Given the large gap between the millions of adults in need of basic literacy skills and the shortage of teachers, tutors, and funds to serve them, computer-assisted instruction (CAI) has the potential to reduce the gap. The merits of CAI include its holding power, provision of a positive learning environment, opportunity to learn about computers,…

Twenty-seven participants in a Job Training Partnership Act-funded literacy program at Houston Community College received one of three types of computer-assisted instruction (CAI). The longer CAI was used, the higher the posttest reading and mathematics scores. Students with higher skill levels at entry learned faster with CAI systems. (SK)

Describes a computer-assisted instruction program used to enhance adult students' basic skills in the Jefferson County Schools (Kentucky). (MD)

The Basic Skills Learning System is a modularized network of computer assisted tutorials, drills, tests, printed materials, and videotaped presentations directed at improving the basic reading, math, and language skills of adults who have mastered these skills at a level above third grade but below eighth grade. Advanced computer technology…

This index of workplace and adult basic skills computer software includes 108 listings. Each listing is described according to the following classifications: (1) teacher/tutor tools (customizable or mini-authoring systems); (2) assessment and skills; (3) content; (4) instruction method; (5) system requirements; and (6) name, address, and phone…

The Baltimore Learning Center is designed to provide functionally illiterate adults with the basic skills they need to compete for jobs. The Center's success is largely due to PLATO (Programmed Logic for Automated Teaching Operations), a computer-aided instruction system that lets the student work at his own pace. (MF)

The Basic Skills Learning System is a modularized network of computer assisted tutorials, drills, tests, printed materials, and videotaped presentations directed at improving the basic reading, math, and language skills of adults who have mastered these skills at a level above third grade but below the eighth. (Author)

Technology transfer, for purposes of this paper, refers specifically to the importing of a methodology from one setting to another in order to meet previously unmet needs. The Job Skills Education Program (JSEP), a computer-based functional basic skills curriculum originally developed for the U.S. Army, has been "transferred" to the…

The Computer Assisted Basic Skills project was conducted during the 1991-92 academic year in the Grand Rapids Public Schools in Michigan to develop a model that would provide adult educators with a framework for developing and/or redesigning a computer-assisted instructional (CAI) program for basic skills instruction. Existing models and model…

A study examined the use of the Penn State Adult Literacy Courseware, which teaches sight vocabulary to beginning adult readers, in a volunteer tutoring situation with three male and two female unemployed adults whose average grade level in reading was 1.1. All students were white, their average age was 37, and the highest grade any of them had…

A study evaluated use of computer-assisted instructional (CAI) systems to deliver literacy training for Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) participants at the Texas Center for Adult Literacy and Learning. Participants, who were categorized as upper-level students (7th-12th grade equivalents) or lower-level students (0-6th grade equivalents), were…

Many adult basic education and literacy programs are reaping the benefits of educational technology for their students, instructors, and administrators. In this context, most often the term refers to computer-assisted instruction that supplements regular classroom instruction. In St. Paul, Minnesota, the Technology for Literacy Center uses…

This paper presents the final report of a project designed to produce an effective individualized adult learning program in mathematics. The need for such a project has been reflected in the reports of national commissions and studies which provided documentation and statistics on the lack of proficiency of adults and young adults in the basic…

A 6-month study examined the attitudes of older, low-literate adults toward using computers to learn to read and tried to determine the effectiveness of Penn State Adult Literacy Courseware for beginning readers with older, low-literate adults at a community-based senior center. The students were 10 black adults, aged 66 to 86 and educated at the…

The basis for all computer-assisted instruction at the Continuing Education Learning Center at Jackson State University is the instructional techniques necessary for the success of at-risk adult learners who find traditional methods inadequate. Each learner is pretested for reading level for placement, and skill assessments are made to diagnose…