Preston / Reservoir Adult Community Education

PRACE

Case Study for TafeFrontiers

[case study] . . [context] . . [big projects] . . (= at the beach =) ~:~ [snakes alive] . . [computer club] . . [students - 'angela'] . . [- dave] . . [- connie] . . [- bruce] . . [teaching ludditism?] . . [recommendations] . . [(.. back to 'flexible learning week')] . .

"English at the Beach"

Rationale & Audience

Fundamentally, at PRACE we were always looking for resources that would suit adult learners with very low beginning levels of literacy. Paper-based, or screen-based - either would be acceptable. It seemed we would never find enough of what we were looking for, so we began to produce our own resources. We wanted resources that were fun, interactive, and that students could access on their own.

Processes of development

"English at the Beach" was internally funded at PRACE, back in 1998, when the manager in her wisdom decided it could be worth investing in the skills of the teachers, and creating some useful materials online.

» Brainstorm and map out ideas, text-types and activities
» Divide responsibilities among the team members
» Create stories and activities, first on paper, then on screen
» Build the site - screen layout, navigation, site structure
» Research - gathering feedback from users, analysing site statistics
» Edit, re-draft and re-publish

A major challenge

One challenge we soon discovered was the need to maintain and overhaul resources - and the difficulty of finding time, funding and capacity to do so. "English at the Beach" is well overdue for a re-build - the site navigation needs to be re-worked, the communication forum - an advertising-supported 'freebie' - has disappeared and needs to be replaced - no chance of a 'learning community' without a forum.

Case Study for TafeFrontiers

[case study] . . [context] . . [big projects] . . (= at the beach =) ~:~ [snakes alive] . . [computer club] . . [students - 'angela'] . . [- dave] . . [- connie] . . [- bruce] . . [teaching ludditism?] . . [recommendations] . . [(.. back to 'flexible learning week')] . .

* PageTurners * Snakes Alive! * English at the Beach *

How to contact us at Preston/Reservoir Adult Community Education (PRACE)

Physical: Merrilands Community Centre, cnr Asquith & Sturdee Streets, Reservoir, 3073.

Postal: PO Box 510
Reservoir, 3073.

Phone: 9462 6077
Fax: 9462 5077 (pleease check your address book we had this one wrong)

Email: officeprace.vic.edu.au
Web: prace.vic.edu.au