Adult literacy educators’ favourite open educational resources (survey results)

Have you been using the free, reproducible and adaptable instructional resources we’ve curated in our open educational resources (OER) collection? Do you need help finding useful teaching material?

In May, we surveyed adult literacy educators in Ontario, asking you to share your favourite resources from the OER collection. We wanted to better understand your experience with the collection and to share back some of your favourites — which we’re doing here today!

Educators’ favourite open educational resources

We were interested to see multiple people highlight math resources. Here’s a look at one math favourite and what else is resonating, in educators’ own words:

Adult education math course: “I like the length. Some math resources have too much information or too many practice questions. I like that these lessons are short. I also like the practice questions vs objective questions.”

— Jannah Bender, instructor/program lead, skills upgrading program – UGDSB

Paving the way to lasting employment — video series demonstrating workplace communication and culture: “The videos bring to life the importance of good customer service and encourage students to reflect on how they would handle various situations in a professional setting. The exercises accommodate a variety of learning styles. By encouraging discussion, students are able to use critical thinking skills and are more likely to retain the information presented.”

— Carol Anne Maloney, coordinator of volunteers, Tri-County Literacy Council

Read faster, understand more — advanced academic reading skills for English language learners: “Good strategies for higher-level reading skills and detailed explanations. We have lots of lower-level materials, but sometimes need more at a higher level. (Also, I will remind my colleagues again about these resources as there are some really good ones here. We all teach different classes/levels and there is definitely something for everyone.)”

— Georgina Smith, Get SET instructor, Ottawa Catholic School Board

Foundational digital skills and knowledge — cell phones and AI: “I used a lot of the resources about cell phones to help me build my own cell phone class. I feel like a curated collection like this is more likely to have reliable information and safe links. As well, I particularly liked the resources for helping people find and identify reliable sources of information. We all struggle with this!”

— Jane Wouda, instructor/practitioner, Training and Learning Centre

Online safety and engagement: “I find all of these resources very interesting, especially the ones from Get Cyber Safe. I deliver cybersecurity basics training at Adult Learning Centres and am always looking for reliable, engaging materials for seniors, who are a particularly vulnerable group.”

— Diana Zarzosa, learning facilitator, Adult Learning Centres – Collingwood

Favourite sections: reading, job preparation, digital skills

Respondents also highlighted favourite sections in the collection, including reading instruction, job preparation and hiring. Here are two comments about the foundational digital skills and knowledge section:

“I like the way it is set up with the links to the major categories easy to see on the main page. I have used some of the resources for my digital workshops and individual learnings. I have used the online safety information.”

— Barb Mills, facilitator, Peterborough Native Learning Program

“This particular resource is wonderful for when I’m working one-on-one with clients who are learning to use their specific digital tools or devices in order to make their lives better. It’s great to have a one-stop shop to easily navigate various resources so that I don’t have to spend a ton of time searching for a very specific handout or activity that I can do with them. Generally, I’m teaching on the fly and I don’t like to take time away from them to find materials. This just makes things easier for me and faster for them so it’s a win-win.”

— Jenna Nantais, instructor, UHC

AlphaPlus observations, favourites and new additions

We’re happy to see educators making use of this library. It’s a rich international collection of high-quality English-language materials that have been tested and validated. By making tools, often from other jurisdictions, available to Ontario practitioners, we hope to complement what’s been developed in the province.

Here are a couple of insights that came up for us from reviewing the survey results:

• There were a few requests about it, so don’t forget that we offer an entire online guide dedicated to preparing learners for the Canadian Adult Education Credential (CAEC)!
• The empowering learners section sits further down in the OER collection, so we want to make sure you don’t miss it. The resources in this section include topical reading that’s interesting, motivating and informative. 
• After the survey kicked off, we added two new resources in the literature and poetry section:
  • Poetry in Voice for teaching poetry through Grade 12.
  • Blackout poetry – digital literacy in creative ways, a workshop using poetry as an engagement lens on mindsets, learning, creativity and literacies.

Please help us ensure this collection is working for you

Finally, here’s a comment from Jane Wouda, instructor/practitioner, Training and Learning Centre, that resonated with us:

“I feel like a curated collection like this is more likely to have reliable information and safe links.”

We want other adult literacy educators in Ontario to feel supported in this way, and here’s how you can be a part of that:

1. Explore the collection to discover what’s available for you and your learners. If you need help navigating it, sign up for a digital tour.
2. Reach out to Guylaine if you’re looking for something specific. She can either point you in the right direction or include it in her ongoing scans for high-quality resources.
3. Share the collection with someone you know!