Abstract
Everyone has a right to information on health, agriculture, religion, etc. Unfortunately, this is often not the case for the 750 million illiterate adults worldwide who are illiterate not because of a learning deficiency, but because the language they speak is not a written language. Therefore, to be literate they must learn a foreign language, a difficult task for an adult which is often not done. If you want sustainability in areas of the world where illiteracy is high, it is not enough to involve only the literate. The whole village needs to understand and participate in the learning process. Therefore, the information must be taught so that everyone, regardless of their educational background, can learn. This poster highlights my work as a consultant with TEARFUND to change their Church and Community Mobilization program from being partially accessible to the illiterate to being fully accessible to everyone regardless of their education level. My role was to restructure the program and design the lessons so that they could be taught without reading and writing. This poster highlights what changed, why it changed, and what resulted: Increased participation, understanding, and efficiency. Using pictures or reading information out loud does make a program accessible to the illiterate. To be effective the latest information on learning and cognitive theories needs to be employed like spaced repetition, clustering, and cognitive load theory. This is a social justice issue. Why should people who are illiterate be denied access to information because they cannot read and write?
Presenters
Karen HotzStudent, Master's in Appplied Learning and Instruction, University of Central Florida, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Theme
Education and Learning Worlds of Differences
KEYWORDS
Illiterate, Accessible, Teaching, Inclusive
