skills work. I very
quickly discovered that I wouldn’t want to go back into a school, I just enjoyed
working with adults so much and improving their basic skills. So I have a teaching
certificate and I have a degree in education and counselling.
7. Team support What sort of support can you expect in your Centre; do you know
how to get support; do staff work together to share skills and support each other; are
team members clear about their roles; is there a strategic plan for the Centre which
sets development priorities?
Manager: If an organisation particularly wants to progress and develop a capacity
to make extensive use of ICT, then I think there is not one type of person that can
achieve it alone, it needs to be a collaborative venture. It needs to involve technical
staff, managers, practitioners, obviously learners – and for basic skills to be
included in the organisation’s strategic plan.
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Learning and Teaching with ICT
Using ICT to develop literacy and numeracy: A guide for learning centres working with adult learners
8. The learners Interests/characteristics: What are your learners likely to be interested
in? For example: football, grandchildren, horoscopes, work…
Level: What is the skill level of your learners? Entry 1, Entry 2, Entry 3,
Basic Skills Level 1, Basic Skills Level 2.
ICT: Are your learners familiar with using ICT? Can the learners use the mouse; are
they familiar with the keyboard; do they know how to use various packages?
The learners’ level of competence will affect what can be achieved in the time available.
For example if they are unfamiliar with the keyboard and the mouse you will need to
take account of this and devise activities to support them.
Tutor: The biggest barrier to using ICT? Their technical expertise with computers.
As you saw today with Jim – incredible problems with the mouse. So if you’ve got
a basic skills student without expertise you have to teach them about keyboard,
mouse and monitors straightaway before they can use them successfully.
If your centre is full of the latest equipment, has a wide variety of software, is run by a
highly effective team and you are also an expert in basic skills and ICT then you have
the ideal set of circumstances for using ICT with basic skills learners. In this situation
you can use a range of ICT resources alongside a variety of other strategies in order to
support the programme of learning.
However if, like most centres, your situation is less than ideal don’t give up! You need
to review your provision, assess what is possible and adjust your approach accordingly.
The staff development activities in this section will give you some examples of activities
where centres are integrating ICT into literacy and numeracy provision and also a
framework for assessing the capacity of your Centre for using ICT.
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Learning and Teaching with ICT
Using ICT to develop literacy and numeracy: A guide for learning centres working with adult learners
STAFF DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITY 2
INTEGRATING ICT WITH LITERACY AND
NUMERACY PROVISION
Aims
• To assess your centre’s capacity for integrating ICT and literacy and numeracy
provision
• To consider strategies for extending the use of ICT to support the development of
literacy and numeracy skills
This activity is designed for a team of staff working together with a manager
or facilitator in order to share their expertise. You could work independently
by using the sheet Personal Development Activity on its own.
TIMING One hour session with follow up work
INTRODUCTION Explain the aims and purposes of the activity
5 minutes
PAIR WORK Ask staff to work in pairs, choose one of the exemplar activities from
pages 30, 35, 41, 47, 54, 63, 74 and use the checklist to review the
capacity of your centre by:
• assessing the feasibility of using the activity
• identifying the barriers
• giving ideas for future action
25 minutes
WHOLE GROUP Ask each pair to present its ideas to the whole group. Use their
findings to identify the strengths and weaknesses of your centre
and also ideas for future action.
25 minutes
RESOURCES ICT facilities, transparencies, OHP and/or flipcharts and marker pens.
Copies of Exemplar Activities from this guide.
FOLLOW UP Use the analysis to produce a development plan for your centre.
Circulate this by email and invite comments from the team.
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1.3 Wordprocessing
All the centres we visited make use of everyday ‘office’ packages which include
wordprocessing, packages along with spreadsheets and presentation software such
as PowerPoint.
wordprocessing packages are very popular with staff and students and we found them
being used in a variety of ways to support adult literacy and numeracy learners.
Presentation of written work Centres are finding that ICT allows learners to improve
the presentation of their written work significantly. This is very motivating for literacy
learners who might have problems with their handwriting.
Learner: It’s a lot easier cos... my writing’s sometimes different than other times.
On the computer you can change whatever you want.
Q. And if you write it out by hand you only get one chance don’t you?
Learner: Yeah and then you have to rip the paper up and start again – you get
stressed – I get very stressed easily.
Q. Do you? Well it is a bit stressy to write it all out again isn’t it?
Learner: You see paper all over the floor and every where and you just think blow
this I can’t be bothered to do it anymore.
The tutors agree and many of them made a point of mentioning the specific value of
wordprocessing:
Tutor: I have to say that people now hand in work which is much tidier and neater
and they are able to take a lot more pride in it. ICT has certainly helped with
that – and that’s just at simple wordprocessing package level.
ICT Skills Most learners find it relatively easy to use wordprocessing packages once
they get started and it is a useful way of building their confidence in using ICT as well
as developing their literacy skills.
Tutor: We will show them something like a basic Word package where we get
them to type in names, addresses and show them how to change fonts, sizes and
then they realise to manipulate something on a computer is really interesting, it’s
easy, it’s not something that they have got to concentrate on as long as they know
a few little clicks they can change the appearance of things.
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PART ONE: Page 28
Learning and Teaching with ICT
Using ICT to develop literacy and numeracy: A guide for learning centres working with adult learners
Learning context: The topic can be adapted to meet the needs and interests of the
learners. This is particularly important for literacy and numeracy learners where the
learners and their interests are so diverse.
Tutor: I think that the important thing with basic skills learners is to concentrate on
what the students need and to develop their skills through their interests. It’s just
the same as in an old style basic skills class before the days of computers.
You would find out that the learner was interested in gardening and organise
their work around gardening.
Skill development: Tutors can create exercises that are designed to develop
particular skills.
Tutor: I use wordprocessing packages to prepare work for my students. For
example if we are working on punctuation I can type in a piece of text without full
stops or capital letters and ask the students to correct it on screen. With the
computer they can keep on trying until they get it right and then produce a perfect
piece of text.
Presentation: A high standard of presentation can be achieved relatively easily using a
wordprocessing package and working with good quality materials helps to increase the
learners’ self esteem. The capacity to include Graphics, Charts and Graphs is a standard
feature of most packages and allows you to use visual images to reinforce the meaning
of the text.
Tutor: Traditionally basic skills materials have been tatty photocopies and hastily
modified worksheets. ICT offers the tutors the chance to adapt materials to meet
individual needs and produce high quality attractive and motivating resources.
Integration with other resources A wordprocessing package on a stand alone
computer can be used very productively to support basic skills learners. However,
when the right equipment is available and you have enough expertise to use it
wordprocessing can be integrated with a range of other resources including the
internet and Learning Packages.
Tutor: Becky came in as a very shy girl – no skills but she liked paintings so we
started to research artists. We used the Internet, we used the library, we used
traditional CD Roms, encyclopaedias, Encarta to get the information. Then we
started putting it together – you can wordprocess it and then obviously
spell-check it through the computer. The most interesting bit is using the Internet
to download pictures and then do Text Wraps which are word art to make things
look good which helps when they are putting together a portfolio to go for
interviews and things like that.
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PART ONE: Page 30
Learning and Teaching with ICT
Using ICT to develop literacy and numeracy: A guide for learning centres working with adult learners
EXEMPLAR ACTIVITY
WORD PROCESSING
Martina’s Letters
Level: Entry Level 2 Writing Composition
Carol has been working with a group of young people in a residential drug rehabilitation unit to help
them develop their literacy skills. She has been surprised by the high number of young people in the
unit with poor basic skills. Many of them dropped out of school or didn’t attend secondary school very
often and as a result they have very poor basic skills. Their general levels of motivation are low but they
have experience of computers through playing games. As a result they approach ICT with a positive
attitude and some level of skill. The Unit is well supplied with computers which can be used by the
young people on an open access basis as well as in class.
Tutor: A lot of them don’t have a
particular desire to do anything.
So, although the programme is
negotiated with them, as a tutor you
have to suggest ideas more than with
other groups. So I quite often do letter
writing with them. They are quite
motivated because they’re all living
away from home.
I teach them how to set it out on a
computer and they do formal and
informal letters on the computer and
choose an appropriate font and all of
that sort of thing.
I think for this day and age
wordprocessing is a better way to
teach letter writing. You still need to
know how to do it on paper, but I
think that young people are going to
have to use a word-processor.
I had a girl the other day who was
trying to get organised for when she
left and get a house, and she wanted
to write off to housing associations.
When I went in this week she said
‘Oh, I’ve really got into these letters!
I came in on Sunday night and I’ve
done some more.’
1. Carol talked to Martina and they decided that it would be
a good idea to write some letters to housing
associations.
2. Carol helped Martina to decide on the main points that
she would need to include in the letter and they talked
about different styles of letter writing i.e. formal and
informal.
3. Carol gave Martina a paper-based worksheet which
outlined the main features of a formal letter i.e. own
address, recipient’s address date, name of recipient etc.
4. Martina experimented with different ‘letter’ Templates
on the computer to find one that was suitable.
5. Martina wrote a first draft of the letter on the computer
and then checked it using the spell-check – she put
wrongly spelt words in her own hand-written dictionary.
6. Martina corrected the letter and printed out a Hard Copy
to show to Carol.
7. Carol discussed the letter with Martina and suggested
ways that it could be improved and marked the
corrections with a pen. Carol explained that most people
need to write a draft and then correct it – especially if the
work is complicated. But she pointed out that the
computer made it a lot easier to edit and correct
the work.
8. Martina made the corrections using the Cut and Paste
features and shows the final draft to Carol. Once the
basic letter was correct Martina was able to create a
new version for different housing associations by using
the Save As feature and changing the recipient’s details
on the new version.
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STAFF DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITY 3
MAKING THE MOST OF WORDPROCESSING
Aim
• To explore strategies for using wordprocessing packages to develop skills in
literacy – in particular writing composition.
This activity is designed for a team of staff working together to share
their expertise. You could work independently by using the sheet
Personal Development Activity on its own.
INTRODUCTION Use the main findings from the project to initiate a discussion about
the potential for using wordprocessing packages to support adult
literacy learners.
10 minutes
GROUP WORK Ask staff to work in pairs or small groups to develop strategies that
would encourage basic skills learners to draft and edit a piece of
work. Refer to the Adult Literacy Curriculum to determine the level
of the learners and to link the activity with the appropriate
curriculum elements.
Ask some of the groups to prepare a plan for working with:
• a group of learners
• individual learners at a drop-in centre
Staff should be encouraged to type up their plan if resources allow
25 minutes
WHOLE GROUP Ask each group to present their plan to the whole group
25 minutes
FOLLOW UP Ask staff to see how their planned approach works with a group of
learners and then think about how they would change things for the
next session.
RESOURCES ICT facilities, printer, transparencies, OHP, flip chart and marker pens,
copies of Adult Literacy Core Curriculum.
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Learning and Teaching with ICT
Using ICT to develop literacy and numeracy: A guide for learning centres working with adult learners
PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITY 3
MAKING THE MOST OF WORDPROCESSING
Aim
• To explore strategies for using wordprocessing packages to develop skills in
literacy – in particular writing composition.
You can use this sheet to work independently or as part of a group.
This activity is designed to help you prepare a plan to encourage adult literacy learners
to draft and edit a piece of work using a wordprocessing package.
1. Think of a way to introduce the work. If you are planning a session for a group try
starting them off as a whole group and then encourage them to work individually at
their own level and their own pace.
2. How would you help learners to choose a topic to write about? Is there something
they are particularly interested in as a group or do they have a range of interests?
Do you have resources you could use as a stimulus or as the basis of a
problem-solving activity?
3. How would you explain terms like:
• plan
• draft
• proof read
• edit
4. If you are working with learners at different skill levels how would you cope
with this?
5. How would you link their work to the Adult Literacy Core Curriculum?
6. How would you ensure balance between direct teaching, independent work,
collaborative learning, individual support etc.
7. How would you draw the session to a close in a positive way?
See how your approach works with some learners and then think about how you would
change things for the next session.
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Learning and Teaching with ICT
Using ICT to develop literacy and numeracy: A guide for learning centres working with adult learners
PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITY 4
USING SPREADSHEETS TO
DEVELOP NUMERACY SKILLS
Aim
• To develop strategies for using spreadsheets to develop skills in numeracy – in
particular ‘Handling Data’ and ‘Number’.
This activity is designed for independent work
1. Try to think of five reasons for using spreadsheets (that is five learning contexts) that
adult numeracy learners might find useful or relevant. Think about the learners you
work with and the types of activities they might be engaged in.
2. Then refer to the Adult Numeracy Core Curriculum Numeracy and identify areas
where use of spreadsheets could help learners to meet specific skills. Some of these
are specified within the sample activities.
3. Experiment with some of the ideas by setting up some spreadsheets yourself.
You can use these in two ways:
• to provide spreadsheets for your learners to work with
• to identify the operations that your learners need to carry out in order to set up their
own spreadsheets.
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1.5 Powerpoint – presentation
software
Powerpoint and similar packages are designed specifically for producing slides for
presentations. PowerPoint includes a range of pre-set formats called Wizards for
organising the content of a presentation and creating a design. It allows the user to
change the headings and the design and also has the potential for including sound,
images and video clips. It is also possible to produce accompanying notes and
summaries.
We found that Centres were just beginning to use presentation software such as
PowerPoint as a resource for their basic skills learners. It has all the benefits of
wordprocessing packages such as the spell-check but also helps learners to develop
their presentation and organisational skills. More experienced users can
use it for producing multi-media presentations.
Presentation skills We found that this type of software was extremely useful for
helping learners to develop their skills in speaking and listening – both of which are key
elements of the Adult Literacy Core Curriculum.
Manager: One way it’s worked very well is for the tutor to be using a PowerPoint
projector with a group … it’s really hard to get students to pay any attention to the
way they speak and listen and it really helps.
Organisation skills One of the main features of PowerPoint is that it asks the user to
decide on the key points of the presentation and to structure the slides accordingly.
Staff reported that this discipline was very helpful for adult literacy learners who were
often daunted by organising a piece of writing as it provided a structure and a context
for developing these skills.
Tutor: …Well, PowerPoint has helped me to organise my work on a number of
occasions – I think it is excellent as it makes you think, ‘What’s really important
here?’ and this is one of the skills these students need to develop.
Deciding on a topic Staff are using a variety of strategies to help learners choose
a topic but the features of PowerPoint itself such as Pick a look Wizard and
Autocontent Wizard can be used to stimulate a discussion about the content of the
presentation.
Learner: I liked looking at all the different backgrounds like – Fiesta, Music and
Seashore and the content Wizards as well. They’ve got one called ‘Communicating
Bad News’ which gave us a few ideas.
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Learning and Teaching with ICT
Using ICT to develop literacy and numeracy: A guide for learning centres working with adult learners
STAFF DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITY 5
USING POWERPOINT
Aims
• To explore strategies for using PowerPoint with adult learners to develop
literacy skills – in particular writing composition, speaking to communicate
and listen and respond.
• To give staff an opportunity to become more familiar with the software.
This activity is designed for a team of staff working together to share
their expertise. You could work independently by using the sheet
Personal Development Activity on its own.
INTRODUCTION Use the main findings from the project to initiate a discussion about
the use of PowerPoint with adult literacy learners
10 minutes
PAIR WORK Ask staff to look at the core curriculum and identify areas where use
of PowerPoint can help learners to meet specific skills and
curriculum elements. Ask each pair to prepare a PowerPoint
presentation to present to the whole group.
30 minutes
WHOLE GROUP Ask each group to present their idea to the whole group using a
short PowerPoint presentation.
20 minutes
FOLLOW UP Ask staff to see how their planned approach works with a group of
learners and then think about how they would change things for the
next session.
RESOURCES Copy of Adult Literacy Core Curriculum, ICT facilities including
PowerPoint
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PART ONE: Page 44
Learning and Teaching with ICT
Using ICT to develop literacy and numeracy: A guide for learning centres working with adult learners
1.6 email
The centres we visited were all using email to some extent. Email allows learners and
staff to send messages and to communicate with each other. Although using email and
the Internet both entail being ‘online’ they have different purposes. Accessing the
Internet enables you to find and retrieve information. Sometimes the differences are
blurred – as in chat rooms or on interactive sites for example.
Motivation Being able to use email can be extremely motivating for basic skills learners
who need to communicate with friends or family; for example learners with relatives
abroad or older people wishing to communicate with their children or grandchildren.
This encourages learners to develop and practice their skills.
Learner… we want to find out more about computers and understand them more
so that we can keep in touch with the children; we’ve got a daughter in Australia
and a son in Mid Wales, so it’s a job to go and see them because it’s a bit
expensive. Just before we broke up this term we sent some email.... to our
daughter in Australia and our son on the top of his mountain.
Tutor: I’ve got a student who is just learning to read and write with me and she is
very keen to learn to use the Internet so that she can actually email her brother in
Nigeria, she’s got a business out there that he looks after for her.
Improving Literacy The wish to communicate means that email encourages learners
to read and write. But email is a new form of communication and the conventions for
using it are not fixed. We found that this caused some uncertainty about how to use it
with adult literacy learners.
For example if learners are working on a business letter we can be clear about what
would be expected. They would learn that the correct form of address is Dear Sir or
Dear Madam; the letter would need to have a date and a signature, and too many
spelling mistakes would be unacceptable.
With email forms of address vary, correct spellings are not necessarily expected and
abbreviations are used such as 4U instead of ‘for you’. Some tutors were unsure about
this as they felt it might encourage learners to accept incorrect spellings – but others
had developed an approach that worked for them.
Tutor: it’s a bit like teaching children that there’s a language they can use in the
playground and a language they have to use when they’re in class with their
teacher or in formal situations, they know there’s two languages, don’t they? We
do, don’t we? Then why not let basic skills students know. In the old curriculum
we used to teach writing a note to the milkman, and a memo, and a rough note,
and a shopping list and we used to say it doesn’t matter about the spelling on a
shopping list itself because you’re just jotting it down quickly, you just put cfl for
Cornflakes, you know it’s your code. What’s the difference, this is just a very quick
snappy message to someone and you can write it in your own code but when you
write a formal letter it has to be correct.…
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Contact For learners with higher levels of literacy email can be a useful additional
support allowing them to keep in contact when it might otherwise be difficult. This
encourages learners to practice and use their skills but can also help them to feel part
of a community which helps to keep them involved.
Tutor: For example we had a girl with a young child who was on her own, who
sometimes had difficulties, and we emailed her at her mother’s and sent her some
work that reinforced some things that she’d been doing, and she felt that she
wasn’t totally missing out when that happened.
Tutor: All you have got to do is click your button, attach it and then it is sent
anywhere to us. It is great and it is a world-wide thing – they can be on holiday.
Some of the naval students when they are at sea, can get access to work which is
really important for them. The strange thing is when the naval students are at sea
they can’t give you addresses – they can’t tell you where the ship is because it is
still secret. So they post letters.
Feedback Some learners are beginning to use email to send work to their tutor and
receive some feedback. This encourages the learners to study between sessions and
gives staff more flexibility about feedback.
Tutor: One thing has been surprisingly popular with learners – a requirement to
complete work and email it to tutors. Tutors either give immediate feedback, or
give feedback at the next face to face session. These students were using email
from within the College, and had no email at home and no previous experience of
its use.
Peer support groups At present these are being used only to a limited extent with
adult literacy and numeracy learners but it seems likely that this will increase as staff
and learners become more familiar with email and as more learners have access to ICT
facilities at home.
Manager: All students who come in now get an email address. It’s actually to get
people into the habit of using their email as a means of communication. But these
discussion groups need a moderator. Basic skills learners would need quite a bit of
encouragement – and a real reason for doing it.
Communication between staff On the whole staff were using email extensively as
soon as they got access to it. It was particularly helpful where there were large teams
of part-time staff, sometimes working on outreach projects, with hours that seldom
overlapped.
Manager: I use it all the time. Well I get a response to email and I don’t have to do
any phone calls. I might be out for two or three days and I can come back and
within an hour I will have dealt with a whole backlog of things. It’s a real time
saver and for the staff as well because they’re part-time – so it’s helped the whole
team really.
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PART ONE: Page 46
Learning and Teaching with ICT
Using ICT to develop literacy and numeracy: A guide for learning centres working with adult learners
Three Tips for using email
Encourage learners to use email to communicate with each other and their
friends and family to provide opportunities for practice.
Use ‘Email Text’ as an example of one different style of communication along
with other examples such as a shopping list, a formal letter, a note to the teacher.
Encourage learners to use a wordprocessing package to produce the message
and then copy it into email.
1.
2.
3.
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EXEMPLAR ACTIVITY
Email example
Rehana’s Visit
Level: Entry Level 2 Writing Composition
Rehana came to live in the UK five years ago when she got married. She could speak a little English but
couldn’t write in English at all. About three years ago she decided to take some classes at her local college
and she quickly started to learn. Now that both the children are old enough to go to nursery she has started a
computer class and wants to take GCSE
English this year. She is happy with her life
in the UK but she misses her family –
especially her mother who she has not
seen for five years. She is planning a visit in
a few months time but the arrangements
are very complicated and involve a lot of
family members in the UK and in
Bangladesh. However her brother in
Bangladesh has just started to use email.
Rehana: I told Janine about my brother
using email and she said ‘Well let’s get in
touch with him. Do you know his address?’
I was surprised but she said it was all good
practice and that I could build up a portfolio
of work about my visit.
Janine: I think its really important for adult
learners to have a real reason for doing
things so I encourage them to work on
things that are relevant to them – email is
great for that.
Rehana: The first time I sent an email to
my brother I phoned him up when I got
home to tell him I had sent it.
Janine: Email is excellent for illustrating the
difference between formal and informal
styles of writing which I think is something
we all find tricky if we’re honest.
Rehana: The itinerary was good because
it meant they could all have their say.
But after a while I got tired of all the
suggestions and said ‘Right, this is my
final draft.
1. Janine showed Rehana how to send a simple email to Rupal
another student.
2. The two women spent some time sending short messages to
each other until they felt confident with the process.
3. Janine showed them where to find the paper-based
instruction sheet on ‘Using email’ in case they forgot what to
do next time.
4. Rehana sent her first email to her brother’s Webmail address
and soon received a reply.
5. Janine told Rehana to print out Hard Copies of the emails to
put into her portfolio and to save the emails on disc.
6. As the arrangements for the visit got more complex so did the
emails. Rehana prepared a draft itinerary of her visit to send to
all the relatives. She worked with a wordprocessing package,
making use of the spell-check and other features, before
printing out copies for people without email.
7. She then copied the information into the email package using
the Copy and Paste functions and sent the information to all
the relatives with email.
8. She soon got a number of replies suggesting changes and
produced another draft which she sent as an Attachment.
9. She used email to make other contacts, including the travel
agents and also sent a formal letter to confirm her booking.
10. Janine and Rehana reviewed the correspondence and
discussed the different styles of writing.
11. Rehana used the wordprocessing package to write a short
piece about the difference between formal and informal styles
of writing. She used Copy and Paste to give examples from
her own correspondence.
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PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITY 6
EMAIL 4 ALL
Look at the lists of advantages and disadvantages of using email for adult literacy
learners. Develop some learning strategies that make the most of the advantages of
email and overcome potential problems.
It might help to ask the following questions:
• Can email help learners to meet any particular requirements of the Adult Literacy
Core Curriculum?
• Can email be used to help learners with their spelling? punctuation? grammar?
• Could you use email to provide additional support or encourage peer support?
EMAIL 4 ALL – ONE APPROACH
The learner:
• composes and sends an email message and makes a print out
• copies the message into a wordprocessing package
• uses the message as a basis for writing in another style e.g. formal letter
• emails the letter as an attachment to the tutor who returns it suggesting corrections
• makes the corrections and prints it out
• uses the two print-outs as portfolio evidence of different styles.
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Learning and Teaching with ICT
Using ICT to develop literacy and numeracy: A guide for learning centres working with adult learners
WORKSHEET 7
ACCESSING THE INTERNET
How long did it take you to access the site?
How easy was it to navigate and find your way around?
How was the site designed?
• Was it easy to read
• What size was the text
• How much contrast was their between text and background colour?
Was it interesting?
Was there an audio facility? How well did it support the text?
How easy was it to print out information from the site?
What skills did you use to access the site?
How far would these skills help basic skills learners to improve their literacy and
numeracy?
How could you integrate use of the internet into a programme of learning?
Website evaluation
www.teem.org.uk – websites evaluated by teachers
www.websitesthatsuck.com – a personal view of what constitutes good website design
www.learn.co.uk – school-focussed resources but excellent materials with
comprehensive web page guide
www.cast.org/bobby – web-based tool that analyses accessibility of web pages
www.ngfl.gov.uk – the site for the National Grid for Learning useful links to
educational resources
Use the Website assessment to write a report of the sites that you use with your
learners and use it to build up a central resource.
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WEBSITE ASSESSMENT 7
Name of website
Publisher
Date accessed
Description of site
Ease of access and navigation
Planned Activity
Adult Basic Skills Core Curriculum: Skills and curriculum elements addressed
Effectiveness of this approach with learners
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Tutor: You’ve also got to be very careful with the vocabulary you use. One of the
questions on the Skills Build was about putting things in alphabetical order, and it
said, ‘How would you put these things in order on an inventory?’. Of course
everyone said, ‘What’s an inventory?’.
There are also problems about using the technology itself.
Tutor: There is a kind of an urge on the technology side to make it all jazzy and all
singing and all dancing and very complex, beyond the level of the student that
you are aiming at. We found that this is quite common, when we have bought in
CD Roms and when you actually go into the material it is very difficult to navigate
your way around.
For example, many standard learning packages use on-screen text to give instructions
and centres reported that learners with low levels of literacy found this difficult to cope
with. The most popular packages make extensive use of audio facilities and are
carefully designed to be visually attractive.
Tutor: This CD is very interesting … In-health …I will show you what it covers…
speaking, reading, listening and writing. This is mainly used by adult learners – and
some children in family sessions. It is very good because there is a sound system
so if they can’t read, they can have it read to them. It’s very comprehensive, one
of the best CDs we’ve had over the past year. People come back to use it as an
open learning resource.
Manager: With the Reading Disc there will be a video clip of someone expressing
quite a controversial view on something – challenging students to respond is one
way of overcoming the barriers to writing.
And I think, ease of access has been improved – we’re not talking about booking
the video so that we can do this as part of a planned learning activity. We’re talking
about three clicks on the mouse. So you can respond quite quickly, even in a
relatively unplanned way, to particular circumstances in a particular classroom, at a
particular time with a particular students.
Tutor: There’s also my welders – apprentices from the Shipyard – they concentrate
on maths but we use something called Skills Build. It was interesting because
they were not used to doing maths lessons but it went down really well. They really
enjoyed it because the Skills Build is very, very short and swift. This is how you do
it, this is an exercise, this is how to get on the internet to test your skills.
Tutor: With the Number Disc another exercise I use quite often is the shopping
trolley dash with the youngsters. They have a certain amount of money to spend
in a limited time. It gives them practice in addition and multiplication and I think
youngsters like to be set against the clock – they like the challenge.
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Learning and Teaching with ICT
Using ICT to develop literacy and numeracy: A guide for learning centres working with adult learners
Programme of learning Despite a variety of approaches tutors all agreed that
packages were most useful when they were used as part of a fully developed learning
strategy developed in conjunction with a tutor.
Tutor: I decide what they need to learn from the assessment and then we try to
find the tools for them. We don’t do it the other way round; begin with the
software, we find out what they need to know and see what software we’ve got
that we can use to help them, which I think is the right way to do it.
Teaching and learning approach Centres were wary of packages which ‘tested’
learners rather than ‘taught’ them. For example some packages ask learners to ‘click’
on the right answer without giving any explanation of why something is right or wrong.
It was felt that this approach could demoralise learners unless it formed part of a
planned approach to learning.
Tutor: I have students who just sit there clicking the mouse until they get the right
answer. That’s OK but its not enough on its own and, if you keep on getting it
‘wrong’, it could be very off-putting.
Support Centres stressed the need to provide active support for basic skills learners
using ICT packages although the type of support will vary. Some lack basic ICT skills
and need support in developing them but even those who are familiar with ICT need
guidance.
Manager: We use some interactive CD Roms – CTAD materials and some
materials from Australia. A lot of basic skills providers tend to want to use these
materials rather on their own – give them to the students to start on and work
through. This does not work. We tend to dip into them for short activities.
Reinforcement and consolidation Centres reported that learning packages were
extremely useful for reinforcing and consolidating learning and provided alternative
ways for learners to practice and test their developing skills.
Tutor: The introduction to teaching may well be done by the tutor, and the ICT can
then be used for drill or for application – often a project type activity which can
involve ICT.
Independent learning Packages also encouraged learners to work independently and
allowed them to work at different levels according to their needs and rate of progress.
Q. What are the advantages?
Tutor: I think working independently certainly. Having introduced something to the
student you can then say ‘Well there’s this good exercise on this CD Rom. You can
sit and consolidate your learning on it’. That’s very good.
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Learning and Teaching with ICT
Using ICT to develop literacy and numeracy: A guide for learning centres working with adult learners
STAFF DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITY 8
EVALUATING LEARNING PACKAGES
Aims
• To develop a set of criteria for selecting software to use with Basic Skills learners.
• To demonstrate the benefits of sharing evaluations with the team.
• To devise a Centre strategy for evaluating and selecting packages.
This activity is designed for a team of staff working together to share their expertise.
TIMING One hour session with follow-up work
INTRODUCTION Use the research findings to initiate a general discussion about using
learning packages with basic skills learners. Ask staff what they find
useful and what is problematic. Record the ‘plusses’ and ‘minuses’
on separate sheets of flipchart paper. Think of a few packages to
offer as examples to stimulate discussion.
15 minutes
PAIR WORK Ask staff to work in pairs and evaluate different learning packages
using the checklist. Ask each pair to give their overall ‘rating’ and
recommendation for use.
30 minutes
WHOLE GROUP Ask each pair to present their overall rating of the package to the
whole group and discuss the advantages and disadvantages. Also try
to identify any additional items for the checklist that arise from the
discussion.
15 minutes
FOLLOW UP 1 Ask the pairs to circulate their full assessment of the package.
FOLLOW UP 2 Draft a plan for encouraging staff to evaluate learning packages and
share their assessments with each other. Circulate this by email and
invite comments from the team.
RESOURCES ICT facilities, internet access, printer, flip chart and marker pens,
copies of Adult Numeracy Core Curriculum and the Adult Literacy
Core Curriculum.
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Learning and Teaching with ICT
Using ICT to develop literacy and numeracy: A guide for learning centres working with adult learners
CHECKLIST 8
How will you use it with your learners?
Learning Approach
Does the package move beyond ‘testing’ for right and wrong answers? YES/NO
If YES how does it engage the learner?
Does the package use a variety of exercises and activities? YES/NO
If YES which do you think might be most useful?

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CHECKLIST 8
The Technology
Is the program easy and fast to access? YES/NO
Does it need any ‘special’ equipment? YES/NO
If YES what is required?
Do learners need to be familiar with ICT to benefit from the package? YES/NO
Are the instructions about using the package designed to meet the needs of basic skills
learners? For example does the package use:
• sound – including a variety of accents not just received pronunciation YES/NO
• simple language rather than jargon – in text and audio instructions YES/NO
• visual incentives such as engaging graphics and animation YES/NO
Is there an appropriate range of supporting materials
eg user guide, worksheets, videos etc. YES/NO

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PART ONE: Page 70
Learning and Teaching with ICT
Using ICT to develop literacy and numeracy: A guide for learning centres working with adult learners
Active Learning Encouraging learners to use Multimedia resources for their own
projects can be a highly effective way for them to take control of their own learning.
An active learning approach can help to overcome some of the barriers to learning that
have grown up over the years for adults learners who need to improve their literacy and
numeracy skills.
Tutor: It’s a very difficult barrier to overcome, to put pen to paper. Even if you ask
them to listen to a video clip and respond it can be difficult. It’s much easier, if you
say, ‘Here’s a Digital Camera, take some photographs of your kids, and write about
it. Put a caption underneath each one’. It’s easy for any parent to think about what
they’re writing, and to decide for themselves what they want to say.
Using Multimedia resources The idea of developing your own Multimedia resources
can be daunting but strictly speaking Multimedia just means using more than one way
to communicate information.
Paper-based materials At the simplest level Multimedia could mean wordprocessing a
worksheet and adding some Clip Art images – you would be using text and images to
communicate information. A more complex approach to developing Paper-Based
resources is to use a Desk-Top Publishing package which allows the production of
professional looking materials.
Tutor: We use Microsoft Publisher. That was a request of two students –
a husband and wife – who wanted to do some Desk-Top Publishing to produce
a calendar. Between them, they brought in Photographs of motorbikes and cats –
a good combination, I showed them how to use the Scanner and they spent one
week scanning all their 12 photos. Last week they started to Copy, Cut and Paste
them on to their calendar from Microsoft Publisher and they printed it out. They’ve
done January to June so they’ve just got another six months to go and they really
are good.
Computer-based Resources Multimedia generally means resources on a computer.
Some computer-based Multimedia Resources are relatively easy to use. For example
the use of audio for reading text on screen is now fairly simple. Presentation packages
such as PowerPoint mean that the integration of audio, still and animated images, and
video clips is possible. Packages with an Authoring facility such as the CTAD Reading
Disc means that tutors and learners can develop their own Multimedia resources.
Manager: The Reading Disc itself is quite a powerful tool, but the most powerful
part of it is what the disk calls it’s Authoring Facility which allows practitioners and
learners to adapt and develop the material on the CD Rom according to their own
particular needs and circumstances. Until we got training, we were not using the
authoring tool, which is a little bit more complex. After the training we suddenly
discovered just how powerful the materials were.
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PART ONE: Page 72
Learning and Teaching with ICT
Using ICT to develop literacy and numeracy: A guide for learning centres working with adult learners
Audio Sound is particularly helpful for those who find reading difficult, for stimulating
discussion and for practice in listening and responding. It can be used in a number of
ways to support learners including:
• packages that read out text from the computer screen such as – Read and Write
Texthelp www.text help.com see section 1.8
• using Sound Files in computer-based resources such as worksheets and
presentations (See Basic Skills Magazine November 2000 www.basic-skills.co.uk).
Video ICT means that it is lot easier to integrate Video Clips into learning resources.
Video camcorders can:
• record images and sound
• store video clips in digital form directly into a PC
• extract video information back on to a tape storage mechanism.
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PART ONE: Page 74
Learning and Teaching with ICT
Using ICT to develop literacy and numeracy: A guide for learning centres working with adult learners
EXEMPLAR ACTIVITY
MULTIMEDIA
PLAYGROUND
The playground on a local estate has become a nuisance. It was designed for younger
children to play in and has a climbing frame, some swings and an area for playing ball. Now
the equipment is broken and the area is covered with broken glass. The main users are
bored teenagers and small-time, local drug dealers trying to sell their stuff to the young
people. As a result there is a lot of rowdy behaviour and petty crime which affects local
residents. The purpose of this activity is to encourage learners to work as a group to think of
various options for dealing with the situation. The presentation needs an audience – ideally a
local councillor, a representative of the local police or the tenant’s/resident’s association.
LEVEL: ENTRY LEVEL 3
DURATION: 10 SESSIONS
CORE CURRICULUM SKILLS DEVELOPED*
SPEAKING AND LISTENING
Listen and respond: Curriculum Reference SLlr/E3
Including: Listen for gist and detail, listen to identify relevant information, listen and
respond to other points of view.
Speak to communicate: Curriculum Reference SLc/E3
Including: Speak clearly to be heard and understood, express statements of fact and
give short explanations, accounts and descriptions; make requests and ask questions to
obtain information.
Engage in Discussion: Curriculum Reference SLd/E3
Including: Follow the main points of a discussion, contribute to a discussion.
READING
Reading Comprehension: Curriculum Reference Rt/E3
Including: Read and understand short texts, identify the main points and ideas, use
organisational features to locate information, skim read text for relevance, scan texts to
locate information, obtain specific information through detailed reading,
Grammar and Punctuation; Curriculum Reference Rs/E3
Including: Read and follow instructions, use punctuation and capitalisation.
Vocabulary, word recognition and phonics: Curriculum Reference Rw/E3
Including: recognise specialist words, use a dictionary, decode unfamiliar words.
*For full details refer to the Adult Literacy Core Curriculum
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PART ONE: Page 75
LEARNING PLAN
SESSION ICT NOTES PROGRAMME OF LEARNING
PREPARATION Technical staff should Discuss this activity with the rest of
be involved at the your team before you start. Technical
planning stage for this expertise will be essential,
activity in order to knowledge of the local area will be
assess the technical useful and awareness of
possibilities and procedures regarding visits and
constraints. speakers will be important.
SESSION ONE This activity requires Whole Group: Introduce the
Exploring wordprocessing facilities, activity to the group through
the issues a printer and an OHP a discussion about the state
or PowerPoint and a of the playground and the
projector – if you and the effect on the local area.
learners are already Pair Work: Learners decide on the
familiar with the five reasons why they think
equipment. something should be done about
the playground – checking for
Encourage use of spelling and punctuation with
the spell-check in each other, with the spell-check
conjunction with personal, and the tutor.
hand-written spelling When the list is complete they
dictionaries. save two copies (one each) and
make sure that they are prepared
to present their ideas to the rest
of the group in the next session.
SESSION TWO Encourage the learners to Whole Group: The tutor
Discussing experiment with various demonstrates how to give a
the issues effects such as different presentation when using projection
Typefaces, Borders, facilities.
Colour , Backgrounds Whole Group: Ask the pairs to
etc. depending on your give their presentations to
facilities. the rest of the group.
Whole Group: The tutor chairs a
This work can be supported discussion to help the group
by the use of packages decide on the most important
such as Read and Write reasons for doing something
Texthelp which ‘read’ about the playground.
the text. Individual work: Ask learners
to wordprocess the complete
list of reasons using the Cut
and Paste feature, Numbering etc.
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PART TWO: Page 80
Managing ICT and Basic Skills Provision
Using ICT to develop literacy and numeracy: A guide for learning centres working with adult learners
2.1 Introduction
This part of the Guide looks at how learning centres are ensuring that they meet the
needs of adult learners who need to improve their literacy and numeracy skills. It will be
useful for:
• Centre managers who are developing their ICT (Information and Communication
Technologies) provision.
• Centre managers who are developing their adult literacy and numeracy provision.
• Staff with professional development responsibilities.
Part 2 contains five sections which consider various aspects of centre organisation in
greater depth. This section describes the variety of provision that is available and gives
four examples of learning centres.
Each section contains one or two suggested staff development activities designed to
last about an hour. These can be timetabled to take place over several weeks or
combined into an intensive programme. They are designed for teams of staff working
together with a manager or facilitator.
Learning centres
This Guide is based on findings from a research project commissioned by Ufi and
carried out by the Institute of Education, University of London. We found that ICT was
being used to support adult literacy and numeracy provision in a range of learning
centres. During the research project we visited well-established basic skills centres and
others that were set up with a focus on learning through ICT. A common factor was
that all of the centres were constantly reviewing their provision and developing new
ways of working with ICT to support learning.
Types of Centre
Centres are operating in a variety of contexts for example:
• Public libraries and college libraries developing as learning centres
• Centres set up specifically to attract and provide for basic skills learners
• Centres set up specifically to promote ICT-based learning e.g. learndirect and UK
Online centres
• Learning centres in colleges separate from the library.
There is considerable overlap between these categories. New initiatives at both national
and local level are influencing the way that centres develop. For example the
establishment of Ufi’s learndirect centres and the DfEE’s UK Online centres means
that not only were some new centres being formed but also that existing centres were
becoming part of the initiatives and adapting their provision accordingly.
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PART TWO: Page 81
Types of Provision
There is a variety of provision in centres ranging from full class teaching to individual,
‘drop-in’ visits. Learners often combine timetabled sessions with additional ‘drop-in’
visits where that is possible. We have defined the terms as follows and these are used
throughout the Guide:
• CLASSES where the tutor delivers some of the session through teaching a whole
group of learners.
• ‘WORKSHOP’ SESSIONS where groups of learners come in for sessions with a tutor
at designated times but work individually, at their own pace. This method is used
with ICT and paper-based worksheets.
• DROP-IN CENTRES where the learners choose the time and frequency of their visits
and work mainly with ICT-based resources. Most learners, particularly basic skills
learners, need the framework of a personalised programme of learning to benefit
fully from this approach.
In addition to attending centres learners are developing their skills in a variety of
others contexts.
• OUTREACH initiatives which can combine any of the above but employ a variety of
strategies to take ICT resources out into the community.
• FAMILY LEARNING outreach initiatives directed specifically at parents and families
which aim to improve their basic skills and understanding about education and
training.
• HOME AND WORK As the technology develops and access to ICT increases it is
likely that more learners will be able to use computers from home or work in order to
develop their skills. As with the ‘drop-in’ approach a clear programme of learning is
extremely important – particularly for basic skills learners. Ideally, learners using a
computer at work should be engaged in a work-based initiative that makes the most
of the real life opportunities for skill development that the workplace offers.
See www.lancs.ac.uk/wbsnet Workplace Basic Skills Training Network.
The Learning Environment
Whatever the type of provision staff stress the importance of providing a pleasant and
welcoming environment in which to work which does not stigmatise learners who need
support with literacy and numeracy.
Manager: There was a commitment from senior management to avoid the
portakabin in the car park syndrome. In order to establish a good basic skills facility
we wanted to make sure that it was going to be well-resourced and in a high
status area of the college. We felt that would give a message to everybody who
was going to be involved that this was an area the college took very seriously.
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PART TWO: Page 83
Where possible centres have a range of resources and learning spaces available
including books, papers, and videos alongside open access ICT facilities and areas
designed for tutorials or group work:
Manager: We have arranged the computers in a wheel shape – which we find very
effective. It lets students work individually but it is much easier for them to sit
next to each other and work together – and for tutors to sit down and help. We
also have a partitioned area without computers which is ideal for tutorials, group
discussion or just working with books or worksheets.
Types of Resources
We found that centres used a range of materials in a variety of ways but there was
general agreement that using a combination of resources is important:
• Paper-based ‘in-house’ Worksheets
• Reference books, novels, magazines, newspapers and other Print-Based Resources
• Video and Audio and equipment
• Standard software packages, wordprocessing, spreadsheets etc.
• ICT- based Learning Packages
• Email and Internet.
Three Tips for organising the
learning environment
Make sure that the centre is in a central location to attract learners and avoid
singling out literacy and numeracy provision.
Offer a range of learning materials including books, videos and worksheets as
well as ICT resources.
Provide spaces for group work, independent work, class teaching and one-to-one
sessions.
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2.
3.
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PART TWO: Page 84
Managing ICT and Basic Skills Provision
Using ICT with Basic Skills Learners – Good Practice Guide
Case Study: Queen’s Crescent Library
Queen’s Crescent is a learndirect centre that has strong links with a local FE college.
It is based in a public library near Regent’s Park in North London – an area where great
wealth and quite severe deprivation exist side by side. The local population is very
mixed and includes several distinct ethnic minority communities. Close links have
existed for many years between the Library service, the Adult Education Service and
the local college and all of them have been concerned to attract a wide range of
learners from the local community. In addition to the main centre at Queen’s Crescent
there is a linked outreach initiative on a local housing estate in the Robert Street library.
The main Queen’s Crescent site is a drop-in centre. At Robert Street there are
workshop sessions with designated tutors as well as some drop-in provision. The
centres are run by a team of staff, some part-time some full-time.
Queen’s Crescent was a learndirect development centre and the prediction was that
about 85 learners would be recruited in the first instance but in the event 300 learners
enrolled.
Staff felt that one of the key ingredients of its success for basic skills learners was that
the ICT facilities were offered alongside face-to face sessions with tutors. This helped
learners to overcome any fears they might have about using ICT.
Another reason for its success was that the centre sets out to be a distinct alternative
to school or college as many learners would not participate otherwise. As the Learning
Resources Manger says:
‘They would not go to the college – these are people who perhaps have tiptoed into a
library and borrowed a newspaper.’
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PART TWO: Page 92
Managing ICT and Basic Skills Provision
Using ICT to develop literacy and numeracy: A guide for learning centres working with adult learners
Access There are a number of reasons why learners might not be able to attend regular
sessions at a Centre including:
• lack of childcare
• other caring responsibilities eg elderly relatives
• physical disability
• work: especially for those with unsocial hours
• geographical location eg rural communities
• cultural reasons eg women in certain religious groups not able to participate.
Childcare Lack of childcare was the most commonly cited reason for not attending a
course. In response to this a number of centres had organised crèches.
Physical disability For some learners physical disabilities can make attendance at a
Centre or use of the equipment difficult. Centres are making efforts to ensure that their
premises and equipment are accessible and also beginning to use the capacity of ICT
for remote access to ensure that learners are not excluded.
Work Learners who work need flexible access to centres and ideally the support of their
employers.
Geographical location Those living in rural communities with poor transport systems
often find it difficult to attend a centre. Urban areas also have their share of problems
as centres located in places considered ‘unsafe’ can result in low take-up.
Cultural reasons Attendance at a learning centre can be culturally unacceptable for
many reasons. For example a lot of men find it extremely difficult to admit that they
have problems with literacy and do not participate. In some cases women need their
husband’s permission to attend a class and mixed groups are frowned upon. As a result
centres are organising their provision to attract particular excluded groups.
Outreach Many centres overcome these barriers through outreach work. In some cases
this involved setting up satellite centres and in others Laptops were taken out into the
community.
Outside access In some cases learners use ICT from home or other offsite locations to
communicate with tutors, access LEARNING RESOURCES or work on Learning
Packages. The full potential of communicating at a distance through ICT has not been
realised but it is likely to increase.
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PART TWO: Page 96
Managing ICT and Basic Skills Provision
Using ICT to develop literacy and numeracy: A guide for learning centres working with adult learners
WORKSHEET 11
continued…
Fatima
Fatima is in her late twenties. She left her country in difficult circumstances and is
trying to rebuild her life and get a job…
Q. Was that your job before? Did you work on the computer?
Tutor: She used to work on them in her country, in Turkey.
Fatima: I’m an accountant.
Q: Oh, I see.
Fatima: But English is not good. I can’t use in this country. I use only Turkish
Internet sometimes I use email.
Richard
Richard had left school at the first opportunity and worked in manual jobs until his early
twenties when he stopped work to look after his children. As a single parent he had
little time to even think about studying until one day he got a letter from the
employment service…
Richard: When I got the letter I thought ‘That annoys me. Saying that I don’t work’.
In the end I went down the Job Centre but they only seemed interested in getting
me into basic training courses. I was thinking at the time maybe I’d be an
electrician and I thought ‘I can’t be an electrician if I can’t do my spelling and my
maths’. So I said, ‘I want to sort out an education more than anything.’
So eventually they sent me down the Career Centre. But they tried to give me
work – and remember I still had my children to look after. I said ‘I don’t want to do
any old job. I want to get an education so I can get a good job. An electrician is a
good job but I can’t get it without qualifications. How would I cope with the job?’
And after a little while they sent me down here to the college.
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PART TWO: Page 97
WORKSHEET 11
continued…
Sylvia
Sylvia came to England from the West Indies when she was 19 and worked as a Care
Assistant for many years before she retired. She has always been active in her Church
and wants to develop her skills in writing and maths…
Sylvia: I was going to school and I was no good at maths. And even the first and
second term here when I get the test sheet I’m nervous. I go to toilet every
minute – it’s just nerves. It was very difficult for me but I was determined not to
give up – not to be a chicken. And sometimes when you get a week off like half
term or something like that I think ‘Oh God I can’t face it’ or ‘I’m an
embarrassment’. But I just jump up, I say no – I’m not going to get beaten I’m
going to keep on coming.
Don
Don is a self-employed builder with a thriving business. Although he reads a lot he has
always relied on his wife to deal with the paperwork associated with the business as
his writing and spelling are very weak. His wife was ill for a few weeks and this made
him realise how much he depended on her.
Don: I thought to myself ‘I had better do something about this. Perhaps these new
computer courses will help.’ I came along here and had an interview with Violet
who asked me all sorts of questions – and then asked me to read something and to
write a few sentences. At the end of the session she said, ‘Don, I think you might
be dyslexic.’ and I said ‘We didn’t have that sort of thing when I was at school.’
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PART TWO: Page 98
Managing ICT and Basic Skills Provision
Using ICT to develop literacy and numeracy: A guide for learning centres working with adult learners
WORKSHEET 11
BARRIERS TO LEARNING
Use the chart below to note down the particular barriers to learning that these learners
might have. Be prepared to share your ideas with other members of the team.
NAME PRACTICAL EMOTIONAL SOCIAL/ SPECIFIC
BARRIERS BARRIERS CULTURAL LEARNING
BARRIERS DIFFICULTIES
Richard
Mary
Fatima
Bob
Sylvia
Don
Work for about 20 minutes in pairs and then share the findings with the whole group.
Develop a checklist of barriers to learning for basic skills clients.
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