Join the Educator Network to learn from and with colleagues in a collaborative, creative, co-learning space. We explore the ways in which a blended learning approach can engage and empower learners and enhance and extend learning.
Contact Tracey or use the contact form to find out more.
If you’d like an opportunity to switch your teacher hat for a learner hat and lean into a blended learning experience about blended learning, the Educator Network is for you.
Learning cohort for adult literacy educators
Educator Network programs are where you can come together with peers and colleagues to learn from each other and access the research capacity of AlphaPlus.
Take time to stop and think. The Educator Network uses a reflective practice approach that highlights your experience and knowledge and provides you with time to stop and think. We start with where you are at and work with you to develop a digital toolbox that will enhance blended learning in a way that works best for your program.
As an Educator Network Program participant, you will explore:
Contact Tracey to join the Educator Network mailing list and stay up to date with new opportunities to to learn from and with colleagues in a collaborative, creative, co-learning space where you can explore the ways educational uses of technology can engage and empower learners and enhance and extend learning.
How can you incorporate the apps learners use every day — maps, music, podcasts, etc — seamlessly and effectively into a blended learning program?
In the Fall 2023 we are working with a group of educators who are using apps in creative ways to enhance learning with technologies we use in our daily lives.
These educators are practicing a facilitated-inquiry model of blended learning that can streamline the process of lesson planning and resources curation–in short it can reduce prep time by moving some of that work into a co-learning classroom where learners can bring their knowledge of these applications to learning and expand their digital fluency by using the apps in educational settings for educational purposes.
In the spring of 2023, we are offering a series of workshops to introduce you to a set of lesson templates and tip sheets to support your work as a literacy practitioner. You will experience the lessons as a learner and then evaluate them as an instructor. Working with peers, you will share ideas about how to adapt and personalize the lessons to meet the needs of specific learners.
Contact Tracey to become a member of our working group or express interest in the spring workshops.
Build a personalized blended-learning approach and toolbox
Planning Your Blended Learning Toolbox at the Educator Network will help you figure out what tools to use and when and how to use them as you develop a blended learning approach and *digital toolbox that works best for you and the learners you work with. You will have an opportunity to share perspectives and ideas and explore flexible solutions with a cohort of peers.
*A digital toolbox is a collection of digital technology tools that enrich the learning environment for learners and instructors. The tools in a digital toolbox are interactive and encourage learners to become creators, producers, editors, collaborators and, at times, evaluators.
How it works
The Educator Network Planning your blended learning toolbox program is eight reflective-practice modules for exploring blended learning approaches and digital technology tools and resources that will enhance and expand learning in your program.
You will meet once a week in Zoom with a cohort of literacy instructors to discuss the topic for the week:
As part of each module, you will be invited to do an activity that will lead to the creation of your personalized digital toolbox.
What happens
As an AlphaPlus Educator Network Blended Learning participant, you will:
“I found it really useful, fun and flexible. I got to choose my own combination of video meetings, online coursework, sharing forums, resource lists and documents designed to help me develop my own projects, over 8 weeks of learning.”
Join the network
We are not offering this program in 2023. Contact Tracey to express your interest in future cohorts, to receive the syllabus, or if you would like to offer this program in your workplace.
The Educator Network project has developed and facilitated organization-specific communities of professional learning at the Metro Toronto Movement for Literacy (MTML), the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) and la Coalition ontarienne de formation des adultes (COFA).
“Your sessions were a lifesaver. We desperately needed some technical support and you stepped into the breach.“
Shelley Lynch, Adult Literacy Instructor,
Essential Skills Upgrading, Toronto District School Board
Contact Tracey or Guylaine to discuss possibilities for your organization.
The Educator Network enabled me to slow down and reflect on how I have been using technology and how I might improve my usage of it from a pedagogical/andrological standpoint. The course offered both a theoretical basis for using technology along with providing experience using new apps.
Educator Network participant
Participating in the Educator Network helped me to discover many educational tools, collaborate with other instructors, check their ideas and provide feedback. It was an excellent way to reflect on my thoughts on teaching and using digital technology as a learner and a teacher at the same time.
Educator Network participant
I found it really useful, fun and flexible. I got to choose my own combination of video meetings, online coursework, sharing forums, resource lists and documents designed to help me develop my own projects, over 8 weeks of learning.
Educator Network participant
Join this self-directed course to explore blended learning tools and approaches through reflective practice.
Work with us to develop innovative technology solutions that effectively advance your program objectives.
Sign up for our latest workshops to catch up with colleagues and discover emerging practices.
Don’t struggle. Ask us your just-in-time tech questions and we’ll find the answer that works best for you.