The increasing emphasis on managed health care, which requires health consumers to make complex decisions, is reinforcing the importance of literacy skills. "Health literacy," which refers to the ability to engage in such activities as health-related critical thinking, problem solving, self-directed learning, and self-advocacy, is…

This paper looks at how the necessary technology skills have changed over time and how those changes affect the ways in which technology skills are taught and assessed. It reviews how educators' views of technological fluency are shaped by both the "pull" of technology--increasing technical power and applications that affect what workers…

This document profiles 10 European programs that exemplify good practice in building skills and qualifications among employees of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The programs profiled are as follows: (1) TRICTSME (a program providing World Wide Web-based information and communication technologies training for SMEs in manufacturing); (2)…

A study of adult learning and neighborhood renewal examined how further education (FE) colleges and Local Education Authority (LEA) adult education services contribute to neighborhood renewal in deprived areas and considered how their strategic role might develop in this field. The study indicates that the policy framework for post-16 learning and…

A policy review examined the extent to which changes to the post-16 learning and skills policy environment, particularly in relation to further education (FE) colleges, were likely to support neighborhood renewal-related knowledge and skills development. It focused particularly on the development of skills and knowledge needed by regeneration…

Generic skills--skills that apply across a variety of jobs and life contexts--are taking on increased importance in Australia and internationally. There is a high demand for generic skills in the workplace because employers seek to ensure business success by recruiting and retaining employees who have a variety of skills and personal attributes as…

This first issue of the semi-annual lifelong learning bibliography contains references to output from January to June 2001, a time of intense debate and reflection on lifelong learning in Europe. It also includes monographs, chapters, journal articles, legal texts, Internet sites, and CD-ROMs dealing with lifelong learning at European,…

This document provides information relevant to the commission's communication on "Making a European Area of Lifelong Learning a Reality." Section 2 presents a selection of illustrative examples of lifelong learning in practice throughout Europe, grouped under these same priority areas used in the communication itself: valuing learning;…

This document is designed to provide tutors, teachers, lecturers, and other supporters of online learners in the United Kingdom with ideas and suggestions for developing learners' online learning skills. The materials presented are based on the premise that learning skills are best developed in an environment that encourages active participation…

In autumn 2001, the United Kingdom's (UK's) government published the following key documents concerning workforce development: (1) "In Demand: Adult Skills in the 21st Century"; (2) "The UK Productivity Challenge"; and (3) "Building a Stronger, Fairer Britain in an Uncertain World." Key positions and policies included…

This document contains three papers from a symposium on individual learning issues that was conducted as part of a conference on human resource development (HRD). "Communication in the Workplace: Using Myers-Briggs To Build Communication Effectiveness" (Patrice M. Scanlon, Judy K. Schmitz, Tracey Murray, Lisa M. Hooper) reports on a…

The first of the three papers in this symposium, "Scaling the Walls of Academic Silos: The Birth of a Cross-disciplinary Academic HRD [Human Resource Development] Program" (Ann K. Brooks, Kathleen Edwards, Alison Davis-Blake), describes and analyzes how one HRD program transcended the walls of the graduate school of business and a college of…

The effectiveness of a preemployment program that was initiated at Robert E. Abbott Accelerated Middle School in Waukegan, Illinois, was examined through a follow-up survey of the program's graduates. The survey population consisted of all 176 individuals who had participated in the preemployment club since its inception in 1994 (28 individuals…

A survey of "STW [School-to-Work] Partnership Effectiveness and Sustainability" was conducted as part of a larger evaluation of the entire STW efforts in West Virginia. The findings of the study, drawn from responses from 51 STW directors, 53 businesses, and 11 labor organizations, include the following: (1) the partnership concept is…

The purpose of the SPARK Outreach Project was to address the needs of an increasingly culturally diverse population by providing a model for teachers of young children with disabilities with (1) a story-based creative arts curriculum derived from a variety of cultural and ethnic traditions; (2) a developmentally and individually appropriate…