Increasing global digitalization is changing the everyday language skills required to participate in society, to carry out professional activities, and to take advantage of educational opportunities. As a result, new linguistic and digital competences are required for migrants. At the same time, digitalization offers new potential for learner-oriented language learning. In this article, we compare the results of two studies on teachers of adult multilingual migrant learners. These teachers instruct learners at different levels of literacy and with varied prior formal learning experiences. Both studies are situated in the German education system. The results illustrate how teachers and learners can work together using digital technologies to promote language learning. We explore the opportunities for effective, multilingual, and motivating language learning, as well as the challenges faced by learners and teachers, pointing to the need for further training in digital technology for both groups.

We used a Zoom Un-meeting as an educational approach to provide experienced clinical research professional (CRP) adult learners a collaborative learning space to learn more about current issues for academic medical center (AMC) clinical research workforce development and collaborate on solution finding. CRPs operationalize the conduct of clinical trials and represent a significant brain trust for the Clinical and Translational Science (CTSA) consortium hubs with their vast knowledge base, extensive experience, understanding of relevant institutional policy, organizational culture, and clinical research operations. Un-meetings are an intentionally organized and coordinated group activity that encourages participants to focus on a topic and incorporate an open flow of ideas through brainstorming and an open discussion format, setting the stage for future collaborative action. We divided topics into a series of six consecutive monthly Un-meeting Zoom workshops. Ultimately, one resulting output from the meeting was the Center for Leading Innovation and Collaborations (CLIC) synergy paper award to support continued collaborative work. Currently, work teams have emerged to analyze qualitative data from brainstorming and breakout session recordings and to identify small-group activities. We describe this adult learning tool as valuable for exploring issues of AMC CRP professional development. This approach encouraged creative/critical thinking and opportunities for leadership, team science, and problem-solving among participants.

Leveraging elements of game design and theories of human motivation, gamification provides a variety of techniques to engage learners in novel ways. Our Clinical and Translational Science Award created the software platform (Kaizen-Education©) to deliver gamified educational content in 2012. Here, we explore two novel use cases of this platform to provide practical insights for leveraging these methods in educational settings: (1) national training in rigor, reproducibility, and transparency and (2) attainment of learner competency (n = 7) as a gauge of curricular effectiveness across Master of Public Health degree tracks (n = 5). Data were captured in real time during player interaction with Kaizen-Education© to provide descriptive analyses of player engagement in both implementation examples. We then assessed item analysis to assess knowledge gain and competency attainment. We have just begun to leverage the potential for gamification to engage learners, enhance knowledge acquisition, and document completion of training, across various learning environments. We encourage a systematic approach to gamification applying insights from self-determination theory to learners and learning environments, a methodical approach to game design and rigorous analysis after implementation to generate evidence-based insights to maximize educational return for time invested.

While the relationship between vocabulary, morphological awareness, and reading comprehension has been examined extensively, research on this relationship among adult second language learners has only been explored recently. The present study addresses this gap by examining how adult English as a foreign language learners developed different types of English vocabulary and morphological awareness over the course of one academic year. Participants included 523 college freshmen in Taiwan with varying reading proficiency levels. Results from a series of mixed-measure analyses of variance revealed that (a) even the more proficient college English as a foreign language learners failed to fully grasp morphological principles; (b) the gap in vocabulary between the less skilled readers, the average, and the skilled readers widened significantly over the course of one academic year; (c) the effect of phonological and orthographic changes involved in morphologically complex words differed for the assessment of base meaning, but did not vary across proficiency levels; (d) progress in different aspects of morphological awareness, such as interpreting the meaning of the suffix or identifying the base of a morphologically complex word, varied significantly among readers of different proficiency levels; and (e) suffixes of different parts of speech posed different challenges to learners. Theoretical and pedagogical implications of the findings are discussed.