Summary

Few descriptive accounts exist of the many recent innovations in e-learning for adults with literacy, language and numeracy (LLN) needs underway in New Zealand. This case study presents one such account.

The case study institution at the heart of this report is a large urban polytechnic, known for its innovative effort to provide quality education for second-chance learners, including blending of ICT. The polytechnic has successfully embedded literacy and numeracy in many of its programmes, in line with the recommendations of the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) and with reference to the TEC learning progressions for adult literacy and numeracy. Online and distance education is not a main priority for the polytechnic, and it does not have a distance education unit. Instead, e-learning coordination and support are part of the polytechnic's Learning Services division.

E-learning initiatives across the polytechnic include those associated with coordinating e-learning provision throughout the institution, embedding e-learning in polytechnic courses, and (from our particular interest point) making e-learning part of activities aimed at enhancing adults' LLN skills.

During our investigation, we endeavoured to understand what had contributed to and detracted from the success of the polytechnic's specific and polytechnic-wide e-learning initiatives, especially those aligned with LLN learning. We identified five major factors that led to sustained innovations involving e-learning and embedding of LLN:

• The importance of leading from the top;
• Learning Services support;
• Professional and curriculum development (including  professional development in e-learning);
• E-learning development and maturity;
• Initiatives for Māori.

We studied three of the five colleges of the polytechnic that had taken aboard the need to advance, through professional development and other measures, the e-learning (and embedded LLN) trajectory of individual tutors and organisational units. From our observations, we concluded that the polytechnic is generally managing to meet the many needs of adults with LLN needs and that it is taking a realistic approach to this work, especially in recognising that this development is an ongoing one that needs careful periodic review and adaptation.

During our investigation, we took a close look at five polytechnic programmes that have adopted one or more forms of e-learning in order to improve adults' access to learning and/or the curriculum at foundation level. A brief summary of each programme follows.

1. Provision of online distance learning to support remedial study of numeracy: Presented in modules accessed online through the polytechnic's learning management system, the content of this provision is designed to help adults access careers in health-related fields. The online study has been successful for some adults, but not as many as the programme developers envisaged. Overall, online study works best for students with some initial numeracy.
2. Use of mobile phones as part of trades courses for apprentices: An innovative tutor who was an early adopter of new technologies in the polytechnic developed and leads this initiative. She carries out this work in partnership with the polytechnic's e-learning coordinator. The tutor implemented m-learning (mobile learning), which is part of an ongoing innovation with e-learning within this course, after finding her student apprentices were not using the course's learning management system when in their workplaces. Her aim in having her students use mobile phones was to engage them in their learning via a technology with which they were familiar. She also decided to use the phones to provide a more effective means of work-based assessment and to develop her students' literacy skills.
3. A digital resource centre within the polytechnic's library: The centre, which has developed over time within the library, contains and supports a range of digital technologies that encourage resource-based learning and increase adults' self-access to English-language learning. This latter provision has been particularly welcomed by international students and migrants learning English at the polytechnic.
4. Computer-based simulation of practices, such as preparing a building site: The simulation approach has been well received by foundations and trades students. Additional online provision includes quizzes with drag and drop answers that increase students' access to language and are delivered through the polytechnic's online learning management system.
5. Evening class providing literacy support for adults: The class provides strong evidence of why adults with particularly low levels of literacy skill need intensive support, not only to improve their level of skill but also to access literacy learning through e-learning. Adults with low levels of literacy skill are also likely to have poor ICT skills. The support therefore needs to simultaneously accommodate both areas of need.

To understand the processes underpinning the evolution of e-learning implementation and practice in the polytechnic, we undertook a further analysis using change models. Our case study ends with a brief description of the outcomes of this analysis against each of the findings of our comprehensive review of the international literature on e-learning for adults with LLN needs (Davis, Fletcher, Everatt, Mackey, Morrow, Brooker and Gillon, 2010).