In March, when we announced the retirement of AlphaPlus team member Christine Pinsent-Johnson, I promised to follow up with more personal reflections about Christine’s impact.

Christine joined the AlphaPlus staff team in 2018, after four years of collaborating with us as a freelance researcher. During her time with us, Christine has helped shape not only what we do but also how we think about supporting educators and communities.

AlphaPlus board member Farra Yasin puts Christine’s contributions into context:

“Christine is a well-respected scholar in adult literacy education who has made an invaluable contribution to our field. Her work addressed the emerging landscape of digital literacies in the 1990s and the era of social media to the present. Her research dug into the roots of large-scale assessment and its impact on education programming and policies. Her institutional knowledge and commitment to adult education programming will be missed, but I know she will continue to be an advocate of digital affordance to empower our communities.”

A voice for adult literacy educators in Ontario

Christine has always been a voice for the adult literacy sector, asking challenging questions of her AlphaPlus colleagues, the Ministry and the field as a whole. For example, she has consistently called attention to the barriers that learners and educators must overcome. Two lasting examples are the policy papers Christine co-authored with former AlphaPlus staff member Matthias Sturm. One paper illustrates how inequitable access to the internet affects adults in Ontario, and the other explores how adult education is the missing piece to bridging that digital divide.

Looking back, Christine describes the importance of this work: “I’m proud of these policy papers, which explored how the digital divide affects adult literacy learners. Those projects created space to step back and highlight challenges that practitioners experience but rarely have time to articulate themselves.”

Understanding teaching practice

With her empathy for the role educators play and the work they do, Christine has opened my eyes to two big lessons related to teaching practice. The first lesson was about shifting perspectives from deficit thinking. Rather than focusing on what learners are missing, start with what they’re already good at and the goals they want to achieve.
Christine has also re-centred reading and writing as the best long-term strategy for providing people with opportunities and power. At AlphaPlus, this has meant a shift from a “learning about tech” perspective on digital skills to an emphasis on the impact these technologies have on a learner’s ability to read and write.

Practical support that reduces the burden on educators

Christine has pushed very strongly to remind our team that educators, working in this system with all its challenges, don’t need more things to do or learn. Rather, they need us to reduce the burden for them. In the last few years, Christine has translated her insights and critiques of the problems in Ontario’s adult literacy system into practical solutions she has co-created:

• The open educational resources (OER) collection helps literacy programs access hundreds of free workbooks, online modules, learning activities and assessments.
• The Preparing Learners for the Canadian Adult Education Credential (CAEC) guide helps educators get up to speed with the digital, content and cognitive complexity changes learners will need to prepare for this new test.

“Developing an open educational resources collection and supporting educators as they began working with the new Canadian Adult Education Credential were also meaningful parts of my time here,” shares Christine. “Both aimed, in small ways, to ease pressures on educators’ limited time while offering flexible supports that respect their professional judgment and diverse teaching contexts.”

Christine’s legacy and impact on AlphaPlus

The expertise Christine brought to her role spanned policy, research, curriculum development and on-the-ground experience as a literacy volunteer, tutor coordinator and instructor. She created a mindset shift within AlphaPlus, and her influence will continue to shape our work for months and years to come. It feels fitting to leave the final word to her:

“While I’m stepping away from my formal position, I’m not leaving these conversations behind. I look forward to continuing to explore projects that highlight the amazing work and challenges that practitioners experience.

As I move on, I want to acknowledge the educators who sustain this field every day. Adult literacy work is often invisible, yet it calls for deep expertise, adaptability and commitment. I’m grateful for what I’ve learned from this community, and it has been a privilege to contribute in small ways to that ongoing work.”

Warmly,

Alan Cherwinski
Executive Director, AlphaPlus

Express yourself creatively

This June, join us for an exploration of how to keep creativity flowing in the literacy classroom. We are going to take a dive into resources, tools and approaches that support creative writing instruction. 

What to expect

In 3 Zoom sessions (90 minutes each), we will:

• Explore lesson plans that encourage creative expression, reading and writing.
• Tap into your own creativity.
• Expand your list of Open Education Resources. 
• Experiment with digital tools that can support writing skills and the development of digital competencies. 

Start the summer inspired

• Hearing what other instructors are doing in their classroom, how they are innovating, will help you see your work with fresh eyes and validate your experiences. 
• Having an opportunity to play and create is a powerful way to renew your energy, purpose, and excitement about your work.  
• After the workshops, take the summer to reflect upon what inspires you creatively and what might similarly inspire the learners in your program.

This training series is three workshops:  Wednesday June  10, 17 and 24, 2026 from 3:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.

See what other workshop series are coming up: Workshops at AlphaPlus

Or you may be interested in a quick update at a Lunch and Learn.

And to see what colleagues around the province are achieving with the help of educational technology, join us for a Virtual Showcase.

Lunch and Learn sessions are back this spring.

Get ready to level up your digital skills with two more Tips and Tricks sessions coming up in April and May 2026! Whether you’re looking to streamline your workflow, explore new tools, or stay ahead of tech trends, these quick 30-minute sessions are packed with practical insights and hands-on tips.

Here’s what’s coming up:

Don’t miss out! These sessions are perfect for anyone looking to stay sharp, save time, and make the most of today’s tech tools.

Learn more and see recordings from past sessions at https://alphaplus.ca/our-services/lunch-learn. 

You’ve told us that assessment in adult learning programs is complicated — and often frustrating. You’re working within a system that doesn’t always align with what you know about literacy development or what your learners need.

This is what we hear from your peers:

• Lack of alignment: The Ontario Adult Literacy Curriculum Framework (OALCF) isn’t aligned with the K-12 education system, creating knowledge gaps about literacy development, progress and expectations.
• Purpose of assessment: The current OALCF assessment system feels more like a funding and accountability tool than a means to support instruction or demonstrate meaningful learner achievement.
• Need for better tools: You want assessment tools that are relevant, easy to use, valid and reliable.
• Learner agency matters: Including learners’ knowledge of their own progress and achievements is crucial for effective assessment.

Two new resources to support your practice

Here’s why we created these for you:

We developed these resources to help you make sense of assessment complexities and give you practical tools to support your teaching and reporting.

1. Literacy Development Stages to Support Instruction and Assessment

Here’s how you can use this in your work:

This resource offers a comprehensive, concise description of how we all acquire the skills, strategies and knowledge needed to become capable readers and writers.

Unlike the OALCF and many other frameworks — which rely on conceptual models — the

stages approach was derived from observations of actual teaching and learning. The five stages describe literacy development from emergent to highly advanced. Adult learners in foundational programs typically work within Stages 1, 2 and 3 (roughly equivalent to Grades 1–12).

Each stage includes:

• Instructional priorities
• Indicators of accomplishment
• Linked OER assessments

2. Using OALCF Milestones and Culminating Tasks with Canadian Adult Education Credential (CAEC) Learners

Here’s how you can use this in your work:

This new section helps you complete reports for CAEC learners and avoid introducing barriers when using milestones and culminating tasks.

CAEC tests and OALCF tests were built using different design principles, so learners need different knowledge, skills and strategies to complete them. You’ll also find an analysis of key limitations:

• Reading milestones across all three levels fall within a narrow difficulty range (roughly Grades 10–13), meaning learners need approximately Grade 10 reading ability to complete Level 1.
• Milestone levels are inconsistent — for example, Level 2 reading milestones are often harder than Level 3.
• Writing milestones at Level 3 don’t require integrating evidence to support claims, a key CAEC expectation.
• Math milestones lack the breadth and depth of problem-solving required by the CAEC.
• Technology milestones are more predictable, but employment training consultants interpret them inconsistently.

Given these inconsistencies, decisions about milestones and culminating tasks should focus on minimizing learning barriers — not assumptions about ability.

Explore the resources

Ready to dig in? Access both resources now:

• Literacy Development Stages to Support Instruction and Assessment

• Using OALCF Milestones and Culminating Tasks with CAEC Learners

We’d love to hear how you use these in your practice — reach out anytime.

Join us for a new workshop series: Create an Online Learning Site

In this three-workshop series, you will learn how to create an online space in Google sites to communicate and collaborate with learners.  

Why do I need an online learning site?

Here are some reasons we have been discussing at AlphaPlus and why we think you might enjoy these workshops.

• Meet learner expectations
  An online learning site can help meet learner’s expectations to find information easily online and lets learners connect to learning materials from anywhere at any time.

• Develop lifelong learning skills
  Your site can provide a centralized platform for sharing information, resources, and interactive learning experiences and promotes lifelong learning by modelling the ways we can stay updated with the latest knowledge in online environments.

• Streamline classroom communications
  You can cut down on the number of handouts and emails you need to share and the strategies you use to remember with whom you shared them.

• Tailor your site to your specific needs
  You can develop your site to meet your specific communication and collaboration needs and the needs of learners who attend your program. You can use the site as a simple communication space and post announcements, events, and calendars as well as course outlines and learning pathways with links to assignments, study materials and resources. Or you can create mini-courses with embedded reading materials, interactive slides and quizzes.

Come with your own ideas or join us to be inspired

Of course, you may arrive at the workshops with your own reasons for creating a site. Whether you come with ideas or are joining to be inspired, you will have an opportunity to develop a plan.

The training series is three workshops on Wednesday, April 15, 22, 29, 2026 from 3:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.

In 3 Zoom sessions (90 minutes each), we will:

• Enhance your understanding of what learners need in an online learning space (we will discuss the different ways teachers are using online spaces)
• Create a Google site that you can adapt to your needs and the needs of the learners (we will guide you through the process of setting up a site and adding elements — you can build alongside the facilitators or watch the demonstrations and build later)
• Expand your list of teaching resources (we will encourage participants to share resources that learners love to populate the sites we build)

Note: This is a repeat of a workshop series we did last October. You are welcome to register again if you were unable to attend last time or if you’d like a refresher.

See what other workshop series are coming up in the next few months: Workshops at AlphaPlus

Or you may be interested in a quick update at a Lunch and Learn.

And to see what colleagues around the province are achieving with the help of educational technology, join us for a Virtual Showcase.

In this three-workshop series, facilitated by Tom Driscoll, learn about a powerful and practical set of strategies known as “visible thinking routines” that can help enhance literacy instruction. 

Making lessons more engaging

You can apply these routines to existing instructional materials to enhance learners’ ability to activate prior knowledge, make connections and predictions, retain information, think critically, and more!  

In 3 Zoom sessions (90 minutes each), we will discuss:

• Workshop 1 Theme:  What are visible thinking routines, how do they help learners, and what do they look like in action?
• Workshop 2 Theme: How can educational technologies enhance visible thinking strategies?
• Workshop 3 Theme:  How can I utilize visible thinking strategies with my existing resources?

The training series is three workshops:

• Wednesday March 4, 11, 18, 2026 from 3:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.

If you’re interested, secure your spot. And don’t forget to invite tutors working in your programs.

Note: This is a repeat of a workshop series we did last May. You are welcome to register again if you were unable to attend last time or if you’d like a refresher.

See what other workshop series are coming up in the next few months: Workshops at AlphaPlus

Or you may be interested in a quick update at a Lunch and Learn.

And to see what colleagues around the province are achieving with the help of educational technology, join us for a Virtual Showcase.

This February, join us for a four-workshop series about different approaches to helping learners understand the presence of artificial intelligence in their daily lives.

February 5, 12, 19, and 26 from 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

Our daily life and AI

Artificial intelligence is now widespread, and more people are using it regularly at work and in their personal lives. The changes brought about by this technology require us to develop critical thinking skills to remain informed citizens and stay in control of our digital environment.

Explore resources with teachers

We have been researching learning resources that can help learners understand the presence of artificial intelligence in their daily lives. We  are inviting you to explore them with us and curate your own collection.

We will take a look at learning resources that: 

• Enhance our knowledge of how AI works and how to evaluate its outputs
• Expand our capacity to detect images and content produced by AI
• Encourage learners to reflect on the use of AI in their learning journey

These resources include teacher-facing guides, instructions, objectives and/or teaching tips and support instructors to:

• Cover a topic comprehensively.
• Build a series of lessons that flow together. 
• Co-learn rather than feel pressure to be the expert.

Become part of a cohort of creative teachers in a facilitated, collaborative environment

• Engage with peers in rich conversations about the practice of teaching.
• Explore examples of resources that support teaching and learning in adult literacy programs.
• Curate a selection of co-learning resources to use with learners.

Attendance policy 😊

We hope that you will find all the workshops relevant to your work and will want to attend the complete series. We think it will be beneficial to the group to have a cohort that develops a discussion over four weeks but we also know that people are busy and have to make choices. We will share an outline so that you will have the information you need to make the choices that work for you.

To learn more, contact Tracey and Guylaine directly.

Join us February 5, 12, 19 and 26 between 11:30 p.m. and 1:00 p.m. .

See what other workshop series are coming up in the next few months: Workshops at AlphaPlus

Or you may be interested in a quick update at a Lunch and Learn.

Would you like to use your learners’ daily lives to better answer their learning needs?
Join us for a series of 3 workshops in which you will explore different ways to use learners’ daily tasks to create activities that develop digital skills, other skills and knowledge.

We will look at how to go from a simple daily activity such as using a web mapping app to identify digital skills that can be developed through various means.

The training series is three workshops on Wednesday, January 14, 21, 28, 2026, from 3:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.

In 3 Zoom sessions (90 minutes each), we will:

• Explore how integrating daily-life technology supports literacy learning
• Expand your list of apps and websites that support learners in completing daily life tasks and accessing resources
• Develop a practice of integrating daily life apps and websites into curriculum and lesson plans

See what other workshop series are coming up in the next few months: Workshops at AlphaPlus

Or you may be interested in a quick update at a Lunch and Learn.

And to see what colleagues around the province are achieving with the help of educational technology, join us for a Virtual Showcase.

Enjoyed our Lunch and Learn sessions this Spring and Fall? 

Get ready to level up your digital skills with two more Tips and Tricks sessions coming up in January/February 2026! Whether you’re looking to streamline your workflow, explore new tools, or stay ahead of tech trends, these quick 30-minute sessions are packed with practical insights and hands-on tips.

Here’s what’s coming up:

Tuesday, January 6, 2026 | 12:30 – 1:00 PM

Stay ahead with the latest in AI! Discover new and innovative AI tools, explore advancements in assistants like ChatGPT, Copilot, and Gemini, learn how to apply AI in your daily work, experiment with advanced prompts and customization, and more.

Tuesday, February 10, 2026 | 12:30 – 1:00 PM

Boost your online presence! Learn how to set up a free Google Business Profile so customers can find you on Google Search and Maps, explore current social media trends, find out whether hashtags still matter, and discover tools for content creation and graphics management, and more.

Don’t miss out! These sessions are perfect for anyone looking to stay sharp, save time, and make the most of today’s tech tools.

Learn more and see recordings from past sessions at https://alphaplus.ca/our-services/lunch-learn.