March 2009 Archive

GED Testing Service on Facebook (March 27, 2009)

The GED Testing Service now has a presence on Facebook. If you or your learners are using this ubiquitous social networking site, you might want to "friend" the good folks at GEDTS. At this point, teachers and students are both "writing on the wall" of the GED Testing Service and receiving prompt responses to their questions. Take a look and see for yourself:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?sid=be5f9c94cd2c152c95becec4b961b227&gid=46193757671

In an effort to help educate the public about dubious online credentials, GEDTS has also started a Facebook group called: "Friends don't let friends take the GED Tests online."

If loads of people join that Facebook group, the word will spread very quickly about online GED scams. Here's the link. Spread the word.

Food for thought: Data collected from a survey of recent Google searches shows that each day approx 100 Virginians search for two words in combination: "GED" and "online". If they aren't finding our programs, then they may be paying big money to a service that is not credible.

New England Learner Persistence Project (March 23, 2009)

The New England Literacy Resource Center (NELRC) has just published the findings of action research done by 18 New England adult education programs that investigated persistence strategies in their varied contexts over the course of a semester. They implemented persistence strategies in one of four categories: intake and orientation, instruction, counseling and peer support, or re-engagement. Their interventions impacted 755 students resulting in significant improvements in the rates of attendance and course completions.

The New England Learner Persistence Project report can be found at http://www.nelrc.org/expertise/persist.html.

GED Connection: on DVD, Online, on TV, and OnDemand (March 19, 2009)

The 39 episodes of GED Connection are available again in DVD form from the Resource Center. Because we have a state license to broadcast and duplicate the programs, Virginia's adult education centers do not have to pay the full price from the publisher (in the neighborhood of $1000.00 for a set). If you would like a set, or two, or three, they are $50 shipped per set. Just respond to this message with the number of sets you want, and we will get an invoice to you ASAP.

Online, OnDemand and on Television:

Three other benefits of the statewide GED Connection license include streaming access to all 39 episodes at www.elearnva.com, OnDemand access to the program for the "digital cable" subscribers of Cox, Comcast, and Charter Media, and scheduled airings of the program on many PBS stations (see www.literacylink.com for a schedule). With these options in place, there are lots of ways to incorporate these videos into your GED instruction, both inside and outside the classroom.