Welcome Steve Gilbert TLT Group The TLT Group is pleased to have you join us today. [TLTG Recording] You are in the right place.. Steve is here but on the phone [TLTG Recording] (this is Joanna by the way) [TLTG Recording] I'm not going to stay very long [Ben Oldfield] Great. Thanks. Hi again! [TLTG Recording] Sounds like you are all set [Ben Oldfield] Yes. [TLTG Recording] your audio is great [Ben Oldfield] Good. [Ben Oldfield] Are we still waiting on the others? [TLTG Recording] I'm not sure - Steve would know the answer to that question - I know someone is going to call in on the phone only [Ben Oldfield] Okay. [TLTG Recording] I'm actually off now [TLTG Recording] Have fun! [Ben Oldfield] Thanks. Take care. [Steve Gilbert TLT Group] Ben are you really there? [Steve Gilbert TLT Group] http://www.tltgroup.org/ivoc.htm#StaffStudentConnections [Steve Gilbert TLT Group] http://www.tltgroup.org/ivoc.htm [Steve Gilbert TLT Group] http://www.tltgroup.org/ivoc.htm#StaffStudentConnections [Steve Gilbert TLT Group] http://www.tltgroup.org/ClothingTheEmperor/StaffStudent.htm [Steve Gilbert TLT Group] http://www.swarthmore.edu/Admin/learningforlife/index.html [Steve Gilbert TLT Group] http://www.tltgroup.org/ClothingTheEmperor/StaffStudent.htm [Steve Gilbert TLT Group] You and I can communicate with text - the others cannot see this. [Steve Gilbert TLT Group] 1998 - began exploring literacy program [Ben Oldfield] Gotcha. [Steve Gilbert TLT Group] I'll use this for taking notes, reminding myself ... etc. [Steve Gilbert TLT Group] You can use it as you wish. [Steve Gilbert TLT Group] DA: Swarthmore too small for self-identifying literacy needs; better to develop mutually beneficial partnerships - began with 3 partnerships 1st year (pairs of staff/student] [Steve Gilbert TLT Group] Now up to approx 45 partnerships per term - many continue - approx 25 people stay in more than one semester; College has been donating up to 3 hours per week as paid leave, paid learning experience for participating staff [Steve Gilbert TLT Group] DB: 1st partnership was with Liz G. - who was one of first leaders of L4L - he got to learn about available resources through a lot of networking [Steve Gilbert TLT Group] DB: Was very interested in buidling Web pages even though had very little comptuer experience. Liz volunteered to help him, even though she didn't know much herself about that. Became unforgettable experience of learning together! [Steve Gilbert TLT Group] DB: Has gone on to photography, writing skills; now does filming, making DVDs, etc. [Steve Gilbert TLT Group] DB: Now using his own knowledge - giving back to L4L - partnerships built on basis of learning WITH partner and looking for resources together for that semester's work. "Giving back" means helping others to learn same topic after already makingn- BOTH PARTNERS LEARN TOGETHER SOMETHING NEW TO BOTH OF THEM [Steve Gilbert TLT Group] DB: Staff person 1st says what he/she wants to learn that semester and then student coordinator tries to match with someone who has some relevant expertise, but more often, both partners are close to beginners together; [Steve Gilbert TLT Group] LD: Began 2nd semester 1999 - 2nd semester of L4L program. Learned lots - 1st partner was a comptuer person - had not been able to learn computing in traditional classroom; but with Melissa - first partner - Liz learned successfully about/with computers. [Steve Gilbert TLT Group] LD: Did a geneology project - library work, library in Phila, learned how to do further research; developed family geneology Web page; [Steve Gilbert TLT Group] LD: Did class with partner on Black history; 2004-5 worked on poems - had never understood poems before - was able to get poem published in campus book "Our Story" [Ben Oldfield] It's the SCALE conference, a literacies conference. [Steve Gilbert TLT Group] LD: Went to 3 conferences in Rocky Mtn, No. Carolina 1999 3 years SCALES Conf [Student Coalition for Adult Literacy Education = SCALES] Oct annual conf UNC Chaple Hill; [Steve Gilbert TLT Group] LD: Learned to write poetry from what she was seeing/experiencing... Partner was Katie Chamblee [Steve Gilbert TLT Group] LD: Daian read one of Liz's poem in baccauleareta; L4L has been a Godsend for anyone on campus who is willing to spend time in it! [Steve Gilbert TLT Group] LD: Grandma's Lifestyle - Early 1900s READING HER POEM ALOUD [Steve Gilbert TLT Group] Her poem, "Survival" was requested by a doctor in Calif. [Steve Gilbert TLT Group] Sound very good, Ben [Steve Gilbert TLT Group] BO: About to be senior; began accidentally when sophomore - friend told him someone wanted to learn machines in the gym [Steve Gilbert TLT Group] His partnerships also reflected initial expectation that student would be teaching the staff partner... but he soon found much more was going on than he anticipated.. adjusting his knowledge to his partner's rather different needs; began to learn about lives of 2 partners [Steve Gilbert TLT Group] BO: Reciprocity in relations of the L4L program can sneak up on you... [Steve Gilbert TLT Group] BO: Another example... friend who introduced him to L4L was learning guitar with a partner and watching West Wing together and discussing political issues from the show... expecting to instruct partner Shelley about politics, current events BUT he was surprised to discover how interesting her opiinions were - and those of her friends, family, community. [Steve Gilbert TLT Group] DB: Swarthmore staff members now lucky - wasn't always like this. Didn't have email. Students were numbers to us. [Steve Gilbert TLT Group] We had to get out of the way of the students and let them get their education... but we needed to be recognized as part of the community [Steve Gilbert TLT Group] We became part of the community. Staff members kept pushing each year.... [Steve Gilbert TLT Group] DA: Swarthmore historically Quaker - prides itself on development of ethical intelligence and promotes social change... [Steve Gilbert TLT Group] Often turn outside of community for community service - rarely look inward and address own problems; traditionally, those in low wage positions are sometimes [often] just in the background. [Steve Gilbert TLT Group] Learnign is the business of the institution. Faculty must learn to keep up. All human beings want to learn; since learning is the business of the institution, then all humn beings should have that opprotunity. [Steve Gilbert TLT Group] This is what we work for. Liz and Susan at early stages of L4L found inequities of access to resources; e.g., direct access to email. Without email, staff dependent on supervisors for communcation. College agreed to provide publicly accessible co0mpuers for staff and email accts in summer of 2000 [Susie and Liz got Lang Grant for L4L and email for staff - fall... ] [Steve Gilbert TLT Group] Similarly, use of library, music library, health center, film library.... was SUPPOSED to be accessible to everyone in community but most staff did not feel comfortable doing so. [Steve Gilbert TLT Group] LD: Staff did NOT know about their "privileges" until L4L!! Learning the comptuer was key in beginning because they had been missing lots of things in the Swarthmore community that had been distributed only or mostly via email. [Steve Gilbert TLT Group] DB: Email was significant... vehicle for info about everything handled mostly by email; psoters on wall not even close to keeping up. [Steve Gilbert TLT Group] "In our jobs we were behind the scenes" [Steve Gilbert TLT Group] LD: We learn from each other. [Steve Gilbert TLT Group] We listen to each others' stories about our lifestyles. [Steve Gilbert TLT Group] Lots of discovery that both partners have more in common than either expcted. [Steve Gilbert TLT Group] Learn more in partnerships than in formal classroom expeirences. [Steve Gilbert TLT Group] DB: Met family of partner at rugby game - learned about parent and game [Steve Gilbert TLT Group] BO: Student perspective - learn from each other. [Steve Gilbert TLT Group] BO: Quaker roots ... L4L adds new degree of diversity to student body [Steve Gilbert TLT Group] BO: Educational value of diversity is big deal at Swathmore.. [Steve Gilbert TLT Group] Why not all the students in L4L? Why not mandatory? [Steve Gilbert TLT Group] BO: Staff tends to be marginalized, passed by... as a result, the community itelf can be passed by the students [Steve Gilbert TLT Group] BO: Because these 2 communities are not very familiar with each other, it takes a certain kind of student to participate... progrma needs to become more attractive to more introverted students, present.. [Steve Gilbert TLT Group] DB: "You have to want it" - some staff members on midnight shift wanted L4L, so had to recruit some students who could participate during that [inconvenient] shift. [Steve Gilbert TLT Group] DB: L4L is self-run. "It's self-preservation" - core of 25 staff keep coming. [Steve Gilbert TLT Group] DB: Was intimidating to admit own need to learn in first years... almost had to partiipate [Steve Gilbert TLT Group] to know what was going on and possible [Steve Gilbert TLT Group] DB: 25 core come mostly from 50 in environmental staff; dining services [problem scheduling L4L time during their work shifts]; maintenance [Steve Gilbert TLT Group] DA: Students who are more outgoing and who don't have other extracurricular activities on their plates... [Steve Gilbert TLT Group] DA: want to try to get more variety of students to participate and more staff outsife of environmental services to participate more [Steve Gilbert TLT Group] DB: In environmental services, sometimes share/restructure work to accomodate L4L schedule for participation. [Steve Gilbert TLT Group] LD: I've learned there are so many human beings that are illiterate about a lot of things. But L4L is a good thing - teaching me how to learn anything I want to try to learn - if you cna find the right person to help HOW to learn, HOW to understand... I've learned how to understadn, how to listen, and how to ask questions if I don't understand. [Steve Gilbert TLT Group] LD: Lots of reasons - esp. logistics - about staff not participating. [Steve Gilbert TLT Group] DB: During all those semesters I learned many technologies. I free-lance with 2 computer companies. Work on photography and digital imaging. Most improtant was experience with each individaul partner... Each partner committed to the meetings. [Steve Gilbert TLT Group] DA: There si a course on campus called Literacy and Social Identity which she uses L4L as field experience for students [course offered once every 3 terms] - introduces some sutdents to L4L. [Steve Gilbert TLT Group] DA: Students say it is healthier to be on a campus where there are significant adults who are not their parents and who are not tearchers whom they can talk with [Steve Gilbert TLT Group] DA: Important to all involved about crossing boundaries of gender, race, age, class, .... those relationshiops not often otherwise available - help to think of world in different ways. [Steve Gilbert TLT Group] BO: Exprience from L4L this year. A student group was active trying to establish uniionization option for Swarthmore staff. Became contentious. Many staff opposed. [Steve Gilbert TLT Group] Meeting one morning this spring between staff and students who were advocating the unionization.. Ben went. Became a confrontatinal meeting between students and staff. Felt very good to Ben to be at that meeting and be familiar, comfortable with people in both groups. When a student later asked him "Whose side are you on?" [Steve Gilbert TLT Group] BO: said "I'm on L4L side" [Steve Gilbert TLT Group] DA: Bryn Mawr has begun something like L4L - had some Swarthmore folks last year; Antioch has been very interested for a few years [Steve Gilbert TLT Group] DA: Student leadership is important for L4L - but they leave; faculty get sabatticals every 4 years; therefore, both for equity and continuity and pragmatic reasons, staff members need to be part of leadership of L4L. [Steve Gilbert TLT Group] OK, I'll work on it