The National Literacy Act of 1991 provided the funding to begin building an adult literacy staff development infrastructure by requiring all states to increase their staff development funding from 10% to 15%. Inquiry-based staff development was one of the most promising models to emerge from the staff development activities conducted in 1992-1993…

This publication is intended to support the effort to focus literacy programs on women. It serves as a guide to the information and resources related to women and literacy and to assist the development of woman-positive programs. The first part of the guide describes the literature base, depicting the subject areas from which the resources are…

The term "web-based training" (WBT) is emerging to distinguish the use of the World Wide Web as a training and education tool from other applications. In 1996, about $100 million of the $7 billion spent on training in the United States was spent on WBT. According to estimates, the amount spent on WBT will increase more than 20-fold in 5 years. In…

Recently, the topic of reflection and the development of reflective practitioners have received a great deal of attention. Four elements are central to critical reflection: assumption analysis, contextual awareness, imaginative speculation, and reflective skepticism. Definitions of critical reflection often reveal differing theoretical…

The rapid development and decreasing costs of communications technologies, including microcomputers, the Internet, and the World Wide Web, are affecting the delivery of distance education (DE) and expanding its potential audience. The DE literature reflects the increasing interest in the potential of current technologies to alter traditional…

In the past, worker displacement resulting from structural changes in the economy remained confined to industrial occupations such as manufacturing. The recent trends toward corporate restructuring, global competition, and military downsizing have created new groups of dislocated workers, including upper and middle management and military…

This guide to the burgeoning literature and resources on workplace literacy begins with an overview describing issues and trends in the development of the literature base. Hints for locating and selecting workplace literacy resources in Educational Resources Information Center--ERIC and other databases are provided. An annotated bibliography of 87…

Approximately 15% (7.6 million) of the estimated 50.6 million U.S. citizens who browse the World Wide Web are aged 50 or older, and 30% of adults aged 55-75 own a computer. Although many older adults initially log on to the Internet as a means of connecting with friends and family, they quickly learn that it is also a valuable source of…

School-to-work transition (SWT) programs are comprehensive programs to prepare young people for high-skill, high-wage careers and teach them the basic skills needed to pursue postsecondary education/lifelong learning. Interest in SWT programs has been stimulated by several factors, including declining U.S. competitiveness in the global market, the…

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires that educational institutions make all of their programs, services, and activities readily accessible to and usable by learners with disabilities. The ADA also requires that all screening and testing procedures used to evaluate learners with disabilities be fair, accurate, and nondiscriminatory.…

Although not all current jobs require basic computer skills, technological advances in society have created new jobs and changed the ways many existing jobs are performed. Clearly, workers who are proficient in technology have a greater advantage in the current workplace and the need for technologically proficient workers will only continue to…

An initial evaluation of tech prep revealed the following: (1) by 1993, nearly half the nation's school districts were involved in tech prep consortia; (2) changes resulting from tech prep have been more evident at the secondary than the postsecondary level; and (3) tech prep students are most likely to be white and attend a suburban school…

This brief suggests that during the past 2 decades, the skills needed to succeed in the workplace have changed significantly. Technical skills remain important, but, increasingly, employers recognize another category of skills crucial to a worker's ability to work "smarter, not harder." These "soft,""core,""nontechnical,""essential,""generic," and…

Workplace literacy programs have been viewed as the way to raise workers' basic skills so they could perform more effectively in increasingly complex work environments. As these programs have proliferated, so have the number of issues associated with workplace literacy. Some issues are related to assumptions underlying the need for workplace…

Topics related to race and gender have begun appearing with increasing frequency in the adult education literature. The most prevalent trend in the literature is a focus on creating learning environments for diverse audiences, including appropriate strategies for teaching and learning and debate on whether separate approaches and/or special…