In early 2020, Metro Toronto Movement for Literacy (MTML) was grappling with several digital technology issues. Their website had been corrupted three years earlier and had not been replaced.

2020 has been like no other for our coaching team! It has been busy, hectic —and yes — sometimes overwhelming. Many programs reached out to our team to ask for ideas, support and training in the unexpected and fast shift to working from home and delivering their services remotely. It was also extremely rewarding to see these programs try new things, build up their confidence and then take off with so many great ideas.

Canva is a simple graphic design software that allows you to create beautiful web graphics, flyers, posters, Facebook covers, and more. With a variety of layouts and quick drag-and-drop features it is a great tool for professional layouts and consistently stunning graphics. Whether it is for your program, your students or yourself you will absolutely love this tool! […]

As the popularity of social media increases, we thought it would be a good idea to revisit HootSuite, a social media dashboard that helps you to consolidate, update and track what’s going on in your social network circle – all from one single location.

Many literacy practitioners and organizations are becoming active on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn, but managing multiple social media channels can get a bit overwhelming and time consuming.

Google Docs, a free, web-based office suite and data storage service offered by Google, includes Google Forms – a tool that allows users to quickly create and administer simple polls, subscriptions, tests or questionnaires.

With 97 themes that can be quickly applied to the form and seven question types to choose from, Google Forms can be a great tool for practitioners to use to give online quizzes, organize contests, manage registrations, or gather feedback. Students can also practice their digital skills by learning how to fill out various forms and by quickly setting up their own polls or questionnaires as part of an assignment or project.

When I was asked to talk about AlphaPlus at one of the literacy conferences, I was worried…

Not only I am a big chicken when it comes to speaking in front of a big audience, but I am also not a big fan of PowerPoint. We have all been to sessions where there is too much text on the slides and the presenter, overwhelmed with all of the content, simply reads from the screen.

MailChimp is an online tool that makes it easy to design and send visual emails, manage your subscribers and track your campaign’s performance. Did we mention that mail list management, archiving, subscribe options, auto-responding, customized forms and templates, plus many other great features are included in a free account?

HootSuite is a social media dashboard that helps you to consolidate, update and track what’s going on in your social network circle – all from one single location.

Many literacy practitioners and organizations have set up accounts on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, StumbleUpon and other sites to stay in touch, share information and connect with others. But managing those sites isn’t easy and can get very time consuming.

To share information about events we plan to organize, attend or hear about from the field, we have set up AlphaPlus Events Calendar, using the Google Calendar application. Google Calendar application is free and very easy to use. Within one Google Calendar account, you can: Create multiple calendars – you can set up calendars for […]

In 2008, we realized that our service area was so vast that we needed a more practical, economical way to keep in touch and share resources with programs on an everyday basis. We learned that sending large documents through email can be time-consuming, and is sometimes not possible. We decided that an interactive online communications forum would be the best way to share documents, news, best practices, and resources. Our needs were met with a wiki – a free, secure, online environment that allows LLSC to distribute information to programs quickly and easily.