literacy tools and strategies final
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Please cite as: Owen, H., & Schwenger, B. Using literacy tools and strategies as a foundation to enhance students' learning and study success. Paper presented at The New Zealand Association of Bridging Educatiors: 2008 Conference. Students’ learning and study success are at the heart of education provision. A strong concern in this context is how to enable staff to assist students more effectively in their learning journey and in their participation in the community, especially those learners who are facing difficulties in engaging with the literacy and numeracy demands of their programmes. The potential gap of course demands and student skills is at the centre of a programme initiative at Unitec New Zealand, which is at the same time concerned with curriculum redevelopment and wider institutional initiatives. It has been identified that an integrated approach to combine content learning with literacy and numeracy skills enhances students’ learning and study success in terms of retention, completion and stair-casing into higher levels of learning. Capability building that engages staff and helps them to review their methodology is an essential ingredient for supporting tutors in implementing best practice into their every-day teaching strategies. Tools and strategies for integrating and embedding literacy and numeracy as part of the teaching and learning experience are available but not always accessible to teaching staff. The Centre for Teaching and Learning Innovation (CTLI) at Unitec New Zealand is working closely with staff to introduce appropriate strategies and tools which can be easily integrated into courses whilst taking into account the needs identified by each school for their specific learners. This paper is based on an initiative between Automotive Engineering staff and CTLI. At this stage, eleven literacy and numeracy related tools, sourced from a variety of places, have been chosen to demonstrate best practice in collaborative and interactive contextualised workshops. The presenter will showcase three tools and conference participants are then invited to critique and discuss in small groups if and how these tools could be adapted to fit within their context of teaching and learning. Thoughts and opinions will then be collected and discussed in the large group. The theory informing the literacy tools and strategies and the workshop delivery (including the iterative cycle of evaluation and improvement of the workshops in response to participant feedback) will be shared with conference participants to conclude the session.TRANSCRIPT
Using literacy tools and strategies as a foundation to enhance
students’ learning and study successsuccess
Hazel Owen and Bettina Schwenger
Centre for Teaching and Learning Centre for Teaching and Learning Innovation Unitec NZ
Overview
• Supporting student success• A continuum of learning• A continuum of learning• Tools and strategies - underpinning
principles• Making decisions about tools and
strategies: three examples• Interactive task for you• Interactive task for you• Conclusion / feedback
Supporting student success through ...
Learning in real-world contexts
Transferable skillsAnalysis and
CRSP
Transferable skillsAnalysis and interpretation tasks
Strategies Tools
July 24, 2009 Hazel Owen & Bettina Schwenger 3
Investigational work
Problem solving
Small group work
“Literacy is the ability to identify, understand, interpret, create, communicate and compute,
A continuum of learning...
interpret, create, communicate and compute, using printed and written materials associated with varying contexts. Literacy involves a continuum of learning to enable an individual to achieve his or her goals, to develop his or her knowledge and potential, and to participate fully in the wider society.”and to participate fully in the wider society.”
(UNESCO, 2003, p. 5)
Tools and strategies - underpinning principles
Deliberate and explicit
Constructivist
Underpinning
Principles
Encourage independence
Purposeful
Appropriate and relevant
Constructivist
Using tools Using tools and best practice
and relevant
Practitioners’ capability
Literacy expert
Discipline expert
Students
(Smith, 2008)
Teachertraining
Education
Pedagogy
Dynamic variables affecting literacyReadingculture
Opportunities
Wealth
Vocational
Literacy
Freedom/creativity
Access to books
EducationOpportunities
to read
Status of literatureLiterary canon
Society & culture
FamilyPoliticalpolicies
Vocationalskills
The 'tradeshow' approach
Initiated & championed by
Iain Seymour-Hart, Head of
Department
Tradeshow 1 –
6 tools demonstrated,
10 minutes each
ToolsVocabulary
profiler
Issues with
teaching
Survey – reading
Lesson plan 10 minutes each
Feedback from lecturers.
What are the issues? VOCABULARY
Tradeshow 2 -
Teaching vocabulary
Lesson plan
Numeracy
Multi-media
Approaches to vocabulary:
Hot Potatoes
E-flash cards
Numeracy
July 24, 2009 Hazel Owen & Bettina Schwenger 10
Tradeshow 3 -
Demonstration lessons
15 minutes each
Numeracy
On-line assessment
Critical thinking
An example of teaching:
Vocab
Reading
Information literacy
Numeracy(Smith, 2008)
�
July 24, 2009 Hazel Owen & Bettina Schwenger 11
July 24, 2009 Hazel Owen & Bettina Schwenger 12
Review quizzes�
July 24, 2009 Hazel Owen & Bettina Schwenger 17
Hot Potatoes�
July 24, 2009 Hazel Owen & Bettina Schwenger 18
Hot Potatoes (cont.)�
July 24, 2009 Hazel Owen & Bettina Schwenger 19
Feedback�
Keesing-Styles, L. (2008). Automotive Tradeshows - Literacy and Numeracy in Vocational Education. The VET(31), 7.
This is a superb model for staff professional development, no matter
Feedback (cont.)�
professional development, no matter what the topic. Here, a whole department is engaged in reflecting on and improving their teaching and their students’ learning.
Keesing-Styles, L. (2008). Automotive Tradeshows - Literacy and Numeracy in Vocational Education. The VET(31), 7.
Linda Keesing-Styles
Management
support
Workshops Feedback
Building
Capability
Tradeshows
Specific
follow-up
sessions
July 24, 2009 Hazel Owen & Bettina Schwenger 22
Professional
Location
& food
Toolbox
(on-line)
Individual
help
(Smith, 2008)
Interactive task for you1. Turn to the person next to you2. Using the handout, discuss the
questions, andquestions, and3. Write your responses4. There will be opportunity for people to
describe their conclusions/ reaction5. Please hand your completed handout to
Mark and Bettina (the presenters)
Items to discuss
1. Describe a tool or strategy that you have used to teach literacy and numeracy. Explain what you feel made numeracy. Explain what you feel made it effective.
2. Would some of the tools and strategies demonstrated today be useful in your context? Why / why not?context? Why / why not?
3. What are the questions we need to ask of the tools and strategies when deciding on what to use with learners?
Conclusion • More successful teaching and
learning can take place• Ask ‘why’ – purpose and • Ask ‘why’ – purpose and
rationale • The tradeshow must go on
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Login in with the username:
eittl2008 & password: eittl2008
Click on: UATI Automotive
Toolkit
Thank you for listening
Any questions and feedbackAny questions and feedbackplease email: