DEEP IN LITERACY

INTRODUCTION

Functional illiteracy is a by-product of societal and technological progress. It is a widespread phenomenon in knowledge society where a tertiary education is a kind of entrance ticket to working, living and continuous autonomous learning. This blended course is an integral part of the project LearnersMot 2, a continuation of LearnersMot both devised and conducted within Erasmus+ Programme.

This blended course invites you to multimodal or combined learning in the field of functional literacy. You will be able to learn from 6 modules containing theoretical texts, videos, face-to-face practical activities and interactive activities based on digital methods. The six modules encompass concepts related to social, work and cultural areas of life (Modules 2, 3 and 4). Module 1 will introduce you to the topic of motivation, module 5 to numeracy and module 6 to the digitalisation and digital methods in older adult education.

Connected to the theoretical concepts practical activities referring either to the topic of the module and/or related routine situations have been developed accompanying each module. They are to be used by both adult educators and older learners.

Adult educators will be able to use the practical activities as learning material for their learners. Moreover, they will have to be highly imaginative meeting the needs of their learners and the experiential knowledge they possess. The low educated and the low skilled older learners keep checking if the knowledge they get in the course is connected with what they already know. You will say that all adult learners do the same, and you are right, but most learners will stay in education even though the imparted knowledge does not directly touch upon their lives and does not meet their current needs. Contrary to them, the low educated will reject not only the programme, the educator’s efforts but learning in general and would quit as soon as possible. Therefore, your responsibility as adult educator working with low educated learners is great impacting not only learning but also the lives of those who are in situation of functional illiteracy.

This blended course primarily targets adult educators helping them to understand the complex phenomenon of functional (i)literacy and its concepts. It helps them to identify learners in situation of functional illiteracy and their hiding strategies. Finally, it helps them to build and improve their learners’ basic skills (reading, writing, cognitive, cultural, numeracy and digital skills). On the top of it, adult educators should take care of triggering primary motivation for learning in the low educated and low skilled learners. They should motivate them to enroll and what is more, remain in education.

Dušana Findeisen