using literacy tools and strategies as a foundation to enhance students' learning and study...
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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 sessionTRANSCRIPT
Using literacy tools and strategies as a foundation to enhance
students’ learning and study success
Hazel Owen and Bettina Schwenger
Centre for Teaching and Learning
Innovation Unitec NZ
Overview
• Supporting student success• A continuum of learning• Tools and strategies - underpinning
principles• Making decisions about tools and
strategies: three examples• Interactive task for you• Conclusion / feedback
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CRSP
Supporting student success through ...
Learning in real-world contexts
Transferable skills
Investigational work
Problem solving
Small group work
Analysis and interpretation tasks
Strategies Tools
“Literacy is the ability to identify, understand, 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.” (UNESCO, 2003, p. 5)
A continuum of learning...
Tools and strategies - underpinning principles
Underpinning Principles
Underpinning Principles
Deliberate and explicitDeliberate and explicit
Encourage independence
Encourage independence
Using tools and best practice
Using tools and best practice
PurposefulPurposeful
Appropriate and relevantAppropriate and relevant
ConstructivistConstructivist
Practitioners’ capability
Practitioners’ capability
The 'tradeshow' approach
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Initiated & championed by Iain Seymour-Hart, Head of Department
Tradeshow 1 – 6 tools demonstrated, 10 minutes each
Feedback from lecturers. What are the issues? VOCABULARY
Tradeshow 2 -Teaching vocabulary
Tradeshow 3 -Demonstration lessons15 minutes each
ToolsVocabulary profilerIssues with teachingSurvey – readingLesson planNumeracyMulti-media
Approaches to vocabulary:Hot PotatoesE-flash cardsNumeracyOn-line assessmentCritical thinking
An example of teaching:VocabReadingInformation literacyNumeracy(Smith, 2008)
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Review quizzes
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Hot Potatoes
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Hot Potatoes (cont.)
Keesing-Styles, L. (2008). Automotive Tradeshows - Literacy and Numeracy in Vocational Education. The VET(31), 7.
Feedback
Interactive task for you1. Turn to the person next to you2. Using the handout, discuss the
questions, 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 discuss1. Describe a tool or strategy that you
have used to teach literacy and 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?
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
rationale • The tradeshow must go on
Open Blackboard in a browser: http://bb.unitec.ac.nz
Login in with the username: eittl2008 & password: eittl2008
Click on: UATI Automotive Toolkit
