The Department of Home Affairs is pleased to announce an initiative to support the development of digital literacies in the AMEP.
The Adult EAL sector is well positioned to equip adult language learners with digital literacies required for settlement and finding employment, however research and feedback indicates that institutions and teachers are often uncertain about how to teach digital literacies and that there is also limited knowledge about the digital needs of AMEP clients.
The Department is working with LWA and Monash University to develop an AMEP Digital Literacies Framework and a web-based Digital Literacies Guide to facilitate planning, teaching and assessment of digital literacies to complement the EAL Framework accredited curriculum in the future contract.
Digital literacies are especially important for displaced adults moving to Australia as part of humanitarian and skilled migration programs for both settlement and employment.
Working in collaboration with LWA will be a project team from Monash University consisting of:
- Dr Katrina Tour, the project leader, publishing in the field of digital literacies and English as an Additional Language (EAL), both locally and internationally;
- Dr Edwin Creely, researching creativity, literacy, digital literacies and educational technology;
- Dr Peter Waterhouse, researching adult learning and literacy needs across a range of contexts, employability and strengths-based practice; and
- Professor Michael Henderson, founding member and leader of Digital Education Research Group and named 2020 Australian Research Field Leader in Education.
The AMEP Digital Literacies Framework and a web-based Digital Literacies Guide resources aim to:
- Promote understanding of important pedagogical principles that underlie the effective teaching of digital literacies in the AMEP sector.
- Support the effective planning, teaching and assessment of digital literacies in the AMEP sector.
- Provide practical guidance on how to plan, teach and assess digital literacies in the AMEP sector.
- Share practical research-informed teaching ideas relevant to the learners’ settlement needs and for developing their skills in participating in the workplace.
This project will be conducted in stages with the final product due end of June 2022. Detail on the completion of Stage One on following page.
Stage One
The Department and LWA are pleased to announce that Stage One of the project is complete, resulting in the infographic attached to this communique. The infographic details critical factors that support and hinder adult EAL learners’ digital literacies as they settle in Australia. The research conducted in Stage 1 will be used to raise awareness of stakeholders within the AMEP sector and foreground outcomes from the following phases through the following Monash University media channels:
- on social media (Twitter; through project team’s academic profiles);
- Monash workplace (internal; available to Monash staff) ;
- Digital Education Research @Monash website (public) http://der.monash.edu/
A partnership between
