There are many readability tools that instructors can use to help adult learners select reading materials. We describe and compare different types of readability tools: formulas calculated by hand, tools found on the Web, tools embedded in a word processing program, and readability tools found in a commercial software program. Practitioners do not…

This review of the activities of LEAP (Literacy for Every Adult Project), a free, basic skills tutorial program for adults, is divided into two parts. Part 1 provides the most recent assessment of the LEAP microcomputer learning center, which was funded in 1985 through a Library Services and Construction Act grant, and Part 2 details the early…

This guide is a selected list of 25 software packages and 15 books about educational computing. It is the first step in guiding librarians, teachers, tutors, and other literacy providers to choose the best and most appropriate software for use by their students and staff. Software is divided by these topics: problem-solving software, tool programs…

This handbook, developed for an adult learning center in Pennsylvania, uses word processing instruction on Apple IIe computers to promote student writing. The handbook was designed for use by adult basic education, General Educational Development, and English-as-a-Second-Language students who read at a fourth-grade level or higher. In the 15…

This guide was designed for trained tutors who teach adult literacy students on a one-to-one basis using a computer with a word-processing program. The guide is organized in five parts. The first part covers the use of computers in adult literacy and the language experience approach, a method in which the student's own words and stories are used…

The Bidwell Training Center, Inc., in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, evaluated the effectiveness of IBM's Principle of the Alphabet Literacy System (PALS), an interactive instructional program to teach adolescents and adults writing and reading skills. Bidwell's goal was to use PALS to teach large numbers of adults who read below the fifth-grade level.…

General Electric Company (GE) of Erie, Pennsylvania, hosts onsite literacy classes in conjunction with the Northwest Tri-County Unit. The development of the inplant microcomputer literacy lab expands the offerings available to the participating adult basic education and General Educational Development program students by supplying software and…

This manual is designed to provide bilingual educators with information concerning the realistic potential of microcomputers in vocational education programs. Discussed first are the benefits, limitations, and hardware configurations of computer-assisted language learning (CALL). The next chapter deals with courseware and instructional management…

This buyer's guide is based upon more than 300 software reviews made by members of an educational consortium in Oregon, all of whom work with adult students. The guide represents the recommendations for a core program in adult basic education and is split into two parts: (1) an initial kit, which is designed for those who are just beginning to set…

This document is a guide to an annotated bibliography of software for use with microcompuers in adult basic education (ABE) classes. Some materials also are suitable for use in General Educational Development (GED) classes. The directory contains software reviews in the following categories: tools (such as word processing, spreadsheets), computer…