Overall, the majority of learners (44) said directly or indirectly that they were satisfied with their pace of learning. Five learners said they were learning faster than they thought they would. Four learners said they felt their pace was slower than they had hoped. Two of these learners felt a frequent change in tutors was a possible reason for a slower than desired learning pace.
This project explored learners' experiences and understanding of progress and sought to define and articulate this knowledge. Learners described their progress by referring to a wide variety of everyday practices and contexts. Their examples often demonstrated what real-life activities they could now do, activities that involved reading, writing, numeracy and oral communication skills and increased knowledge. Many of these same examples also involved what has come to be termed non-academic indicators of progress. These non-academic indicators (such as an increase in independence or risk-taking) cannot be entirely accounted for by increased literacy skills. We were specifically interested in understanding and documenting these real-life activities and non-academic indicators. Our collective experience as practitioners leads us to feel that general demonstrations (assessments) cannot convey a complete picture of learners' progress. They often do not capture the above stated progress that we as practitioners expect and see in learners.
Learners' comments provided insights into the richness and complexity of learning and of the interactions between their program environment, the learning process, their improved literacy skills and non-academic outcomes. As we listen to learners talk about their progress, we quickly came to the realization that pulling apart literacy skills (reading, writing, numeracy and oral communication skills) and increased knowledge from non-academic indicators was not an easy task. MJ's comments illustrate the complexity of and interactions between the outcomes:
"I feel more inspired to write, to read, to understand, to evolve, to grow, to transcend my former barriers and develop new boundaries. I dream more. I read more. I jump through more mental hoops now. ...Concentrate and have a longer attention span. More tolerant. More patient. More understanding. More easy going. It brings out the best in me, coming here. It's like a ripple effect. I have more confidence."
Everyday practices
Everyday practices were defined in this study as everyday life activities related to basic skills: the ability to read, write, communicate verbally and solve math problems. Some everyday tasks included reading, understanding and being able to pay household bills, writing letters of complaint to the cable company, completing money orders, reading and completing forms for health insurance, writing birthday cards and letters, reading letters from children's school, and using the library.