admin, Author at AlphaPlus

It’s been six months since COVID-19 arrived in Ontario. While programs continue to adapt to this ever-changing “new normal,” the AlphaPlus team is continuing to bring you training, information and resources to support learners and program staff through the transition.

On August 27, we were invited to present at the Pop Up PD for Literacy Educators webinar, organized and hosted by a committee of the Learning Networks of Ontario, E-Channel and the Provincial Support Organizations for Literacy.

During this session, we reviewed how programs have shifted and adapted to remote teaching and learning, and detailed the tools and resources used to support these transitions. This session is designed to keep LBS program teams connected and informed of each other’s successes and challenges and to share knowledge.

If you missed the session, you can view the slides and access the recording on this website.

Learn more about the Pop Up PD for Literacy Educators at https://learningnetworks.ca/resources-publications/popuppd/

For additional questions or to sign up for technology coaching or training sessions to improve your remote learning and work, email Alan Cherwinski, Executive Director.

This August, Alan Cherwinski and Christine Pinsent-Johnson represented the AlphaPlus team during an adult literacy roundtable discussion with Jill Andrew, MPP for Toronto–St. Paul’s. They were joined by Reb Chevalier of Parkdale Project Read and organizer Phylicia Davis-Wesseling, founder and program manager of the KGO Adult Literacy Program.

Together, the group discussed how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the growing digital divide and affected literacy workers and learners. The conversation also addressed the need to advocate for increased support, resources and visibility of adult literacy work.

Watch the session on Facebook (you don’t need an account to watch).

Coaching Story: The Literacy Group (TLG) of Waterloo Region

In this client coaching story, we’re talking with Lisa McArthur, program manager of The Literacy Group (TLG) of Waterloo Region, about how they used Google Sites to create an online resource for learners and linked it to their website’s home page. Learn about how the portal is helping learners continue to work remotely and keeping TLG connected and moving forward while we all work and learn from a distance.

Q: As a community-based learning program, what professional development challenges does your organization face, and how did working with an AlphaPlus coach help you overcome those challenges?

A: Money for professional development (PD) training is always an issue for non-profit organizations like ours. Also, we have a small staff, which means classes stop when individual staff are out for training. While it’s nice to go out for PD individually, working on a common development goal as a team can be better.

When we began consulting with Monika about AlphaPlus’s free technology coaching, she encouraged us to focus on specific projects and outcomes we wanted to achieve. This mindset drove our team-based professional development efforts and helped us to keep our goals and aspirations realistic and achievable.

Q: What website-building technology did the team choose to implement and why?

A: Google Sites provided ease of construction and let us make site content updates and edits that appear right away. We didn’t want a complicated site that is tricky to design and update or requires special web design knowledge to edit. Over time and throughout our coaching, we used the simple, user-friendly Google Sites template to create and post our content. As our coaching progressed, we learned more about the back end of Google Forms, particularly applying them toward improving team projects.

By the time we finished our coaching cycle and training with Monika, we had a solid foundation and scaffold of tools that we could further build out on our own. We were using Google Sites for learner stories (TLG voices), we had created an easy to navigate learner resource portal that lives on the home page of our website, and we created a new/updated computer curriculum. Now we’re developing a tutor resource portal on our own.

Q: How has using Google Sites allowed you to better communicate as a team and engage with other service providers and partners in your region?

A: Based on our analytics provided through Google, our learner portal has reached readers around the world and hosted more than 600 learning opportunities. The portal launched just before the COVID-19 outbreak and TLG’s shutdown. Because the portal was already active, we were able to quickly create a COVID-19 info page that includes updated government information and links to federal, provincial and municipal websites, as well as links to health and well-being resources.

Our jobs page within the portal includes links to employment services and programs available in our regions, and our partner organizations have asked us to add links to their services and online resources so learners can access them all in one place. The next step will be expanding the site to permit public users of the portal to connect with the appropriate LBS program using a referral tool.

Q: How have Google Sites and Google Forms made learning and information-gathering easier for learners?

A: The learner portal created by TLG co-ordinators, Johanna Brown and Julie Sigrist, using Google Sites and the computer curriculum, in particular, are the sites most actively used and frequently updated. The computer curriculum template has given us an edge to add a fifth module that we would likely not have attempted without the knowledge gained through coaching.

Q: Describe the training and workshop process you followed with your coach.

A: Initially, we conferenced online with Monika to review our needs and schedule a four-hour face-to-face training session. After the training workshop, we booked a followup, and Monika made herself available to individuals and pairs of team members for mini sessions and problem-solving. This three-pronged approach meant that no time was wasted and we were free to tackle lots of issues as a team. It really served as problem-based learning, which I feel is the best way to learn and retain knowledge and skills long term.

Q: How will what you’ve learned through the coaching process influence future work and technology implementation, and how has it helped TLG work remotely?

A: Creating the learner portal has been instrumental in keeping us connected to our learners. The portal has also helped keep resources easily available to tutors, too. Soon, the portal will become the primary tool for one of our online classes. Soon, it will be used to connect the general public with various LBS programs.

We’re getting ready to launch our computer curriculum available fully online. This will allow learners to complete the curriculum independently or as part of a Zoom session with a tutor.

The courses and the portal can each be easily updated and edited to accommodate changes like the COVID-19 shutdown. In the future, when things are more stable, we will get back to finishing and launching the volunteer portal.

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Quick Tech Story: Pandemic Response

Over the past few weeks, many LBS programs have reached out to AlphaPlus for support regarding how best to work from home and how to reach and connect with learners from a distance. Many are also reflecting on the inevitable changes the pandemic will place on how they do their work in the future. Our technology coaching services are here, as ever, to support teams and learners navigating the remote learning and working landscape.

Expedited, short-term coaching available

Teams who require support to make rapid changes to their program delivery and communication methods are invited to reach out to access short-term technology coaching sessions. Our coaches can help teams quickly identify technologies and tools that suit their current unique needs and can help programs improve administrative processes while keeping in touch with learners.

To learn more or sign up for short-term coaching, contact Alan Cherwinski, Executive Director.

Learn more about quick tech help

Coaching Story: Niagara College

For this client coaching story, we spoke with Branne Plitnikas at Niagara College about working with a technology coach to implement Google Drive and Google Keep.

How did you work with your coach to assess your program’s digital literacy level?

Our associate dean is very supportive of professional development (PD) for her staff. Monika at AlphaPlus supported me in improving my digital skills so I could deliver an enhanced blended learning component into my classroom. She is also helping me learn to use iPads in our program and to improve our digital usage of applications with our students and is improving our familiarity with open educational resources (OER).

Describe the process of identifying your program’s technology needs and identifying the right tool, in this case, Google Drive.

Through multiple questions, Monika gained a comprehensive overview of how our curriculum and classroom subject disciplines operate within a classroom setting. After assessing my individual goals and skill set, she suggested tools that might benefit my own learning while also meeting my students’ needs. Google Drive has proven to be a simple and effective tool that has allowed both my students and me to become familiar with some digital technologies and apply them effectively in the classroom using computers and smartphones.

How does this tool serve your learners and improve your role as an educator?

My learners are now able to access their work through folders online, so if they miss a class, I deposit missed work into their respective folders. If they need a repeat of a lesson from class, I deposit that lesson into their folder, and they are free to review it at a time that works for them. Using Google Drive, students send me work that I can mark and send back to them. We also use it as a real-time communication tool. Here, students can indicate if they are sick or will be late — the app keeps them connected to their school in a way that they were not before.

I also use the Google Keep application for students’ plans of action (i.e. work that they are progressing through on a weekly basis and that’s due on a specific date). They can use the app to check off completed work, and we can both add and subtract work from their list. Google Keep can also be used on a smartphone.

Describe the training process you’ve followed to get comfortable using the tool and sharing it with learners.

My learning curve has been quite large, but implementing my new skill in the classroom has been wonderful and successful. My students are very supportive and engaged with the process as well. They can see that when I am in the role of learner, like them, my excitement in learning new things and experimenting and not knowing everything is positive and relatable. I take each student through the process of setting up a Gmail account (if they don’t already have one) and walk them through Google Drive, looking into their applicable folders, opening up documents I have placed in their drive, viewing their Google Keep application. This overview helps everyone get comfortable with the process.

What feedback have you received from learners and staff?

I sent out a Google Form to my students, which was another skill that my coach Monika taught me. The responses were positive from the students:

They are enjoying the use of Google Drive and Gmail within the classroom.
They said they like submitting their work to me online.
They enjoy contacting me through Gmail with questions of clarification and getting somewhat immediate responses.
They enjoy the digital homework list to keep track of their work so it is never lost.
They enjoy going into their folders for tracking sheets or missed work or repeat lessons.

How could others benefit from working with an AlphaPlus technology coach?

I would recommend coaching to those looking to increase their own digital literacy to help students. My experience has been very positive. I was incredibly nervous at first, but Monika has a way of putting the learner at ease. She made it so I could set my own learning pace and separated the learning into small, achievable goals. She is tailoring the learning to my program and course content. She also helped ensure that my new skill set is applicable to my needs and wants and meets the content and technology needs of students.

To learn more about technology coaching, contact Executive Director Alan Cherwinski by email at acherwinski@alphaplus.ca

Coaching Story: The Literacy Group (TLG) of Waterloo Region

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Quick Tech Story: Pandemic Response

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Coaching Story: Niagara College

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