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The Mass Amateurization of Adult Literacy Instruction: Exploring Crowdsourcing in Adult Basic Education Summit on the Future of Adult Education in the New Digital World Summit on the Future of Adult Education in the New Digital World Richard Sebastian The Mass Amateurization of Adult Literacy Instruction: Exploring Crowdsourcing in Adult Basic Education rom the development and growth of the an army of bloggers to challenge the professional class of Internet to the ubiquity of mobile devic- journalists. A mass of non-professionals can often do the es, digital tools and computer technology same job more cheaply than a handful of elite profession- continue to shape the ways in which we als, and the Internet provides a means to easily distribute Fwork, learn, and communicate. The popularity of blogs, the products of these efforts. Crowdsourcing is a recent wikis, massively multiplayer online role-playing games phenomenon that harnesses mass amateurization to out- (MMORPGs), social networking sites like Facebook and source a job traditionally performed by a designated agent MySpace, and other web-based social communication (usually an employee or expert) to an undefined, generally tools have dramatically transformed how information is large group of people in the form of an open call (Howe, created and shared and how people and groups join to- 2006). gether and interact. The argument for using crowdsourcing to support These communication tools have begun to change adult literacy is based on four predictions about future how we understand and approach teaching and learning, technology innovations: giving us new opportunities to connect with, manipulate, 1. The digital divide will become less a problem of tech- and share learning content and providing a means for a nological access than one of technological applica- more social learning experience. So, while these changes tion. seem at first to be fundamentally technological, they are 2. Educational content will be widely available online in fact mostly social in nature (Wesch, 2008). and the creation and sharing of educational content In this paper I address the question How might tech- will be easy to do using widely available, online tools. nological innovations change adult literacy education by However, being able to consume this educational the year 2020? by suggesting that those of us engaged in content will be less important than having the skills adult literacy education need to harness the social revolu- to locate, manipulate, share, and evaluate it. tion fomented by innovations in technology by using the 3. Online communication will continue to increase in principles of crowdsourcing to help support adult literacy sophistication, making location-based educational instruction. Crowdsourcing is a form of mass amateuri- services less essential for learners and virtual learning zation. Mass amateurization happens when the products environments more prevalent and more accessible. or services typically provided by a professional class are 4. The evolving definition of literacy, combined with produced by amateurs instead, usually because a techno- developments in assistive technologies, may reduce logical development lowers the barrier for the participa- some of the barriers many low-literate people cur- tion of the masses. For example, inexpensive and easy- rently experience when engaging in learning activities to-use digital cameras allow almost anyone to take high both online and offline. quality digital pictures, and free blogging software allows 70 71 Summit on the Future of Adult Education in the New Digital World Summit on the Future of Adult Education in the New Digital World The narrowing of the digital access ers themselves to create and share their own content. divide widens the digital There are already numerous examples of institutions application divide. of higher education offering online content to the general public, including MIT’s OpenCourseWare, The Univer- Mobile devices have the potential to dramatically nar- sity of the People, and a wealth of learning content freely row the digital access divide by providing users with an available on iTunesU. In adult basic education, learners inexpensive and portable connection to the Internet. In have access to such programs as KET’s LiteracyLink on- the report The Future of the Internet III, a majority of the line programs and the video-based ESOL series, English report’s contributors expect “the mobile phone will be the for All. In addition, there is a host of user-generated primary connection tool for most people in the world by educational videos and other learning content scattered 2020.” The report also predicts that the “bottom” three- across the web. quarters of the world’s population will account for at least In 2020, we can expect that online learning content 50% of all people with Internet access—up from 30% will be even more plentiful and considerably more sophis- in 2005 (Anderson & Rainie, 2008). The 2009 Horizon ticated. As is true today, however, making the most of Report also suggests that mobile computing, already gain- this access requires that adult learners possess the skills ing significant market traction with the popularity and and knowledge to successfully locate, filter, and critically increasing functionality of mobile devices like the Black- evaluate this content as well as make connections to the berry and iPhone, will likely dominate innovation efforts groups and networks that exist around this content. in the technology market over the next few years (John- son, Levine, & Smith, 2009). The Social Web However, while increased ownership of mobile tech- nology and access to the Internet is a significant devel- Until recently, online learning has been considered a opment, especially for the low-literate and low-income less effective but necessary educational choice for learners people who make up the majority of ABE learners, the who had no other options. However, it has developed into emerging threat of the digital divide in the United States a learning option that is as, if not more, effective as face- is not that some people will have computers and some to-face classes (U.S. Dept. of Ed., 2009). won’t, but that some will have the knowledge and skills One possible reason for this is the explosive growth to access these tools and resources in order to persuade, of what is referred to as social media or social software argue, analyze, critique, and interpret, while others, lack- into online learning. Clay Shirky (2002) uses the term ing these skills, will be limited to pre-packaged choices social software to define all uses of software that support (Warschauer, 1999). interacting groups even if the interaction is offline. Social software includes tools such as blogs, wikis, discussion Content vs. Connections boards, photo- and video-sharing sites, and chat rooms— tools that allow users to not only consume content but As more adult learners join the Internet in the future, actively create, manipulate, and share it as well. they will find they have access to a growing collection of Interaction and communication are an essential in- powerful learning content. This content will be both for- gredients for successful learning. Both social cognition mal and informal in nature with some learning materials theory and situated learning theory assert that culture and produced and sanctioned by institutions and organiza- community are prime determinants of individual devel- tions and others generated and shared on-the-fly by in- opment. Vygotsky’s social cognition theory proposes that formal learning communities. Cheap hardware and free social interaction and cultural contexts play a fundamental software will make generating lessons, educational games, role in the development of the cognition of learners, and and other educational materials easy to do, allowing learn- these principles are a key component of situated learning 70 71 Summit on the Future of Adult Education in the New Digital World Summit on the Future of Adult Education in the New Digital World theory, which proposes that all learning is a function of which we read, write, view, listen, compose, and the activity, context, and culture in which it occurs (Lave communicate information. & Wenger, 1991). This interaction of activity, context, “Thus, it may be that literacy acquisition is and culture is known as “a community of practice” and defined not by acquiring the ability to take advan- is a critical component of learning, especially informal tage of the literacy potential inherent in any single, learning. static, technology of literacy, such as traditional With the ease with which Internet-connected learn- print technology, but rather by a larger mindset ers can form online communities, share information, and and the ability to continuously adapt to the new communicate, learning no longer has to be situated in literacies required by the new technologies that schools or classes to provide a social context for learning. rapidly and continuously spread on the Internet.” Learners can participate in rich learning environments (Coiro, 2009) online. These experiences can now be just as enriching While technology may be making literacy more com- as those in a classroom. This social revolution, fomented plex and situated, it also has the potential to alleviate liter- because of the ease with which these tools allow for the acy barriers for lower literate adults through developments forming of groups, allows us to rethink both education in assistive technologies. Tools such as screen readers, text and the teacher-student relationship in an almost limitless readers, and PDAs already help lower literacy adults to variety of ways (Wesch, 2009). function more fully in life despite their deficiencies in print literacy. In the future, technology innovations will New Literacies continue to lower these barriers through the development Print-based literacy is still an essential skill for an of RFID-enabled smart objects, mobile devices with video adult’s success in life, but it is no longer the only form of displays that “translate the world,” and other innovations literacy that adults need.
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