Where can an AlphaPlus technology coach take your adult literacy program? For Randie Doornink, what started as a way to get answers to her Google Workspace questions turned into a systems upgrade that transformed collaboration, communication and the sustainability of her organization.
Randie is the interim executive director at Almaguin Adult Learning Centre (AALC). The Centre provides adult literacy upgrading and training across the Almaguin Highlands, with satellite offices in Powassan, South River and Burk’s Falls, serving a total of 17 small communities. Like other adult literacy programs, AALC had adopted many new technologies in recent years, but by late 2024, Randie was grappling with the need for a more co-ordinated approach.
From Google Workspace questions to a coaching partnership
“We had a strong, ongoing relationship with AlphaPlus for years and often engaged with their research, training, information resources and advice,” explains Randie. “So when an opportunity for technology coaching came up, I requested help with Google Workspace, which we’d had for several years without using it to its full potential.”
Randie connected with Monika Jankowska-Pacyna, one of two AlphaPlus technology coaches.
“I started by answering Randie’s specific questions about how to use tools in Google Workspace. Then we started considering ideas for integrating it into their operations and programming. One challenge that emerged was inconsistent use,” says Monika. “Multiple team members were using Google Classroom, but just a few were using Calendar, Forms or Drive. Zoom, rather than Meet, was their primary video meeting platform, and no one was using Chat to stay connected across the sites.”
Using technology to support succession and stability
As Monika and Randie began to tackle these daily tool issues, a larger question arose. After a series of senior staffing changes, new hires, as well as the staff team doubling in a very short time, how could technology support the team during rapid growth and leadership changes? Operations manager Anne Walsh joined the coaching conversation as it shifted to ways technology could help with consistency, stability, succession and contingency planning.
“Winging it was no longer sustainable. For example, we have many documents and forms that are frequently updated, and with the growth of our team, saving copies on individual hard drives had become quite the challenge,” explains Randie. “Not only did Monika help us through the major project of organizing our Google Drive and helping our instructors use it more effectively, she also researched and curated useful resources — everything from templates for role descriptions to succession planning documents.”
Bringing the whole team on board
After several months of working as a trio via Zoom, Randie and Anne invited Monika to provide Google Workspace in-person training for the full team. A professional development gathering they were planning was a golden opportunity to introduce new tools and empower the staff to feel included in building for the future together.
In late summer 2025, Monika joined the team’s training days in South River. She provided a structured Google Workspace training and also created a “sandbox” experience filled with opportunities to experiment, troubleshoot and learn.
“Providing in-person support for the full team allowed me to make deeper connections, understand, and guide individual members,” says Monika. “I strongly believe in the mantra of ‘Tell me and I will forget, show me and I may remember, involve me and I will understand.’ They weren’t only seeing a presentation. They were testing, asking questions and discussing options, and I think it worked.”
According to Randie and Anne, it did. The team left the experience having built knowledge and confidence and having levelled competencies.
The impact: Confidence, efficiency and sustainability
“It’s only a few months later, and we’re already experiencing the benefits of having everyone on the same platform. Now, we’re all using Google Chat, Drive and a shared Calendar,” says Randie. “These changes have improved internal efficiency and clarity, which in turn means learners experience more consistent programs, better communication and smoother transitions into school or work environments that use similar tools.”
Coaching the AALC team benefited Monika as well. “We learn from every program we work with, building knowledge that we can take with us to the next group. This team is small but very mighty, working across a large geographical area. Joining them in person gave me an insight into the program setup and the specific needs and realities of working within more remote communities, in a way I would not have been able to via Zoom alone.”
For Anne, the highlight of working with an AlphaPlus coach was driving progress and inspiring a culture shift towards organizational excellence. “Our experience with Monika gave us a boost of excitement and a feeling of possibility that will continue to colour how we move forward, improving our systems and ultimately continuing to succeed in having an impact in the community.”
Are you ready to work with a technology coach?
For Randie and the AALC team, coaching began with a few Google Workspace questions and grew into a broader shift toward efficiency, confidence and organizational sustainability. What might working with a technology coach do for you?
Our tech coaches Monika and Guylaine Vinet (who works in English and French) are ready to work with a new group of individuals and organizations. And remember: our coaching is free for adult literacy programs in Ontario!
Learn more about what you can gain from working with a technology coach, then email either monika@alphaplus.ca or guylaine@alphaplus.ca to get started.
Last October, I received a phone call from Jeannine (not her real name), an administrator at a local adult literacy program who was looking for training. However, I quickly discovered that training wasn’t what she really needed.
Jeannine was trying to find a recording of a past eight-part Microsoft 365 training series. Since we had designed the series for educators, I dug a little deeper into her request. It turned out that her problem was much simpler than she realized. She needed help setting up a form for a board meeting. So instead of training, I offered to help her create the form.
This conversation with Jeannine was an enlightening reminder of the lack of digital tech support that many adult literacy programs face. It was also a reminder that not everyone’s aware of the support that AlphaPlus can provide!
At AlphaPlus, our role is to help adult literacy education professionals in Ontario use digital technology. That can sometimes mean big-picture roles, like advocating for systems-level change. Sometimes, it can mean providing information and training to help teachers integrate technology and innovate in their teaching practice. It can mean coaching administrators through system upgrades and the adoption of new technology.
But sometimes our role means working with you directly to help you overcome small day-to-day digital technology hurdles. In fact, we encourage you to reach out to us with small problems because:
We have the time to help you through the small stuff. We’re professionals who examine how digital tools shape adult-literacy teaching and learning, but because we don’t directly deliver programming, we have the time and flexibility to help you solve problems or look at things differently. And because we have experience across different technology platforms and have worked with programs across the province, we may have seen similar struggles or challenges before. We can tap into our breadth of experiences and knowledge to help you get unstuck.
Our interactions with you have informed our programming in 2025, from the topics we’ve featured to the formats we’ve used to convene, support and share knowledge with you. We’ve taken new approaches such as examining digital curricula together, supporting your use of digital assessment tools like CAEC and offering easy-to-digest technology tips. Participation in our programs — including professional development, lunch and learns and virtual showcases — has grown, and the feedback has been positive. We want to keep that momentum going in 2026 by continuing to work closely with you.
As for Jeannine, I asked her for a sample of the form she wanted to create then made a version in Microsoft 365 for her to review. Over the phone, I walked her through the available features, helping her create her own version step by step. Her real frustration was figuring out how to use the digital tools she had at her disposal to complete her task. She was happy to get oriented. I was glad to help get her unstuck, and since then, she has come back for specific suggestions and next steps to learn more about Microsoft 365.
As we enter 2026, we’re resolved to connecting directly with more professionals like Jeannine to offer quick technology help — but we need your help to do so. We invite you to make this resolution: skip the struggle with digital technology and come straight to AlphaPlus. Start by emailing me directly. If I’m not the right person to help, I’ll connect you with a team member who is.
I look forward to hearing from you in 2026!
Alan Cherwinski, Executive Director
What high-stakes tests are used in adult education programs and how do they influence instruction? How do they help or hinder our understanding of literacy and numeracy development and instruction?
We started thinking more about testing, and assessment in general, while analyzing the new Canadian Adult Education Credential (CAEC). Our analysis led to a report and, more recently, an online guide for instructors. (Please join us for an orientation to the guide on December 3 from 3 to 4 p.m.)
The introduction of the CAEC presents new opportunities for learners. Here are some positive features of this new secondary equivalency credential:
While there are positives, we also recognize that CAEC raises challenges. Many learners encounter digital inequities and are disadvantaged by the move to computer-based testing. Educators need professional development, opportunities to share knowledge and online resources they can use with their learners. As a field, we also need to recognize we’re faced with yet another testing model.
Assessment in the adult learning system is complex, involving three distinct sectors, each with its own testing priorities. Layered over the sectoral approaches is the funder’s accountability testing, which operates separately.
Learners could encounter multiple high-stakes tests as they move from one sector to another and within a sector. Programs also use a variety of non-standardized tests and assessment protocols (e.g. observation, projects, program-developed tests, essays) to place learners in courses, monitor literacy and numeracy abilities, and determine readiness for further learning and earning opportunities.
Although the stated aim of accountability testing is to provide information about progress and goal completion, this aim hasn’t been validated. Previous analysis, and more importantly, the field’s approach to assessment and instruction, indicate the tests don’t actually provide useful feedback. Most programs across all sectors manage two distinct instructional and assessment systems: one for accountability and one to help learners develop particular literacy and numeracy abilities to meet their goals.
The layering of accountability testing overtop of sectoral testing not only increases administrative burdens and workloads for instructors and program administrators, but it also complicates an already complex system. Does accountability testing actually align with other high-stakes tests such as the Accuplacer used for college admission or the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test, a high school graduation requirement?
With numerous high-stakes tests in use, all operating in distinct ways and producing results that are challenging to compare, we’re at risk of preparing learners only for the tests.
We’re also at risk of allowing tests to co-ordinate our teaching practices. This could have detrimental effects for learners if they don’t have access to sound literacy and numeracy instruction that connects to their experiences and goals.
As educators, what do we really want to learn through assessment? If our priority is helping learners achieve their goals — whether that means passing a test, doing well in a specific course or helping their kids with homework — then we need to know:
But there’s a lack of co-ordination and discussion about these questions, and we’d like to change that.
Do you have thoughts you’d like to share about assessment? We’d like to hear them and work together to build a more co-ordinated and thoughtful approach to assessment.
Please join us for an initial discussion on January 7 from 3 to 4 p.m. Register here to share your assessment-related experiences, challenges, work-arounds and solutions.
Learning to distinguish reliable information from disinformation, misinformation and fake news requires an understanding of both the media landscape and how to apply critical thinking skills within it. For educators working with adult learners, teaching information literacy adds complexity to the challenge of building literacy and digital skills.
To support educators, AlphaPlus hosted a community of practice exploring information literacy in June 2025. We examined a set of curriculum resources on information literacy and discussed various topics, including verifying information online, understanding algorithms and information zones, and how journalism works. We also discussed the challenges educators face, including anxiety about navigating the information landscape, access to reliable sources and the difficulty of taking the time to critically analyze content.
Our time together left us contemplating questions about skill-building, tools and resources, and how to address topics in various contexts with a diverse range of learners. As one next step, we decided to share a closer look at the experiences and approaches of one of your peers: Wendy Teahen, group instructor at The Literacy Group in Kitchener.
Like others, Wendy was motivated to participate in our June conversations by a mix of concern and practical need as well as the information coming out of the Canadian election news cycle in early 2025:
“The community of practice was promoted shortly after the elections. I had been noticing inflammatory, fear-based advertisements: one example depicted political leaders in handcuffs. I knew that this content was designed to scare people, that it’s easy for anyone to get caught up in it, and that if I was seeing it, others were as well. I wanted a way to help learners critically evaluate these stories and images,” explains Wendy.
Wendy, who primarily teaches reading, writing and computer classes, often hears examples of the overwhelming and confusing information landscape. In conversations before class, her students will sometimes mention articles they’ve read or other content they’ve been thinking about. According to Wendy, learners may not realize they’ve been looking at completely fabricated news or other forms of disinformation:
“We want learners to be able to think about the signs that a media post or article is not accurate to help them identify what is genuine, credible news.”
“I like to help learners think critically about information sources; to sit back, look at and research each one. I show learners tools like reverse Google image search and lateral reading to confirm or review a topic or source they are unsure about,” says Wendy. “Ellii (formerly ESL Library), The Westcoast Reader (a newsletter from B.C.) and News For You (an American news source) offer current news stories adapted for lower literacy levels with links to original sources, which helps with credibility and allows learners to do further research.”
To balance the weight of negative stories, Wendy also incorporates stories from Good News Network, a website featuring positive news stories from around the world. “For difficult topics like climate change, for example, if we only have negative stories, it makes people want to shut down. Looking at positive news about subtopics like renewable energy, countries with zero emissions and the restoration of coral reefs can help support our learners’ interest in global current events and meaningfully engage in discussions.”
Wendy offers a few additional tips from her practice of incorporating information literacy in adult literacy teaching:
Educators like Wendy are innovating within their teaching practice, but they’re working around gaps in resources available for teaching adults. Materials that we reviewed together in June, like Checkology and CTRL-F, are useful but youth-focused. Websites featuring news articles for lower literacy learners (such as those that Wendy uses) lack Canadian or local content. These gaps leave educators with the work of adapting content.
Moving forward, to equip adult learners navigating misinformation and disinformation, the adult literacy education field in Ontario needs to bridge the efforts, strategies and approaches of individual teachers like Wendy with additional support. Our field needs teaching tools and other resources specifically designed for adult literacy learners as well as opportunities to share challenges, practices and tips.
For now, Wendy emphasizes the importance of having conversations, not being afraid to look at the bigger picture and conveying an understanding that anyone can be misled.
“Encourage adult learners to ask questions; we know that’s a key part of adult literacy. Ask them to bring you things that they’ve read or seen and found interesting so you can review and discuss them together.”
Information literacy is a literacy skill, a digital skill and a life skill. At AlphaPlus, we’ll continue to explore this topic and provide support: offering resources, sharing your peers’ perspectives and creating space for conversation.
To learn more about our recent community of practice and the resources we explored, read the June recap and summary guides. And as always, contact Guylaine or Tracey with questions or ideas.
Have you been thinking about offering test preparation for the new Canadian Adult Education Credential (CAEC)? Do you need help supporting learners as they prepare to take these tests? As we kick off the academic year, we have a new guide to help you.
In the spring of 2024, the Canadian Adult Education Credential (CAEC) was released. This new credential replaces the GED® for Canadian adults seeking a secondary equivalency. While the CAEC offers important and useful changes from the GED®, it requires significant teaching and background knowledge, and the transition to a digital platform has implications for both test-taking and literacy. Until now, little support has been available to build teachers’ knowledge so they can assist learners.
New guide available: Preparing for the Canadian Adult Education Credential (CAEC)
AlphaPlus is pleased to unveil a new, comprehensive guide to help you learn about the new CAEC and support adult learners. The guide includes teaching tips, curriculum planning outlines, lesson routines, and other resources. Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll find inside:
Check out this brand-new guide and get up to speed with the digital, content, and cognitive complexity changes you will need to understand to support learners with the CAEC.
Additionally, please let us know your thoughts on the content of the guide so far and what you’d like to see added. We welcome your feedback! Complete the form to let us know what you’d like to see in the guide.
This June, we invited Ontario adult literacy instructors to join a community of practice to discuss information literacy and examine a set of curriculum resources on the topic. This was our most popular community of practice to date in terms of both registration and live participation, which tells us that the topic is timely, helpful and worth sharing a recap with those who could not attend — and those who did!
Here’s a high-level overview of what took place during our four sessions.
Throughout the sessions, we explored the pressing issues of information literacy, misinformation and disinformation in today’s information landscape.
We live in a time when reliable information often comes with a price tag, and individuals are bombarded with questionable free content. It has become increasingly challenging for adult literacy instructors to help learners distinguish between credible and misleading information sources. One of the critical areas we explored was how to develop foundational skills for evaluating information effectively.
Participants were highly engaged in the conversations, sharing their thoughts and experiences and demonstrating a deep commitment to addressing the challenges posed by misinformation. As a group, we were very engaged in examining the curriculum materials, gaining a deeper understanding of the topic to feel more confident in our subject knowledge.
Several overarching themes emerged during our discussions, including the following:
Tracey has repurposed the session slide decks, turning them into guides on the following topics:
Read through the guides to learn about the essentials of what we talked about and how to use a particular curriculum resource, and to consider how you can integrate these resources into your curriculum. You can find the guides at the bottom of our Curriculum Resources page.
Questions we’re left grappling with
The sessions left us with several thought-provoking questions, such as:
These questions underscore the complexities involved in teaching information literacy, and they highlight the work ahead.
Teaching information literacy is challenging both conceptually and pedagogically. It’s not easy, but our consensus is that it’s worthwhile.
Although this round of sessions has concluded, we remain committed to this vital topic. We’re considering our next steps: how to support you in helping your learners develop their information literacy skills. In the meantime, please reach out directly to either Guylaine or Tracey to explore and talk through this topic together. We’re here to help.
Have you met Tracey Mollins, an AlphaPlus team member and our professional learning specialist in education and technology? Tracey is our internal lead for professional development and training. She’s the driving force behind many of the in-depth learning series and professional communities we facilitate for adult literacy educators.
Tracey and Guylaine Vinet (see our Q&A with Guylaine and Christine Pinsent-Johnson) are preparing to host a series of gatherings exploring information literacy in June. Check out this interview to get to know Tracey and learn more about what to expect from the gatherings.
I’m here to support teachers looking to expand or enhance their practice in some way: by learning new things, reflecting on current practices, sharing ideas with others — or all three. I try to learn what teachers want to learn and how they like to learn it and then experiment to figure out what’s actually possible. In many ways, I bring my experience as a literacy instructor to the work I do now.
I aim to create an experience where teachers can engage in activities and reflect on them from a perspective they haven’t considered before. I try to create a shell for them — a guided process for reflection that will be helpful, allow for open outcomes and, hopefully, move their practice somewhere. I enjoy the balance of making the container tight enough that everyone has a good, supported experience but loose enough that surprising things can happen.
Any time you get adult literacy teachers together to talk about their practice, it’s an interesting time. They’re very thoughtful about their work and focused on creating good learning experiences for the huge diversity of people that come into their programs or our field as a whole. We want to encourage and make space for that to happen.
We know that adult literacy educators want to talk to learners about information literacy. But because the topic is constantly changing, it’s really hard to navigate and maintain your expertise on it.
We’ve discovered a suite of valuable online information literacy curriculum resources designed to support teachers’ work. We decided to offer an exploratory, conversational experience where Ontario adult literacy educators can examine the materials together and discuss how to use them.
First, participants will experience the information literacy curriculum materials as learners. Then they’ll step back and think as classroom teachers and instructional designers. We’ll reflect on questions like:
We’ll meet once a week over four weeks, with space between each session for the information to settle and gel, and for participants to reflect and think things through.
At a minimum, participants will learn something new about information literacy, which will be fun. This will also be an opportunity to have a conversation with their peers about teaching — a chance they don’t often get. However, the biggest benefit we’re hoping for is for participants to return to these curriculum resources when information literacy questions arise. They’ll be ready to review specific topics as co-learners in the classroom. They don’t have to be experts.
Participants can attend for any one of these benefits. Come and see how it goes!
Guylaine and I will be collaborating to deliver these sessions. Guylaine is a librarian at heart. She really understands information literacy as well as equitable access to good information that helps us understand and participate in our communities. She’s also an amazing facilitator. As a teacher, my excitement and energy come from being in a room where someone is learning something new or grappling with a challenge. With Guylaine’s librarian experience and my classroom experience with literacy learners, we’re a good complement to each other.
These sessions will take place in June, when we’re getting ready for the summer. So come and spend these four weeks with us in a delightful atmosphere of thinking about something new or in a different way. Let’s share that space with each other and create something new for ourselves.
Get the full details and register for our upcoming community of practice: Empowering Educators with Curriculum. If you have questions, contact Tracey or Guylaine directly — they’ll be happy to help.
Is there a big technology project you need to tackle for your adult literacy program? Where should you start? According to Andrea Maggrah, executive director at Atikokan Literacy Incorporated’s Adult Learning Centre, the answer for programs in Ontario is simple: get help from an AlphaPlus technology coach.
When Andrea started working in her current position in June 2023, she was relatively new to the adult literacy field. As she got oriented to the organization, which had undergone several leadership changes, Andrea identified two potential areas for technology improvement: the website and file sharing.
“Our website was built on a platform that none of our employees had experience managing. To make content changes, we needed to work with an external person, and co-ordinating that in a timely way was a challenge,” explains Andrea. “As for document management, we were each mostly working on our local drives, and we needed to have a way to share certain types of documents. I wanted to make everyone’s life easier and more efficient — and eliminate the need to interrupt someone working with a student just to get a document!”
Andrea’s search for solutions led her to the AlphaPlus website: “I saw that AlphaPlus offers coaching for adult literacy providers, so I contacted them about the cost. I was amazed to discover that there’s a group of people with this level of knowledge about both technology and adult literacy providing these services for free.”
Andrea was connected with Monika Jankowska-Pacyna. Monika is an organizational development specialist in education and technology and one of the team members who delivers one-on-one coaching. Monika and Andrea started by meeting to discuss Atikokan Literacy’s needs.
After their initial meeting, Andrea and Monika created a plan that outlined their priorities, the types of support Monika would provide (including guidance, training and direct hands-on support) and the frequency of their meetings. Monika suggested using Google tools for a unified solution: transitioning to Google Sites for the website and adopting Google Workspace for file and document management.
Andrea and Monika began meeting every two weeks. During their calls, Monika provided assistance, answered questions, set up next steps and then left the team to do their part until the next check-in two weeks later.
Implementing technology change is not always straightforward. For Monika and Andrea, hurdles and setbacks have included missing information about who managed access to the domain, difficulties making technical changes with the hosting provider and waiting periods within the Google Workspace setup. In addition, in the middle of the project, Atikokan Literacy acquired a new building. This opportunity to expand programming was good news, but it forced another pause in the technology projects.
“We ran into delays, but with the program’s patience and trust in us, we persisted,” says Monika, “Many small literacy programs are in the same situation, and we work hard to help them find their footing. We do a lot of checking, research and support, and we guide them through the changes. Our coaching support is not only about training but also about helping programs through the process when obstacles arise.”
“Monika was incredibly accommodating: if we needed to pause, she was happy to wait for us,” reflects Andrea. “And she’s on top of every challenge or question we have. Even if she doesn’t have the answer, she’s already thinking about who she can contact, refer us to and get us to the point we need to reach.”
Today, Andrea is pleased to be making progress toward her original vision. Atikokan Literacy will soon have a new website with staff trained to manage content and updates. They will be equipped to use their newly acquired Google Sites knowledge to build additional websites for specific programs if necessary, and they are building and organizing Google folders for the team. Andrea is also starting to work with AlphaPlus on a new potential project: using digital technology to share a new curriculum with other literacy programs in the North and elsewhere.
“I’ve learned a lot from these coaching sessions, including how to do some of the processes that I didn’t have under my belt before,” says Andrea. “Knowing that a place like AlphaPlus is available to us and that we don’t have to figure it all out on our own is really amazing and valuable. If you’re apprehensive about technology change, that is the very reason to reach out and get the support of an AlphaPlus coach.”
A new round of coaching spots is open for spring 2025. Contact us to learn more about how you can implement technology change with the support of an AlphaPlus technology coach.
Are you passionate about teaching adult learners — and having the best tools to do it?
Join our email-based tour of the AlphaPlus Open educational resources (OER) collection. This is your opportunity to delve into a library of open and modifiable resources carefully curated and vetted by your fellow Ontario adult literacy educators.
Sign up today to unlock:
Don’t miss out. Join your fellow educators who are already benefiting from these valuable resources. Sign up for the discovery series today!
Have you met Christine Pinsent-Johnson and Guylaine Vinet? They’re the AlphaPlus team members behind the open educational resources (OER) collection, an online library of resources that you may already be using.
The story of the collection began a few years ago. In response to the need for digital materials that adult literacy instructors could use with remote learners during the pandemic, Christine and Guylaine started exploring available resources. They discovered a range of free materials being developed and distributed, including open resources that could be modified for educational purposes.
Their exploration evolved into a project to build an online library of open resources. Tapping into Guylaine’s library science expertise and Christine’s background in teaching as well as co-ordinating and supporting educators, they collaborated with an advisory group of Ontario literacy professionals from community and school board programs, representing both urban and rural settings.
Today, the OER collection boasts over 200 educational resources for adult literacy teaching, many of which can be adapted to suit your needs. Read this interview to learn more about the collection and to meet the team behind it.
Q: How do you hope educators will benefit from using this collection?
Christine: Over the years, there’s been a significant change in publishing and resource access. As adult literacy educators, we used to receive a catalogue of resources from booksellers. You would simply search through it, and the work of curating, purchasing and sharing was handled. Today, all of that has disappeared, and finding resources, assessing their quality and building a personal collection is extremely time-consuming. We’ve taken on the searching, curating and organizing work to provide a tailored and ready-made collection specifically for adult literacy educators in Ontario.
Q: How did you decide what resources to include?
Guylaine: The working group confirmed our initial criteria to guide curation decisions and told us what they needed: modifiable and open resources focusing on the core domains of reading, writing, digital skills, mathematics and numeracy. We established that instructional resources had to be free, modifiable, reproducible and ready-to-use and had to include teaching tips and guidance.
At first, the open resources we found were mostly academic and didn’t meet the needs of our audience. So we looked at who might be publishing what learners need. Christine was very proactive, contacting the organizations directly. We discovered that valuable, relevant materials that instructors don’t have the time to explore and uncover are available. We reviewed and evaluated hundreds of options, but only select resources were included in our collection.
Q: What are some of your favourite resources in the OER collection and why?
Christine: Phonics — if you’re looking elsewhere, you might end up paying for a comprehensive package. But we found two completely free, open, comprehensive examples that we included in the collection. And the collection from Decoda in British Columbia [please verify] was a wonderful surprise: a comprehensive set of modifiable, open workbooks.
Guylaine: We’re also hearing that instructors are excited about the sections on basic math, empowering learners, literacy development supports, and resources to update educators’ skills and knowledge.
Are there any innovative or unique aspects of this collection that you’d like to highlight?
Christine: Two things stand out. Because websites change — for example, they move or are taken down — we’ve made modified resources available in a Google Drive collection. The other is the traffic light (red, yellow, green) system we developed to help users distinguish between copyrighted, shareable and modifiable resources.
Q: What are your plans for adding to or evolving the collection?
Christine: The collection is currently quite comprehensive. When we receive suggestions, we often find they’re covered. However, we recognize that many of the resources are PDF workbooks designed for pen and paper, so we’ve been considering making them more interactive to encompass learning and digital skills and support hybrid learning.
Q: What advice do you have for educators using the collection for the first time?
Guylaine: Make yourself a cup of coffee and browse like you’re flipping through a catalogue, starting with where your interest is. Start where your question is, for example, Is there anything for reading and intermediate learners? Begin with your most pressing question or issue and as you browse, you might find other helpful content.
Q: What else do adult literacy educators in Ontario need to know about the collection?
Christine: Access to good content is only one part of the AlphaPlus approach. We think a lot about how to help adult literacy educators use content and knowledge. This project aligns with our philosophy of leveraging technology and tools, modelling what can be done and supporting educators in integrating products into their programs. We’re here to support you further through our services.
Explore the collection: Sign up for the guided tour
Are you ready to explore the OER collection?
We know the collection is vast and you might need help getting oriented. That’s why we’ve created an email-based guided tour starting in March. Learn more and join us for the OER discovery series.