AlphaPlus

Donna M. Chovanec

Amy Meckelborg

Donna M. Chovanec, Associate Professor in Educational Policy Studies at the University of Alberta, and Amy Meckelborg, Coordinator, EdTech Services Training and Development, speak about their paper, Social Networking Sites and Adult Literacy Learning: Raising the Issues. In this paper, Donna and Amy explore how educators and adult learners might harness the full potential of Social Networking Sites (SNS) and other social media in the service of adult literacy teaching and learning.

In this podcast recorded on Skype, Donna and Amy give an overview of the background and the main questions explored in the paper, reflect on the type of literacy in the context of their work, and talk about the roles of digital citizenship. Furthermore, they discuss the issue of the digital divide, the concept of “Over the Shoulder Learning”, and offer reflections on how the digital divide may be addressed at the program level. The podcast concludes with a summary of the highlights of the findings.