flexible ACE powerpoint Carlton

flexible learning in ACE

Quick reference
overview	methodology	defining flexible learning	themes
	practical guide	further reading	acknowledgements

PowerPoint Readers for low level ESL learners

This scenario illustrates how ESL providers in ACE have used ICTs to create simple, effective and thoroughly enjoyable readers using PowerPoint. This scenario illustrates the process and the progression, as the students’ and teachers’ skills and confidence developed.

Who we are

unlinked image Carlton Neighbourhood Learning Centre
Northern Region

E: Lynne Matheson: cnlc3@vicnet.net.au

Carlton Neighbourhood Learning Centre provides a variety of programs, classes and activities for people living and working in Carlton and surrounding areas. We work together with the community to increase opportunities for fun, learning, creating friendships and working towards achieving your goals - whatever they may be!

English, literacy and numeracy classes
Computer and internet courses
Craft, painting, singing, creative writing and gentle exercise classes
Community and Multi Cultural Lunches
Excursions to exciting places
Disabled access
Old Victorian house and portable classroom available for hire

unlinked image of students Our ESL student group is quite diverse but the main cohort comprises women from the Horn of Africa. The levels of English skills range from very low with no formal educational background to intermediate levels with secondary and sometimes tertiary education. The three levels of ESL classes have between 9 and 11 hours of face to face teaching and integrated into that time is a regular one to two hours of time in the computer training room (10 computers).

The class numbers vary as health, occasional work, overseas travel and children place pressures on regular attendance. Generally there are between 8 and 12 per class per day.

For each of the three classes: Everyday English ( CELL,Foundation ), Improve Your English (CELL 1,2), Intermediate English (Certificate in ESL Access) there are two teachers who take the class. This team teaching approach has come about through the constraints of timetabling classes across the week and the sessional nature of working in ACE. The teachers have good working relationships and the students benefit from the different teaching styles and expertise they bring to the class. However it is a factor in planning and developing ICT skills for both the staff and students.

What we do in this program

A few of our staff began working with PowerPoint several years ago as part of an ACFE funded New Learning Technologies project and then continued with the federally funded TAFEVC, E-Learning communities project. During this time staff have explored the potential for using ICT in a range of ways with low level literacy and ESL classes. PowerPoint provided a quick and easy way to develop readers for our students and integrate language and literacy activities with other computer based learning.
Teachers have made powerpoint readers in the following ways:

image and simple text – giraffe. This is a giraffe
graphics and simple language repetition – What is the matter? She has a sore throat
digital images of class cooking activity with students’ joint construction of text added with teacher
digital images and narration of events – excursion to Federation Square
image and student written text – Environment theme researched and each student created a page that was then assembled by teacher
images , graphic and text that is topic based – Anzac Day, Melbourne Cup materials put together by teacher and then used as a reader with online activities
student composed with text and digital images to complete learning outcome : Instructional text

Benefits

All of our students are really keen to develop ICT skills as well as language and literacy skills. The flexibility for staff to tailor and contextualise learning materials within a simple framework is what makes PowerPoint so appealing to use and experiment with. Teachers think of ways to incorporate powerpoint readers into their curriculum planning as an integrated learning tool. Students are comfortable with the ICT tools we use in everyday contexts.
Over time the readers we have developed provide an archive of events and those on the TafeVC have the added feature of being linked to the web and other online tools such as the discussion board.

Challenges

The main challenge was developing all the staff’s skills with restricted time and funding. As new technology was acquired, a digital camera, cam corder and data show projector, we had the issue of initial training and then the ‘take up’ time delay for staff to feel comfortable and competent using them. Having access to computers at home is also an issue for our staff with children and partners monopolising the home computer, so much of their access time is here at the centre.

Lessons learned

Time is of the essence. Our teachers all found that they became so engrossed in producing PowerPoint readers for an event or class activity that it ate up their preparation time. However, the students respond so positively that it is worth the effort. It is important to plan the PowerPoint and make sure of the purpose and use in the context of other class work. Some students are able to make their own PowerPoint reader that relates to learning outcomes. The large files created in PowerPoint once images are included has been a trial but we are now using USB and the network instead of disks so that this problem has been overcome.

Future directions

We will continue to use PowerPoint as a teaching and learning tool and incorporate the digital camera and camcorder to record events and activities to enhance learning opportunities for our students. We hope to continue the strong culture of ICT skills development at CNLC with a focus on sharing expertise and taking on new challenges. We have begun working with Dreamweaver to develop pages to showcase student writing and activities that will be a focus for future professional development. One staff person is involved in the Litlearning project and so will bring her expertise to the centre. We are providing a workshop to another centre in the northern region and will continue to document our work.