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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.
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. The compendium is cross-indexed by subject, format, language and reading level.
LAC Curricula & Lesson Plans
Staff at the Literacy Assistance Center in New York have produced this succinct collection of quality lesson plans.
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Internet 101
A cleanly-designed, well-organized Internet guide and tutorial.
The Top 15 Mistakes of First-Time Web Design
A 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 third edition (2009). 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 2008
From the Reference and User Services Association (part of the American Library Association) comes an
annotated guide to many 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 satisfaction. On a monthly basis, extensive annotations, with links
to full-text articles in many cases, are posted.
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.
NoodleTools
Debbie Abilock, California school librarian, is the person behind this site which nicely combines
a bit of bibliographic instruction and electronic "ready reference" tools.
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 useful.
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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.
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 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.
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. 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 may
search the ERIC database and print off ERIC documents.
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 numerous factsheets, profiles, contacts and the SCANS reports.
English as a Second Language
Maintained by Rong-chang Li, a linguist and software developer, this site provides a simple gateway to websites of possible interest to intermediate and
advanced ESL learners and their teachers. Click on any of the broad skill areas listed and you'll be presented with a dozen-plus selections.
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 ESL/ESOL organizations and associations.
LITERACY.org
The University of Pennsylvania has been host to several notable adult literacy projects. The publications page provides access to a sizable number of research reports, case studies and so forth.
Literacy Assistance Center (LAC)
Serving adult literacy programs across New York City, the LAC provides training and technical assistance. Their website provides full-text issues of their monthly newsletter, Literacy
Update, and annual journal, Literacy Harvest.
Literacy Information and Communication System (LINCS)
Funded by the National Institute for Literacy (NIFL), this site offers screened online resources for teachers, students and administrators, along with two broadly useful tools: Facts and Statistics and America's Literacy Directory.
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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 Tech
This archival 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 Elementary & Secondary Education, Adult and Community Learning Services
The Massachusetts DESE is providing an increasing number of full-text documents online, including information on Curriculum Frameworks and Education Reform. The site also contains a database which generates Community Needs and Assets Profiles.
Massachusetts Library and Information Network (MLIN)
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.
NRS Online
Here is the home base for the National Reporting System (NRS), the performance and accountability framework for adult literacy programs in the US. The site offers training courses online that may well lead to
NRS mastery.
National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy (NCSALL)
From 1996–2006 NCSALL served as the national research center for adult literacy. In addition to
general information on their field-driven research projects,
this site provides an impressive array of NCSALL publications.
New England Literacy Resource Center (NELRC)
The NELRC fosters innovative program development initiatives across the region. The site describes many of those projects — including a recent major study on adult learner persistence — 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), 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.
Teachers' Domain
A library of over 1,000 digital media resources mostly culled from public television broadcasts, covering a wide range of topics suitable for classroom use, and all available for free.
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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