The EDL project uses interactive, situation-based lessons to teach functional literacy skills. Each activity provides learners with the opportunity to test their knowledge of real-world situations and to develop the confidence and skills necessary to be successful in everyday life.
22% of the Americans who took the 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) scored at the Basic level in document literacy. The National Center for Educational Statistics website states that learners at the Basic level are able to read the texts that they encounter, yet struggle to integrate and synthesize information and perform quantitative tasks with multiple steps. The statistics suggest, then, that 44 million Americans experience difficulty when applying their basic literacy skills to everyday life activities.
Our goal is to help these 44 million people reach a higher level of functional literacy and obtain the skills that they need to succeed.
Our functional, or competency-based, approach provides learners with opportunities to test their knowledge of real-world situations without the fear of real-world consequences. Each scenario is comprised of prose, document, or quantitative literacy tasks, as defined by the NAAL, with an emphasis on task-based applications of literacy. By helping the characters in the lessons reach their goals, learners in will gain relevant skills in a safe and supportive environment. The competencies that our users gain through the interactive modules will be immediately applicable to their daily lives.
We developed the first phase of the Everyday Life project to help learners at the Basic level because findings from the 2003 NAAL suggest that these individuals are not likely to seek help from traditional literacy centers. By first targeting learners at the Basic level, we are reaching out to an underserved population. In the future, we will implement new lessons to address the needs of learners at other levels.
The GCFLearnFree.org development team is comprised of individuals who were trained in a variety of disciplines including education, instructional design, gaming, technology, and art. This diversity helps us approach teaching in a unique way.
Further, interviews with literacy providers and students reinforced what we found through our own research - that there is a lack of engaging, adult-themed resources available to learners.
With this in mind, we deviated from traditional educational models in order to deliver a program that meets the needs of adult learners, both in content and in style.
Literacy tutors, administrators, and adult basic education providers can refer learners to our site to work independently or use modules as a supplement to their teaching materials. Our site provides learners with the ability to track their progress through the lessons and to repeat activities as often as they wish.