History of Resistance

Michael ChalkLeave a commentinnovation

It seems that, back in the 1980’s, English teachers in Australian schools were the most fiercely resistant of all, to the encroachment of technologies for learning. i was fascinated to learn there was a whole history of resistance, based around viewing computers as part of the de-humanising, mechanistic collapse of caring society. As “The Machine” gradually takes control of our post-industrial world, human values are eroded, and the world of “1984” is invited to overpower us all. (In this case, resistance does make sense! i’m getting the urge to turn Read More …

Technology part of 'the humanities'?

Michael ChalkLeave a commentUncategorized

“Technology education is not a technical subject. it is a branch of the humanities.” – Neil Postman, from “The End of Education: redefining the value of school”. Neil is quoted on page one of Stuart Selber’s “Multiliteracies for a digital age”, whose first chapter is entitled “Reimagining Computer Literacy”. i had to include the quote, because it’s such a refreshing idea. Stuart begins his work by emphasising that the consequences and contexts of technology are the most important foci of ‘a worthwhile education’, rather than the technology itself. Yes!! Thank Read More …

e-literacy basics

Michael ChalkLeave a commentclassroom, e-learning

Thanks to the very diligent and useful NZ Literacy Portal, another couple of terrific resources coming our way: "Computers in Action", from 'tech.worlded.org', is a primer in the basics of using the personal computer, with lesson plans structured in a way that includes the language functions. This isn't a resource for students, but rather a set of strategies for teaching. Eg, Window to the Soul is about  Minimizing / Maximizing Windows, and involves Writing, reading, conversation.

Conversations in ACE: New ways to get audio and video online

Michael ChalkLeave a commentace, professional development

Have recently been working with the Conversations in ACE conference, Eastern Metro Region of "Adult Community and Further Education" (ACFE). Kerrin Pryor was presenting on her research into "New Literacies", where they are using "Squeeze Text" (or mobile SMS language) to explore literacy for young people.

Lesson Plan for Media Literacy – good site for ideas

Michael ChalkLeave a commentadult literacy, classroom

Trawling the web for interesting ideas for our Literacy and Multimedia course, and came upon this lesson plan from Read Write Think (.org) (We're looking at advertising and publicity.) Looks to be a terrific resource in general, although this lesson plan is too complicated for the learners we have at the moment.  What i like about this lesson plan is the way it includes pre-reading for the teacher who wants to gain some theoretical background, as well as clear steps for introducing the topic through discussion. 

"Multimodality", literacy and technology

Michael ChalkLeave a commentadult literacy, research, technology

Have found the book i’ve been looking for: Carey Jewitt’s “Technology, Literacy and Learning: a multimodal approach“. Dr Jewitt, an Academic Fellow funded by the UK Research Council, has a complex take on literacies, involving social semiotics, ‘activity theory’, and the potential for multimodality to have a big impact on the way people learn. I’m looking forward to finding out more about how “image, sound, writing and movement on screen contributes to the construction of school knowledge and potentials for learning.” Her focus is on schools, rather than adult education, Read More …

New and emerging technologies

Michael ChalkLeave a commentinnovation, professional development

The incomparable Robyn Jay is presenting at the ACAL (Australian Council for Adult Literacy) Conference in South Australia, tomorrow (Friday 6th October), on the topic of "Connecting voices: new mindsets, new opportunities". She's asking people what new and emerging technologies are being used by language and literacy practitioners, so i've given a 3minute response on Odeo. (But it doesn't look like i can include it here 🙁

Context shapes impact of technology

Michael ChalkLeave a commentUncategorized

Currently enjoying Mark Warschauer’s “Electronic Literacies”: in chapter one he makes the strong point that the Gutenberg era took hold only through the massive social and economic changes of the industrial revolution. The printing press technology had been ready for some time. Mark reckons that the current acceleration of technological change in the fields of literacy and communication is deeply connected with the current industrial revolution, “based on the harnessing of information, knowledge and networks”. He adds that this current information-based revolution is not only industrial, but also social and Read More …

A Change of Scene

Michael ChalkLeave a commentace, community, e-learning, professional development

Why would anyone use technology for learning? Do we ask the right questions, when planning for community building? Recently Delia Bradshaw gave a presentation to a group of community leaders from around Australia, as part of an induction for the Adult Learning Australia e-learning Creative Community Partnerships. Delia’s presentation is stored on this site. July ’09 Addendum: Took me a while to work out a way of presenting audio, text and images on the same page, in a navigable way. So much easier these days with a slidecast, for example Read More …

Resource Sharing continues in '06

Michael ChalkLeave a commentace, e-learning, professional development

Groups of teachers from PRACE, Olympic and Glenroy have continued to work together in the new year, after their LearnScope project in 2005. The “Resource Sharing” project has focussed on: Literacy/numeracy for people with (mild intellectual) disability Low level ESL learners – gathering tubs of materials ESL in the computer room – gathering activities / “teaching recipes” Student stories – publishing into books One extremely valuable resource for us has been the ACEBank resource sharing project, which was set up last year by the brilliant, but sadly disbanded TAFE frontiers. Read More …

Updates and work changes

Michael ChalkLeave a commentace, community, technology

So, it’s clearly been years since i’ve posted in this place. There’s been a whole lot going on in the meantime, including pandemic etc. Since 2017, my teaching has focussed mainly on technology aka “digital literacy” within adult community education (ACE), and i haven’t done much in the way of language and literacy teaching at all. I’ve been working as a “learning facilitator” aka Tour Guide at the Polly Woodside Museum, with the National Trust. For those who didn’t grow up in Melbourne, Polly Woodside is an old sailing ship, Read More …

Writings Reclaimed

Michael ChalkLeave a commenttechnology

I decided to bring posts to this blog from other projects, such as: Digital Learning at PRACE Digital Learning at Lalor Living and Learning ACFE Learn Local Communities of Practice the North-West e-mentor projects from ACFE Learn Local iPad for Seniors at PRACE the 23 Things project from ACFE, CAE and PRACE.   Having written nearly all the text in those places, i wanted gather it all together. It was relatively easy to export from Blogger, and then import into WordPress here. Unfortunately, now i’ve discovered several roadblocks, namely: the Read More …

Mark Hopkins’ story translated into many languages

Michael ChalkLeave a commentadult literacy

You remember Mark Hopkins, the adult learner from PRACE who told his story so well, not only in our publication, but also on the SBS Insight tv program last year? Well, some of the stories from this Resilience collection have been translated into other languages for the EPALE* site, and the first story to be translated was Mark’s. *EPALE: Electronic Platform for Adult Learning in Europe. https://goo.gl/XqROOX

Adult Learners in Conversation – “A Fuller Sense of Self”

Michael ChalkLeave a commentace, adult literacy, community

Last night Tricia Bowen spoke about her experience of reconnecting with the adult learners who have shared their stories in this volume. I talked about how great it was to join with Tricia and Lynne in the whole creative and collaborative process of editing. Then Lynne Matheson invited us to launch the video into the world, so we all made rocket-launching sounds, and the champagne flowed. * It was such a good experience filming and editing these stories with Tricia. I would love to hear any feedback, especially related to Read More …

Reading between the Lines – SBS Insight focus on Adult Literacy

Michael ChalkLeave a commentadult literacy

If you think Australia is a highly literate nation, watch this recent episode of Insight from SBS. This powerful and moving episode features Mark Hopkins one of the students from PRACE. I spoke with Mark as part of the “Stories of Resilience” project, and it’s really heartening to hear his voice in this national forum. All these adult learners show real courage and vulnerability, as they describe their experience for people who have no idea of the extent of this hidden problem. Over 40% of Australians experience some level of difficulty Read More …

Dark Side of the Comment Section

Michael ChalkLeave a commentcommunity, technology

If you’re involved with any kind of online facilitation, you may appreciate this article from The Guardian. They’ve done some research into the comment section, finding that much more abuse is directed at female writers than male. (Also, for web designers, some really good layout effects, especially the way they’ve integrated the graphs and the “how would you moderate this comment” bits.) There’s a whole series around this research, articles interviewing people who have experienced the maelstrom of massive online shaming and bullying.. and articles on ideas for making things Read More …

PageTurners has a new online shop

Michael ChalkLeave a commentace, adult literacy, community

Just sent out the latest PageTurners newsletter, letting people know that the new shopping-cart style website is up and running!! It’s taken me much time this year to get the site all updated and e-commercey, so i’m very happy that we’ve finally launched. Woot. You can read the newsletter here. Take a look at the site, tell us what you think. Oh, we need a feedback form don’t we. If you’re not subscribed to the PageTurners email list, you can join via the website.

iPad apps especially for Seniors??

Michael ChalkLeave a commentace, technology

I wondered if there are any iPad apps that would be especially useful for people over 55, so i searched the web for  “best apps for ipad for seniors“. Sure enough, there are many many lists: “16 helpful apps for seniors”, “27 bet iPad and iPhone apps for senior citizens”. But are any of them useful.. and how many of these apps are FREE..? Well, some of them are designed to help people by improving things like: Visual accessibility: Silver Surf is a web browser with “large navigation buttons, dynamic text Read More …

Some help files for blogger

Michael ChalkLeave a commenthow to

Here’s a basic intro that Michael made – for low level students really (link: pdf stored in google drive). GCF LearnFree don’t have an intro to blogger, but they do have a great section talking about blogs in general, and an intro to Tumblr instead. Tumblr is much more visual than blogger, which can be text-heavy. Google themselves have a fairly decent help section. Grovo has a few videos showing the basics, including this overview. But they’re a commercial mob, and they’ll want you to pay for more. What good Read More …