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Instructional and Professional Development Materials
Internet Tutorials/Web Design Guides
Library Matters
Media Literacy/Web Literacy
Organizations
Civic Participation and Community Action Sourcebook
Developed by New England literacy practitioners, this extensive guidebook provides rationales, methods and activities for
actively engaging adult learners in the development and political processes of their local communities.
GED Math Practice Program
In his copious free time, Alan Tubman, a Massachusetts adult literacy practitioner, writes shareware software
programs. Connect and ye shall find....
Health and Literacy Compendium
Completed in early 1999, this online "reference book" consists of 100 well-annotated bibliographic entries covering
print and electronic health education resources. Along with embedded Web links, the compendium is cross-indexed by
subject, format, language and reading level.
Journals on the Web: A Mini-Guide
Created by the now defunct ERIC Clearinghouse on Adult, Career, and Vocational Education, this page provides a very handy, hypertext-linked
list of education-related journals. Some of the publications offer only a table of contents, but several provide
full-text electronic versions of their articles. The online library begins to take shape!
Teachers Web Page
Another potentially-useful set of documents (assuming extended periods of distraction-free
reading time) buried within USDOE's site, with the primary subject of professional development. The material basically
consists of sundry reports, studies, proclamations and so forth.
Web-Based Lesson Plan Gallery
In the dawning days of Spring 1998, two dozen practitioners at near-concurrent workshops in Boston and
New York City produced this quite wonderful collection of lesson plans, suitable for use both online and offline.
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Internet 101
Numerous Internet guides and tutorials may be found online these days, but this particular one is
pleasantly-designed, from the standpoint of both graphical esthetics and general organization. It's highly
informative, too, although the banner and pop-up ads are a bit annoying.
The Top 15 Mistakes of First-Time Web Design
A blessedly-short, pleasantly-humorous gloss on the temptations to avoid upon
plunging into Web resource creation.
W3C: Getting Started with HTML
From the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), the governing body for Web technical protocols, comes this very clear, accessible
intro to the wonderful world of Hypertext Markup Language.
Web Design Group
A fairly comprehensive yet down-to-earth aid, with the stated hope "that with this site as a reference,
you will be able to create Web sites that can be used by every person on the Internet, regardless of browser,
platform or settings."
Web Style Guide
One of the best-written, best-organized Web design guides originally was hatched at Yale's Center for Advanced
Instructional Media and has now been updated in this second edition (2002). Whether you want to produce a
single Web document or an entire site, this extensive resource is invaluable.
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ALA Copyright Issues
From the fine folks at the American Library Association comes a basic intro to the sometimes confusing,
always changing world of copyright and its sundry subparts: Registration, Fair Use, Electronic Publications and so forth.
ALA/RUSA Best Free Reference Websites 2006
From the Reference and User Services Association (part of the American Library Association) comes an
annotated guide to a few dozen highly useful and just plain cool reference sites, covering dictionaries, directories, quotations, statistics,
and beyond.
Alternative Press Index
Looking for the guide to all those small, funky, quirky, definitely-not-mainstream
publications? Here it is, complete with annotations, ordering information and online links.
Current Cites
If you have a passion for keeping abreast of the library and information science
literature, this site will provide considerable measure of satisfaction. On a monthly basis, extensive annotations, with links
to full-text articles in many cases, are posted to the world.
Finding Information on the Internet: A Tutorial
The fine folks at Berkeley's Library drew up a succinct set of "finding aids" for souls launching themselves into online waters.
Now you, too, can derive Web search results in the low four figures.
Library Support for Distance Learning
This quite lengthy page compiles tons of information on DL, including policy and planning documents, research papers,
library links, and, as a bonus, several articles on virtual reference services and online resource evaluation.
NoodleTools
Debbie Abilock, California school librarian par excellence, is the person behind this site, a site which nicely combines
a bit of bibliographic instruction and electronic "ready reference" tools. Get thee to the e-library!
Virtual Reference Shelf
The staff at the Library of Congress have put together a very clean, comprehensive index of basic reference tools.
If you have time for only one reference visit, make it here.
WorldCat
Basically, a national library catalog. Search for an item, plug in your ZIP code, and you'll get a list of nearby libraries holding that title. Very, very handy.
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Critical Thinking in an Online World
A 1996 conference paper written by Debra Jones, Internet Librarian at Cabrillo College, which provides a
good philosophical/theoretical starting point for making sense of the electronic domain.
The Internet: Window to the World or Hall of Mirrors?
A constructively-critical three-page article by Jack Solock, a special librarian, which appeared in the online newsletter,
InterNIC News.
Internet Evaluation Crib Sheet
Drawn up by D. Scott Brandt, a Purdue University librarian, this handy two-page checklist helps clarify the overall merit
of any given online resource.
Center for Media Literacy
From a California nonprofit comes a truly extensive set of links on media literacy issues, including articles, bibliographies and
professional development resources.
Testing the Surf: Criteria for Evaluating Internet Information Resources
From Down Under, this 10-to-12 page guide provides a bit more depth and detail than the crib sheet above on
the vagaries of Web materials and, as a bonus, contains an extensive, if dated (1992-97), bibliography.
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ABE-to-College Transition
If helping ABE learners go on to college is one of your program's goals, this site is a truly grand "how to"
outline, with helpful sections addressing counseling resources
and curriculum and instruction issues.
Adult Literacy Resource Institute (ALRI)
From the home of the SABES Greater Boston Regional Support Center, ALRI staffers offer up a number of highly-useful
online resources, including: excerpts from the All Write News,
their bimonthly newsletter,
software evaluations by adult literacy practitioners, and
the nation's first statewide technology plan for ABE.
Anywhere, Anytime ABE
Herewith is the site for Massachusetts' current ABE distance learning research project, in which four programs from across
the state are attempting to assess just what protocols, practices, and supports are needed to make distance learning successful
from the students' end. To help set the scene, the site offers a report, What Makes Distance
Learning Effective, and meeting notes from the
April 2003 statewide DL gathering.
Community Partnerships for Adult Learning
The federal Office of Vocational and Adult Education (OVAE) provides a well-designed, content-rich guide to fostering
collaboration among social service providers, with annotated links to research articles and Web sites covering
professional development and program assessment,
among other topics.
Dave's ESL Cafe
Although catering primarily to the K-12 ESL field, the greatest virtue of this site derives from
the ease with which teachers and learners have chances to communicate online. Granted, many of
the correspondents appear to be, ah, amorous teenagers, but two features have ready applicability for the adult ESL
program: the ESL Idiom Page and the
ESL Cafe Bookstore.
Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC)
One of the truly great resource troves for the education field, the ERIC system of 26 clearinghouses
was shut down in December 2003, to be reconfigured as a database-driven single site. You still may
search the ERIC database and print off ERIC Digests.
The two clearinghouses nearest and dearest to the adult literacy field still live on as archived sites: the Clearinghouse on Adult, Career
and Vocational Education (ACVE) and the National Clearinghouse on ESL Literacy Education (NCLE).
One other handy ERIC resource, the Test Locator, no longer exists, but its function has been replicated in two
other sites: ETS' TestLink and the Buros Institute's
Test Reviews Online.
Employment and Training Administration (ETA)
If "workforce development" is your mantra, this US Department of Labor site is definitely a place to stop, as it offers various and
sundry factsheets, profiles, contacts and all the SCANS reports you'll ever need.
English as a Second Language
Maintained by Rong-chang Li, a linguist and software developer, this site provides a simple gateway to Web sites of possible interest to intermediate and
advanced ESL learners and their teachers. Click on any of the broad skill areas listed (listening and speaking; reading and
understanding; grammar and writing) and you'll be presented with a dozen-plus selections which you
may then add to your very own booklist.
ESL Lesson Plans and Resources
Basically a meta-site (or pointer list) which connects you to nearly two-dozen sites chock full of lesson
plans for your perusal, complemented by links to sundry ESL/ESOL organizations and associations.
Literacy Assistance Center (LAC)
Serving adult literacy programs across New York City and standing as a sister organization to
Boston's ALRI, the LAC provides training and technical assistance, as well as a sizable library. Their Web site
provides full-text selections from their monthly newsletter, Literacy
Update, and annual journal, Literacy Harvest,
along with exerpts from occasional special reports.
Literacy Information and Communication System (LINCS)
Funded by the National Institute for Literacy (NIFL), this hydra-headed site offers two search engines for tracking down resources: one for Web sites and one
for database records. If in a hurry, check out two handy, concise subsections: Facts and Statistics and
State and Local Directories.
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Literacy Resources/Rhode Island
From one of the coolest, not to mention smallest, State Literacy Resource Centers around, some handy electronic compilations
are ready for your perusal: Adult Education Teacher Inquiry
Projects and Related Research Resources and a Learner's Page.
LITERACY.org
The University of Pennsylvania hosts two notable literacy organizations: the National Center on Adult Literacy (NCAL)
and the International Literacy Institute (ILI). This site provides an impressive set of full-text research reports,
including: Adult Literacy, Technology, and Public Policy: An
Analysis of the Southeastern United States and Instructional
Technology Utilization Survey of Midwestern Adult Literacy Programs.
Literacy Tech
Managed by Jeff Carter, a former NELRC/World Education staff member and currently director of DC Learns,
this site focuses on practitioner- and learner-generated approaches to technology use in adult literacy programs.
Two sections of interest: an introduction to technology integration and a guide to
undertaking Web publishing projects.
Massachusetts Coalition for Adult Education (MCAE)
Home of the advocacy group for adult literacy practitioners in the state, this site offers
news and announcements, info about the annual statewide conference and an excellent, always timely curriculum,
Your Government, Your Taxes, Your Choices.
Massachusetts Department of Education, Adult and Community Learning Services
The Massachusetts DOE is providing a steadily-increasing number of full-text documents online, so
if you'd like all the latest words on Curriculum Frameworks or
Education Reform or the musings of the Board of Education,
select-and-print to your heart's content. The site also contains a slick database offering
Community Needs and Assets Profiles.
Massachusetts Library and Information Network (MLIN)
If, like many overworked, overscheduled, overstressed practitioners, you simply cannot get to your friendly
local SABES resource collection, this site allows you to search the online library catalogs
of many Massachusetts public and academic libraries. Holders of Massachusetts library cards may access the
InfoTrac article database. You'll also find a section covering
library-based literacy programs.
Get thee to the library, any library!
NRS Online
Here it is: the home base for the National Reporting System (NRS), the performance and accountability framework adult literacy
workers will come to know and know fondly. This extensive, well-organized site contains quite clear descriptions of the Measures and Methods
at the core of the NRS, as well as Training Courses online that may well lead to
NRS mastery. A sister site provides numerous related full-text publications (reports, guidelines, training materials).
National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy (NCSALL)
Since April 1996, NCSALL has served as the national research center for adult literacy. In addition to
general information on their field-driven current research projects,
this site provides a truly impressive array of NCSALL publications.
New England Literacy Resource Center (NELRC)
Supported by the Departments of Education in the six New England states, NELRC helps foster innovative program development
initiatives across the region. The site describes many of those projects and offers a number of field-developed publications, including
The Change Agent, a classroom-focused newspaper, and the
Civic Participation and Community Action Sourcebook.
Pro-Net 2000
Funded by the Office of Vocational and Adult Education (OVAE) and housed at the Pelavin Research Center, this project is devoted
to researching, documenting and supporting effective professional development practices in adult literacy. The
online publications include detailed competencies for teachers and program directors.
US Department of Education
Besides allowing you to wander forever in the electronic halls of a federal agency (which does have
a certain entertainment value), this site also provides some original content of use to practitioners,
most especially on the Teachers' Web Page.
WE LEARN
The site's full name: "Women Expanding / Literacy Education Action Resource Network." The site's mindful, heart-filled purpose:
to address women-centered literacy issues from a number of different angles, complemented by an extensive
resource list.
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