In this Lunch & Learn session, delivered on April 7, 2026, we focused on Canva for Education, a platform that offers a wide range of activities, presentations, whiteboards, and courses one can use directly with learners. While full access is currently limited to school boards, many of Canva’s educational tools and templates are also available through nonprofit accounts.
PRESENTATION SLIDES
VIDEO RECORDING
In this Lunch & Learn session, delivered on February 10, 2026, we focused on setting up a free Google Business Profile so customers can find you on Google Search and Maps, exploring current social media trends, finding out whether hashtags still matter, and discovering tools for content creation and graphics management, and more.
PRESENTATION SLIDES
VIDEO RECORDING
In this Lunch & Learn session, delivered on January 6, 2026, we focused on new and innovative AI tools, advancements in assistants like ChatGPT, Copilot, and Gemini, tips on how to apply AI in your daily work, experimenting with prompts, and more.
PRESENTATION SLIDES
VIDEO RECORDING
This AlphaPlus Lunch & Learn session, delivered on November 4, 2025, focused on powerful tools in Microsoft 365. We explored Clipchamp, the integration of AI-powered Copilot across apps, transcribing and translations in Teams, Planner, and more.
PRESENTATION SLIDES
VIDEO RECORDING
Delivered on Tuesday, October 28, 2025
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has evolved significantly since we first explored its potential in Literacy and Basic Skills (LBS) programs a year ago. With new tools emerging and existing ones becoming more sophisticated, the ways we use AI have also transformed. So, what’s happening now?
During the session, guests from the literacy community shared how they actively integrate AI into their programs. From prompt engineering to creating graphics and videos, to developing training materials, we dove into how AI is reshaping our work—and what that means for educators, staff, and learners alike.
ASL interpretation was be provided.
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VIDEO RECORDING
NOTE: VIDEO WITH ASL INTERPRETATION COMING SOON
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
PRESENTERS
Lisa McArthur has been working as an adult educator since 2003 in a variety of capacities. They include, but are not limited to, being a certified educational skills assessor, a family literacy facilitator and certified Clear Writing consultant. Lisa has sat on a number of community advisory committees and has evaluated numerous literacy projects.
Ryan Pike is an adult literacy instructor who has taught at the Labour Education Centre in Toronto for 11 years. He also worked with Metro Toronto Movement for Literacy (MTML) on the Smartphones and Employment Skills project, helping to design learning tools that support adults using smartphones for work. He’s passionate about making technology feel less intimidating and more empowering for adult learners. Ryan enjoys experimenting with different digital tools and approaches to create engaging, interactive resources that make learning accessible and enjoyable for everyone.
Richard has dedicated 21 years to the Toronto District School Board, currently working at the Mimico Adult Centre. His work focuses on providing literacy education to adults seeking academic upgrading, as well as supporting individuals with special needs. Through instruction in English, math, and digital learning, Richard empowers learners to achieve greater independence and pursue their personal and educational goals
Explore the The Virtual Showcase Collection to see what happened in past sessions.
This session, delivered on September 23, 2025, focused on the latest features in Google Workspace. We explored Google Vids, learned about new building blocks in Docs and Slides, set up appointment schedules in Calendar, and dove into activity notifications, smart chips in Docs, disabling autosave in Forms, AI in Google Search, and more.
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VIDEO RECORDING
Delivered on Tuesday, September 30, 2025
The COVID-19 pandemic pushed many literacy programs to rapidly shift their lessons and training into online environments, sparking a surge in interest around Learning Management Systems (LMS). But where do we stand now?
During the session guests from the literacy community shared the tools and platforms that have helped them make their content accessible to learners, tutors, and staff, discussed what’s worked (and what hasn’t), and offered practical tips and insights for programs considering—or reconsidering—their digital strategy.
PRESENTATION SLIDES
VIDEO RECORDINGS
In English, Speaker view only.
With ASL interpretation
PRESENTERS
Randie is a Program Manager for Almaguin Adult Learning Centre (AALC), a community based LBS agency with 3 centres serving 17 small communities across the Almaguin Highlands. She joined AALC in 2010 as a literacy instructor and has been committed to life long learning and meeting learners where they are for the last 15 years.
Lisa McArthur has been working as an adult educator since 2003 in a variety of capacities. They include, but are not limited to, being a certified educational skills assessor, a family literacy facilitator and certified Clear Writing consultant. Lisa has sat on a number of community advisory committees and has evaluated numerous literacy projects.
Stephanie has been teaching in post-secondary and Academic Upgrading for close to 15 years. She has a Master of Science, a Bachelor of Education and is a member of the Ontario College of Teachers. She is an avid curriculum developer for online, hybrid and in person courses in all subject areas.
Lea Roque is a passionate educator and early adopter of technology, with a strong background in adult education, engineering design, and tech training. She specializes in designing engaging, learner-centered curriculum and has taught in LBS, post-secondary, and corporate settings. Known for her supportive approach and enthusiasm for digital skill-building, Lea thrives on helping learners reach their “Aha!” moments that spark confidence and curiosity.
Althea Balmes (she/ they) co-creates in person and digital projects at the intersection of visual storytelling, UX design and learner-centered education. Althea has a background in community adult literacy previously working at Parkdale Project Read and with West TO Collaborative, a collective of five different adult literacy organizations across Toronto west end providing tutor training program.
www.altheabalmes.com
Tina is the LBS Lead Instructor at Niagara Catholic District School Board. She is involved in classroom/hybrid teaching and administrative duties at St. Catharines & Niagara Falls locations.
Explore the The Virtual Showcase Collection to see what happened in past sessions.
Our idea that literacy workers might be interested in AI policies and guidelines came from a question that a literacy instructor asked in an Ai for Educators workshop, “I showed a learner how to use AI to get help on a simple task. Now that learner is using AI for everything. I feel that this is hindering them in developing some skills that they will need. How can I get them to stop?”
The facilitator, Shawn McCusker, suggested, “Work with the learner to create guidelines that work for you and that specific learner or group of learners in the specific contexts where they are learning.”
We thought this made sense. AI is so new that there are no great templates for the use of AI in adult literacy classrooms. Literacy instructors work with learners to create guidelines for the ways they will work together and are used to facilitating this process.
Here are three workshops presented by AlphaPlus where we discussed the topic of how to create a set of classroom AI guidelines to determine ways teachers and learners can use AI to support teaching and learning in specific contexts. We kicked off the conversation at a Showcase and took a deeper dive into the particulars and how tos in a series of workshops.
To see more about using AI in educational settings, check out our What is Generative AI? resource.
Virtual Showcase: AI policies, ethics and practices in LBS
“In this Showcase, three guest presenters plus three AlphaPlus staff members (Alan, Guylaine and Tracey) discussed how they are integrating AI into their practice and how they are thinking about AI policies and guidelines for organizations and for classrooms.” (November 2024)
Creating AI Policy with Learners
“This three-workshop series, facilitated by Tom Driscoll, is about what an AI policy for adult learners in literacy could look like. We will look at how to work with learners to create a policy that offers guidance for using AI ethically and safely to do research, make material more accessible and support creativity, communication and collaboration.” On the Padlet board, you can see how literacy instructors responded to the scenarios with thoughtful and well reasoned ideas about when using AI can support learning and when it can hinder developing certain skills and knowledge. (January 2025)
- Workshop 1 Slides and Recording
- Workshop 2 Slides and Recording
- Workshop 3 Slides and Recording and Padlet
AI Policy for Literacy Practitioners and Learners
AlphaPlus was invited by Calgary Learns to expand on part of what we presented at the November 2024 Showcase. Guylaine and Tracey facilitated the discussion. “Generative Ai for teaching and learning is still a relatively new technology. In this workshop, facilitated by AlphaPlus practitioners, we will discuss the why and when of using generative Ai tools in adult education classrooms. As the technology and our practices evolve, so do our questions. We will share some of the questions we have been grappling with and invite participants to add theirs to the conversation.” The stoplight discussion is one way to start the conversation about AI use with colleagues and learners. (Calgary Learns, April 2025)
Stoplight Discussion Template
This session, delivered on May 13, 2025, focused on how to create Canva designs from scratch—be it presentations, flyers, or social media posts, building your brand kit with preferred fonts and logos, inviting team members, sharing designs, and leveraging templates, AI tools, and advanced editing features such as background removal.
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VIDEO RECORDING
This session, delivered on April 8, 2025, focused on learning how to update your Zoom desktop client, use the AI companion, manage captions and transcripts, and explore features like reactions, spotlight, meeting timers, whiteboard, sharing layouts, settings, Zoom Apps, and more.
PRESENTATION SLIDES
VIDEO RECORDING