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!

Visible thinking routines can help adult literacy educators create reflective, engaging learning environments by making learners’ ideas, questions and reasoning easier to see and support. In March, AlphaPlus hosted a well-attended and dynamic workshop series on visible thinking routines, and now we’re sharing the topic with those who were unable to attend.

In this Q&A, AlphaPlus team member Tracey Mollins explains what visible thinking routines are, why they matter and how educators can use them to give learners more space to think — during a time when AI tools are making the learning process less visible.

Helping to make learners’ thinking visible: Q&A with Tracey Mollins

Q: What are visible thinking routines?

A: Project Zero (at Harvard) defines a thinking routine as a set of questions or a brief sequence of steps used to scaffold and support student thinking. Thinking routines are designed to deepen students’ thinking and to help make that thinking “visible.” 

Q: What do visible thinking routines look like in action?

A: Visible thinking refers to any observable representation that documents and supports the development of a learner’s ongoing thoughts, questions, reasons and reflections. Examples include mind maps, charts, lists, diagrams, worksheets — anything that reveals learners’ unfolding ideas as they think through an issue, problem or topic.

Q: What led you to feature this topic in the workshop series?

A: Exploring visible thinking routines was a nice balance to tech-heavy topics and a return to other parts of blended learning, such as reflection and critical thinking. This topic gave workshop participants a chance to think about the fun parts of their practice.

Q: How do visible thinking routines help educators?

A: Educators can experiment with visible thinking routines to teach new material and to see how individuals and groups tackle learning. Adding visible thinking routines to our practice reminds us, as teachers, to address the duality of teaching and learning. Sometimes we can focus on the acquisition of skills, which is essential, and lose sight of the equally essential exploratory elements of good learning.

Q: How do visible thinking routines help learners?

A: Visible thinking routines build time for reflection into the formal learning process instead of leaving it to people to do on their own. Rather than coming up with the “correct” answer right away, these routines give learners space to think, ask questions and ponder, What if? what if not? how else could this be done? or what’s the other side of the case?

These routines help learners stay curious and open-minded, and see learning as a process of exploration and experimentation, not just as a path to a prescribed outcome.

Q: How can visible thinking routines help now that learners are increasingly using AI?

A: Some of the benefits of AI (personalized assistance, quick feedback) might be drawbacks for teachers. When learners use AI to help plan their work and find answers, their thinking becomes less visible to the learning community as a whole and to the teacher in particular. Visible thinking routines help preserve parts of the learning process that AI can obscure.

Furthermore, the promise of AI is a life without friction, but this so-called friction is where learning happens. As Sonja Drimmer says, “Learning is the result of human grappling with the parts of the world that resist us and our capacity to understand.” Visible thinking routines can help teachers and learners take the “frictiony” parts of learning and break them down into manageable chunks. 

Q: What technologies can instructors use to apply these strategies?

A: During the sessions, we discussed several technologies that can make thinking routines visible, such as Padlet, Book Creator and Figma. However, it’s important to remember that you can also do this work using common apps learners may encounter at school or work, such as Canva, Word, PowerPoint and the Google Workspace versions of these tools.

Q: What participant insights stood out to you from the workshop?

A: One thing that stood out for me is the idea of wonder. Often, adult learners come to school feeling they have to have the right answers, but visible thinking routines help them consider possibilities.

Also, visible thinking routines help us return to tried-and-true practices for figuring out what learners want to learn and how they’ll learn it, so that as teachers, we can properly personalize their learning and keep them engaged and motivated. These routines help us see how learners’ thinking is evolving and engage them in conversations that help them continue to evolve. Though some people want efficiency, many desire breadth and enjoy the detours.

Did you miss our last session on visible thinking routines? Check out the session slides and contact Tracey with any questions.

With all the events we organize and host, it might be hard to keep up with the various dates and the email announcements/reminders we send out. 

To make things easier, we have added an Events menu to our website.

We have also organized the events into three colour-coded categories, allowing you to quickly identify different types of activities and find the events most relevant to you.

We used Google Calendar for AlphaPlus Events because it’s easy to share on a website and gives you an option to add it directly to your own Google Calendar (simply click on Add to Google Calendar in the lower left corner). When added, you will see all upcoming AlphaPlus events alongside your other calendars.

We hope this new tool will help improve visibility, sharing and participation in our events.

Please take a moment to explore the Events menu and feel free to send us feedback and/or share it with your networks.

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 her role at AlphaPlus, Guylaine Vinet, organizational development specialist in education and technology, works closely with adult literacy practitioners across Ontario. As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to reshape how information is accessed, the pressure on learners’ ability to read and assess information has increased. Recognizing the critical importance of information literacy in this context, Guylaine finds herself at the intersection of emerging questions and practical support. 

In this interview, Guylaine shares what she’s seeing in the field, what practitioners are asking and how she and her AlphaPlus colleagues are helping them adapt to the changing information landscape.

Q: Guylaine, how would you describe your role at AlphaPlus?

A: I work in both English and French, and my role touches on many aspects of AlphaPlus’ work. I deliver coaching, co-lead our training series, help develop resources (such as our open educational resources (OER) collection) and support communications. I also lead our partnership with Coalition ontarienne de formation des adultes (COFA) to deliver technology training for francophone educators.

Q: What perspective does this mix of responsibilities give you?

A: Working across multiple areas and in both languages provides me with a broad view. For example, I’m always searching for French resources, and that practice sparks ideas, inspiration and potential crossover opportunities between communities. I use my training as a librarian to continuously gather, curate and share ideas, information and support options across educators and communities.

At the core of my wide-ranging responsibilities is a focus on listening and responding to the needs of adult literacy educators and coordinators.

Q: What are you learning alongside practitioners in this space?

A: In adult literacy, every learner operates in their own world, with very specific goals and contexts. I’m always learning from educators’ ideas and approaches to this challenge.

Q: What feels most different to you about the information landscape learners are navigating now?

A: For many years, we’ve been grappling with information coming at us quickly. Now, the same pace continues, but the current information landscape is heavily tainted with misinformation and disinformation, whether through algorithms, poor-quality AI-generated content or deepfakes.

Q: What information literacy concerns are adult literacy educators sharing with you?

A: Here’s one example: some instructors have noticed that learners are getting “trapped” by algorithms. Learners are going in circles, stuck in information bubbles and missing other points of view.

Another example: today’s learners must consider that information may be created specifically to mislead, and even strong readers can struggle to distinguish facts from false or manipulated content.

And educators themselves struggle with AI tools like ChatGPT. Some have questions about hallucinations and biases. Others, despite having more experience and knowledge, are uncertain about how to respond to learners’ questions. These are concerns we explored alongside educators in our recent AI in Daily Life training.

Q: How can adult literacy educators help learners navigate the changing information landscape?

A: The same skills that were useful before remain useful now. Educators have experience teaching critical thinking, which is needed more than ever, and they continue to teach skills like lateral reading (checking the source). It’s the intensity and need for these skills that have been amplified.

It’s also important to reassure learners that reliable sources of information remain available. They have to get into the habit of recognizing them, and when sources aren’t recognizable, to double-check the information.

Q: How do you and your AlphaPlus colleagues help adult literacy educators navigate information literacy?

A: Topics such as AI, misinformation, disinformation and media literacy have been top of mind for our team for the last few years, and we’ve been providing support in many ways, including our training series and virtual showcases (where peers share approaches) and through curated resources on our website and in our OER collection.

We can also work through information literacy challenges together through coaching. I encourage any adult literacy educator in Ontario to reach out with any questions or concerns, and we’ll figure out the right first steps together.

Q: If readers walk away with one clearer understanding of information literacy and AI, what would you hope that would be?

A: Technology has been supporting us in many ways, but today it must be used with more caution than ever. The AlphaPlus team is here to help adult literacy professionals navigate it safely.

You don’t have to know it all, and you can turn to us for help. In fact, we’d like to hear from you: how are you doing and how are you addressing these topics with learners? We invite you to share your experiences and contact us with your questions anytime — whether that’s right after reading this interview or three months from now.

As the information landscape continues to shift, none of us can keep up alone, and we don’t have to. At AlphaPlus, we’re committed to walking alongside you in this work.

Learn more about how you can navigate information literacy challenges with an AlphaPlus technology coach by your side. Start by simply emailing either guylaine@alphaplus.ca or her colleague monika@alphaplus.ca to share your question or concern.