The TALK Podcast

In this special episode of the TALK Podcast, we had a chance to connect in-person with several of the Research Teams affiliated with the CREATE Adult Skills Network at the COABE 2026 conference which was held April 12th through the 15th in Indianapolis, Indiana. Here are some highlights from conversations with Research Team members.

In this episode, I'm talking with Stephanie Cronen from the American Institutes for Research and Jen Vanek from World Education, two of the principal investigators for the CREATE Adult Skills Network.

In this episode, we will hear from Aydin Durgunoglu and Erin Carey from the University of Minnesota Duluth and Theresa Sladek from Northstar Digital Literacy about their work on Content-Intergrated Language Instruction for Adults with Technology support (or CILIA-T) which focuses curriculum which focuses on civics, U.S. history, English, and digital skills.

In this episode, we hear from Stephen Sireci from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Malena Oliveri from Purdue University about their work on the Adult Skills Assessment Program, also called ASAP, and how it is advancing the field of adult education.

In this episode, we will hear from John Sabatini, Research Professor and Principal Investigator for the AutoTutor-ARC project at the University of Memphis. AutoTutor-ARC is an intelligent tutoring system that supports adults who read at 3rd- to 8th-grade levels as they learn and practice reading comprehension strategies. It provides students additional reading practice and embeds instruction-based assessment to help guide and monitor learning progress. The system includes digital literacy skill support for learners, as well as professional development support for teachers/tutors.

The Writing in Adult Secondary Education project aims to address the problem that writing instruction for adult learners is hindered by the lack of evidence-based curricula and tools available to practitioners. It also addresses the limited preparation and guidance given to practitioners for writing instruction. The project's aim is two-fold: One aim is to design and evaluate a technology-supported writing curriculum for learners in Adult Education. Another aim is to develop a concurrent professional development delivery model, materials, and online resources for instructors and students.

In this episode, we will hear from Daphne Greenberg and Jennifer Martinez from the Adult Literacy Research Center at Georgia State University about their work and how it is advancing the field of adult education.

The Adult Numeracy in the Digital Era (ANDE) aims to develop a technology-supported adult education course to improve numeracy and digital literacy learning. Alongside these efforts, the ANDE team is creating a professional learning system to help instructors teaching the course implement effective mathematics instructional practices to support learners.

In this episode, we will hear from Ann Edwards and Haley McNamara from WestEd about their work and how it is advancing the field of adult education.

The Teaching Skills That Matter-SkillBlox Instructional Support Pilot is developing and piloting expanded supports for integrating the Teaching Skills That Matter (TSTM) framework into adult foundational skills instruction. The framework focuses on many of the skills, topics, and teaching approaches most relevant to adult learners. It includes nine intra/interpersonal skills (such as communication, critical thinking), five topic areas (civics education, digital literacy, financial literacy, health literacy, workforce preparation), and three teaching approaches (integrated and contextualized learning, problem-based learning, project-based learning).

In this episode, we will hear from Neha Nanda from the American Institutes for Research and Jeff Goumas from World Education about their work and how it is advancing the field of adult education.

In this, the first of a two-part series, we will hear how professional development supports the use of technology in adult foundational education (AFE). We will hear from professional development professionals to learn how they support instructors and other staff in the application of technology to their AFE programs and what support is needed for practitioners who are implementing the technology and how they generate buy-in.

Our guests for this episode are Neda Anasseri from the Outreach and Technical Assistance Network (or OTAN), Ashly Winkle from the Texas Center for the Advancement of Literacy and Learning (or TCALL) at Texas A&M University and Nell Eckersley from the Literacy Assistance Center (or LAC) in New York City.

In this episode, you'll hear on-the-ground reactions from attendees at the 2024 Coalition on Adult Basic Education National Conference, or COABE, held March seventeenth through twentieth in Nashville, Tennessee. Interviewees include: Anthony Burik, Kathy Harris, Marnie Huff, Ramon Cardenas, Stephanie Moore, and Wanda Govan.