2026 

• ATLAS Language and Literacy Institute - Minnesota (virtual - slides here)

2025 

• Coalition on Adult Basic Education (COABE) Conference - Dallas, TX

• University of Minnesota Community Partnerships Conference - Minneapolis, MN

• OTAN (Outreach and Technical Assistance Network) Technology and Digital Learning Symposium - Long Beach, CA

2024

• ProLiteracy Conference - Baltimore, MD

• LINCS Webinar

• Literacy Action Network Summer Institute for Adult Educators

• Coalition on Adult Basic Education (COABE) Conference - Nashville, TN

Papers

• Promoting agency and active citizenship in an integrated adult education program (CILIA-T) in the U.S. - Durgunoglu, A. Y., Trerotola, J., Cary, E. (2025)

• Developing digital proficiencies of English learners in adult education - Hauge, L., Durgunoglu, A. Y. & Stewart, J. (2024)

• Digital technology use in four adult education classrooms: Challenges and solutions -  Durgunoglu, A. Y., Cary, E., Harford, J., Yarbrough, K., & Hauge, L. (in press)

Podcasts

CREATE Adult Skills Network "The TALK" (Technology in Adult Learning Knowledge-Building) Podcast (2025)
Episode 9: Professional Development in Supporting the Use of EdTech (Nell Eckersley)
Episode 15:  CILIA-T (Erin Cary, Aydin Durgunoglu, Theresa Sladek)

Blogs

• What do Immigrant and Refugee ELLs Say About Their Experiences? - Durgunoglu, A. Y., & Cary, E. (2024)

• Educator Spotlight for Teacher Appreciation Week: Jill Ashley-Grochowski and Steve Hunt’s Experiences Piloting the CILIA-T Curriculum - Cary, E., & Durgunoglu, A. Y. (2024)

• Integrated Opportunities: Addressing Adult English Learners' Digital Skill Needs Through Supplemental Videos - Sladek, T., Durgunoglu, A. Y., & Hauge, L. (2024)

• CILIA-T Curriculum Project: Developing our Digital Skills Road Map - Eckersley, N., Hauge, L. (2023)

• Civics/History Curriculum - An Introduction to the CILIA-T Project - Cary, E., & Durgunoglu, A. Y. (2022)

We are currently evaluating CILIA-T in multiple MN adult education classrooms. We started in this Open Door Learning Center classroom (a program of Literacy Minnesota) in Minneapolis. Thank you, teachers and learners!

The  piloting of CILIA-T has started.  We are working with four teachers to implement the curriculum and to see how effective and usable it is. Thank you teachers: Jitka Sebek, Laurie Patton, Steve Hunt, and Jill Ashley-Grochowski.

Recently a member of our team, Mya Shaftel, was interviewed by Minnesota Public Radio as part of a story on how changes to the US Citizenship Exam could hurt test takers of lower levels of English proficiency.

Listen to the story here. (Transcript also available)

Distinguished University Professor Daphne Greenberg has been named a 2022 Literacy Champion by Atlanta-based nonprofit Literacy Action, Inc.

Literacy Action, Inc. teaches adult learners important literacy, life, and work skills that empower them to reach their highest potential.

This year, Greenberg is one of nine people selected as Literacy Champions, who were celebrated for their commitment to adult literacy at an April 13 luncheon hosted by Georgia Public Broadcasting.

Read more

In FY21, IES awarded a research grant, Content-Integrated Language Instruction for Adults with Technology Support (CILIA-T), to develop and pilot a curriculum that aims to strengthen English language proficiency, knowledge of U.S. history and civics, and digital literacy. This project, which is part of the CREATE Adult Skills Research Network, is the first field-initiated research project IES has funded for adult English learners or adult civics. 

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In March, ATLAS published an article by Erin Cary and Aydin Durgunoglu describing the CILIA-T project and also sharing feedback from 14 educators that Erin spoke with about their ideas for pros and cons that go into selecting curriculum resources. 

Read more

The CILIA-T Principal Investigator, Aydin Durgunoglu, presented at the 22nd  European Conference on Literacy, which was  jointly organized by the Federation of European Literacy Associations and The Literacy Association of Ireland.  The conference took place in Dublin, Ireland from July 4th to July 6th, 2022, alongside the 46th Annual Conference of the Literacy Association of Ireland. 

At the 2022 COABE Conference, CILIA-T's Theresa Sladek and Elizabeth Tighe presented as part of a CREATE Adult Skills Network panel discussion titled "Adult Skills & Technology Research: What Adult Educators and Researchers Need to Know." The session introduced the Network's six coordinated projects and provided opportunities for participants to learn from and inform project plans.