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LR/RI produces a bulletin roughly every two weeks in order to inform area practitioners of news, events, and calls for participation and also as a forum for posing questions, issues and discussion topics. The current bulletin is posted below. To read previous bulletins, go to Bulletin Archives.

Bulletin #5

April 4, 1997

Dear Colleagues,

A reminder that on Monday (April 14th), Hal Adams, editor of The Journal of Ordinary Thought, will speak at the Partridge Annex (Room 103) at Brown University on April 14, from 6 to 8 PM. The annex is located next to Brown1s Third World Center at the corner of Brown and Waterman Streets. Hal will discuss writing workshops he facilitates with residents of Chicago Housing Authority apartments and with participants in library-based programs and elsewhere in Chicago. Hal1s work reflects the connections between adult literacy work, learner-generated writing, and community development. A copy of Hal's article, "A Grassroots Think Tank", which describes his work, and multiple copies of The Journal of Ordinary Thought are available for reading at LR/RI. Given that this is a vacation week for many programs, we are also scheduling a Brown Bag Lunch at noon at the Swearer Center for Public Service on Tuesday, the 15th, so that Hal can be available for further, informal discussions about writing and community. We hope you can join us.

Janet Isserlis 

____________________________________________________________ 

NOTICES

  • Late last month, a number of family literacy practitioners met at LR/RI to discuss issues, concerns and questions around their work with intergenerational literacy learning. We had a lively and informative conversation and hope that more people working in intergenerational literacy will join us at our next meeting, Friday April 25th at 1 PM. We1ll be meeting at the International Institute of Rhode Island (645 Elmwood Avenue, Providence). If you can join us, please also bring a brief description of your program -- who you serve, (adults, children) where and when the program operates, stated goals and objectives and contact information -- so that we can share this information and become better acquainted with the work being done and the people doing that work. As well, if you would like to call a meeting of practitioners around other concerns/areas of work, please contact me so that we can set up similar meetings.
  • Ann Piascik, Supervisor of Institutional Services, Office of Library and Information Services, (OLIS) has forwarded this information from Lorien Systems. This is not product endorsement; the information is being passed along here to you for your information. Lorien Systems is a software company producing "assistive software for people with reading and writing difficulties. The software provides speech, word prediction and spelling support." You can contact them at: info@loriens.com, or visit their web site ( http://www.loriens.com ) if you want to know more, and/or to obtain a free windows screen reading product. To get the free screen reader, download setup.exe from ftp.loriens.com It reads text aloud in many languages from any Windows screen. 


    • Ann has also shared an article entitled, "Technology for K-12 Education: Asking the Right Questions," by Kathleen Fulton, from the U.S. Dept. of Education. (National Center for Education Statistics. The Schools and Staffing Survey: Recommendations for the Future, NCES97-596, by John E. Mullens and Dan Kasprzyk. Project Officer, Mary Rollefson. Washington, DC: 1996.) Contact: Mary Rollefson at (202)219-1336). While focusing on K-12 technology use, the article does raise interesting points, applicable to work with adult learners. Contact Ann Piascik for more information or for a copy at 277-2726 or via email: ANNPK@DSL.RHILINET.GOV

  • NCSALL SPEAKER SERIES: CITIZENSHIP AND LITERACY, FRIDAY, APRIL 11th Juliet Merrifield (Visiting Research Fellow, centre for Continuing Education, University of Sussex) and Beth Bingman (Associate Director, Center for Literacy Studeis, Unviersity of Tennessee) are the featured speakers on April 11, from 4:30 to 6 PM. The flyer reads: "There has been much discussion lately about the civil society, about the arts of citizenship and the development of social capital. Little attention has been paid to the literacy practices inherent in these, until the National Institute for Literacy1s Equipped for the Future Project. In research conducted by the Center for Literacy Studies and the New England Literacy Resource Center, people who are active citizens were asked what citizenship means to them. Their responses paint a compelling picture of citizenship as a way of living-in-community. Citizen action demands skills and knowledge, and these must be learned. The speakers will discuss the role of community groups as learning organizations for democracy, and the implications for adult education teaching and programs. A discussion will follow the talk." The talk is being held at 308 Longfellow Hall, 13 Appian Way, Harvard Graduate School of Education in Cambridge. For more information contact (617) 495-4843.
  • ALERT: Letters Needed to FCC Commissioners to Support Proposed $2.25 Billion "E-Rate" Telecommunications Discount Program. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is working to implement the Telecommunications Act of 1996 for schools and libraries. The current implementation proposal is to provide: An "e-rate" (education rate) that would provide every school and library in the country with deep discounts of 20-90 percent for all telecommunications services based on poverty levels. The average school would receive a 60% discount. E-rate discounts on inside connections to classrooms and Internet access including installation and maintenance costs. Local flexibility for schools and libraries to determine what services they need which are most economical and make the most sense for their educational mission.


    • Funding for this initiative would come from the Universal Service Fund. Unfortunately, some telecommunications providers are advancing back-door proposals to undermine this plan. Several are trying to persuade the Commissioners to drastically reduce the size of the fund and eliminate guaranteed discounts for key areas such as inside wiring and classroom connections in return for unenforceable promises that they will undertake voluntary measures to provide the services. Letters to the four FCC Commissioners are needed NOW to support the Joint Board's positive implementation plan. The staff of the FCC is drafting final rules for implementing Universal service. On May 8, the four FCC Commissioners will vote on final regulations governing deep telecommunications discounts for schools, and on accepting or rejecting these recommendations. If they adopt the rules, discounts would be available for the 1997 school year. If there are not enough votes for the proposal, compromises may be made to secure the necessary majority.

    TAKE ACTION NOW Mail or fax a letter to each of the four FCC Commissioners as soon as possible and no later than April 30th. Please put the sample letter in your own words; letters might address the need to include adult education programs in the price reduction for Internet access (web servers, etc) and/or can mention how adult programs often share technology/equipment with schools. If you have questions, call Leslie Harris at 202-822-5011 or e-mail to leslieh96@aol.com

    SAMPLE MESSAGE SUPPORTING THE E-RATE The Honorable Reed Hundt, Chairman The Honorable James Quello, Commissioner The Honorable Susan Ness, Commissioner The Honorable Rachelle B. Chong, Commissioner Federal Communications Commission, 1919 M Street, NW, Room 844, Washington, DC 20554 RE: CC Docket No. 96-45

    Dear Commissioner (name_________):

    I am a (teacher)(Technology Coordinator.) from (school district, program). I would like to thank you for your dedication in ensuring that all schools and libraries will have affordable access to the Information Superhighway. The Telecommunications Act and the Federal-State Joint Board discount plan will guarantee that even the poorest schools will have the opportunity to connect to the Internet and provide distance-learning opportunities. The $2.25 billion a year will address the needs of all our schools, and importantly, the plan will bring services directly to the classroom where students learn. Your inclusion of internal classroom connections for discounts is vital. This plan is essential for preparing the workforce of tomorrow. (Include local information about how you would use the discounts.) Our students need deep discounts for telecommunications services this year. I urge the FCC to fully support of the Joint Board's discount plan for universal service for schools and libraries. Thank you.

  • REMINDER: CALL FOR PARTICIPATION - NCSALL PRACTITIONER LEADER. The National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy (NCSALL)/ Practitioner Dissemination and Research Network (PDRN) is working on a project to connect research to practice, and is looking for a person to work with the director of adult education and the state literacy resource center directorin each state. The Practitioner Leader will be the link between (NCSALL) and practitioners in the state. A description of the job was included in the last bulletin, and/or is also available at LR/RI. For more information, please contact me at 863-2839 or by email. Please submit applications to me at LR/RI by April 21st. The first meeting for this region will be held on Friday, May 2nd at World Education in Boston. It1s expected that the Practitioner Leader will make a two-year commitment to the project. Information about NCSALL1s research projects is also available on pages 26 and 27 of the current edition of FOCUS ON BASICS, available on line http://hugse1. harvard.edu/~ncsall/ or from LR/RI in hard copy.
  • ANOTHER REMINDER: The call for participants below has been posted in the past two bulletins. The technology training workshop is scheduled to take place sometime in May; April 19th is the deadline for applications for that project. 
    • REGION 1 ADULT LITERACY AND TECHNOLOGY SPRING TRAINING WORK-SHOP: Using the Internet for Sharing Adult Literacy Instructional Materials & Lesson Plans. This full-day Internet/Web Publishing workshop is designed for dedicated and experienced adult literacy instructors, curriculum specialists, and/or staff development specialists who have a basic understanding of the Internet and computers and wish to publish instructional materials, lesson plans, student writing or staff development projects on the Hub 1 World Wide Web site.
    • REGION 1 LITERACY AND TECHNOLOGY HUB MINI-GRANTS are designed to supplement the Internet/Web Publishing trainings and assist a selected participants from the Spring 1997 workshops to fully develop their curriculum projects for publishing on the Hub 1 Web site. * TECHNOLOGY TRAINING AND MINIGRANTS are available through the Region 1 Literacy and Technology Hub. While the workshops are geared toward practitioners with existing knowledge of the world wide web, more basic training is available on an ongoing basis through LR/RI. For more information about the Region 1 training workshop and/or minigrants, please contact LR/RI. 
    * LVA-RI1s Twelth Annual Conference will be held Saturday, May 3rd from 1 - 8 PM at the Feinstein Academic Center at Providence College. More information will appear in the next bulletin, or contact LVA-RI at 861-0815. Deadline for registation is April 25th; $25 includes workshops, reception and dinner; LVA student rate is $5 and $15 dinner-only guest tickets are also available.