Pondering and Positing

Photo by Jakub Kriz on Unsplash

Lately I’ve been pondering a lot:

• equity (What does equitable adult education look like?)

• institutional racism, caste systems (Do adult programs promote antiracism through their curricula and within their communities? Is there a caste system in adult programs?)

• microaggressions and agency (Is the rare appearance of “voice and choice” in the adult classroom rooted in the microaggressive belief that our learners “don’t-know-what-they-need/want-to-learn?” or in our lack of experience with the process of fostering agency?)

• exhaustion and rigor (How do we honor the work teachers and learners have done over the 18 months and still ask for more?)

In this post, I’ll tackle the first ponder and save subsequent ponders for the other posts. After viewing several equity presentations over the last many months—here’s what has been rattling around my brain: if equity in adult education is meeting the varying needs of adult learners then access is certainly one of the keys to creating that equity. Digital access is dependent on low-cost, or better yet free, broadband and ensuring that our learners have devices, including smartphones, to work effectively off and online. (I acknowledge that composing on a tiny screen can be SUCH a frustrating experience for stubby fingers and older eyes and even more frustrating in a new language) But access also means acquiring the skills needed to navigate those devices AND the Internet AND the learning management systems and the teleconferencing tools. This week I heard, more than once, that learners just haven’t gotten “there”—“there” being the place where one is a nimble user of tech. All I could think when I heard that was —Why hasn’t that been part of the class content, then? (Yes, it was rather judge-y of me and I stopped the thought from exiting my lips, but I definitely thought it very, very loudly.) I know many gifted adult teachers who have made excellent use of WhatsAppfor their classes. They recognized the app as a gateway to learning for their students and have done wonderful, engaging language teaching and learning as a result. And they didn’t stop there, once learners were comfortable using the app they introduced other tools, using What’sApp to send “how to videos.” It may feel like everything takes longer when digital skills are added to the mix, but the time invested in learning a key tool or process pays off in self-efficacy, workplace and advocacy skills.

And there’s equity in providing access to instruction for learners who could not come to in person classes previously because of childcare, caregiver, transportation, or work schedule issues. But that equity has to extend to providing the same high quality of teaching and learning that we would offer in person. (I’m not saying it’s the same—but I am saying it needs to be the same quality.) I’ll save that ponder for another post.

I know we can do this— it’s not a slam dunk, but we are wise enough and collaborative enough to figure it out.

Be Safe! Be Well!