Literacy Unit Activities in 2005/6
Apart from its on-going research and development work in Basic Skills in Malta and Gozo through various school-based and non-formal literacy programmes, the Literacy Unit of the University of Malta is currently engaged in the following projects:
- The Unit is the main pedagogical partner in the FP6 project UNITE – e-learning environments for the promotion of Basic Skills. This project is co-ordinated by the Franhofer Institute for Multimedia in Germany. A consortium meeting will be held in Malta in May.
- The e-Learning course in Basic English for Technical Purposes (ETP) was designed and delivered by the Unit to on-line students from 15 different Euro-Meditterranean countries as part of the Unit’s participation in the EUMEDIS project ODISEAME. The on-line course which was oversubscribed twice has been recognised by EUMEDIS as an outstanding model for e-learning courses. It will be showcased at the forthcoming MDP meeting in Cairo, Egypt.
- The Unit is a major participant in European projects dealing with the Teaching and Learning of Basic Language Skills via e-learning, namely LinguaNet, e-EuroInclusion, ELNPlus, ELL and FEEL.
- The Unit, in conjunction with the Ministry of Education and MCAST, is involved in a number of European Social Fund projects. These involve mainly the design and production of a number of Basic Skills courses and related materials for adults and the carrying out of basic research into the levels of Basic Skills of young people.
- Recent publications include:
Mifsud,Charles & Grech, Rowena, et al (2005) The Malta Literacy Value-Added Project – A Template for Value Added in Small Island States, Research Papers in Education. Routledge, UK.
- Mifsud,Charles & Grech, Rowena, et al (2005) The Malta National Literacy Survey of Year 5 pupils (aged 9-10), Research in Education. Manchester University Press, UK.
- Mifsud, Charles and Zammit, Marjes (2005) Autonomous Language Learning via the Internet in the book Educational Virtual Spaces in Practice, edited by: F.J. García, J. García, M. López, R. López and E.Verdú and published by Editorial Ariel.