Based in northeast Edmonton, Alberta, the Widening Access for Adult Literacies project involved a variety of approaches to achieving its goal, including working with community agencies to create literacy friendly environments; integrating support for literacies development into existing community programs and services; and offering adult literacy groups and tutoring in inviting, accessible locations.
The Community-Based Literacy (CBL) in NE Edmonton project was initiated in September 2006 to address needs for adult literacy programming that had been identified through the Widening Access for Adult Literacies project.
The project’s goal was to work with agencies to offer literacy courses in the short term, and to support community agencies applying for regular course funding to offer courses on a longer-term basis.
This document grew out of an initiative of the Widening Access for Adult Literacies project carried out in NE Edmonton between 2006 and 2008. The initiative involved offering literacy classes in partnership with community-based agencies.
This book originated in a course that was offered as part of the Research in Practice in Adult Literacy Network Project, a project initiated in 2000 involving Literacy Alberta, the Learning Centre Literacy Association, and the Centre for Research on Literacy at the University of Alberta. As the title suggests, this guide was written to help literacy practitioners conduct research related to their practice.
The Literacy Coordinators of Alberta (now Literacy Alberta) launched the Professional Development Project in the fall of 2002 to research and plan professional development for coordinators of community adult literacy programs. The purpose of this report is to document the Professional Development Project research process, to report on learnings from the research, and to present the proposed professional development program.
In the fall of 2002, the Literacy Coordinators of Alberta launched the Professional Development Project (PDP) to research and plan pathways to learning for literacy coordinators.
A Framework for Thinking about Literacy Work with Adults
In a whole language approach, language development - reading, writing and oral language - is integrated with learning about topics of interest. Students and teachers learn with and from each other. Whole language is not a method or technique. Rather, it is a way of thinking about language learning, and about which methods and techniques are appropriate for helping people learn.
This document grew out of a research project sponsored by The Learning Centre Literacy Association in Edmonton, in collaboration with the University of Alberta Faculty of Education. Carried out between 1998 and 2000, the project explored participatory approaches and research in practice.
Learning from Literacy Research in Practice Networks
This document is a resource for people interested in adult literacy research in practice, a term that refers to literacy research conducted by or with people directly engaged in adult literacy teaching and learning.
This report explains what "research in practice" means, provides information about what supports are needed, describes research in practice networks, offers suggestions for engaging in research in practice circles, and discusses some of the current issues and challenges. Finally, it provides examples of some adult literacy research in practice activities in Canada.
