On October 27, 2022 AlphaPlus hosted our second Community Gabfest.

Picture of the Jamboard we created during the Gabfest.

We asked the September participants to share their ideas for conversation starters. We got a great list. We decided to combine two ideas that we thought might go together.

The conversation starter for the October Gabfest is warm ups and motivation.

We started with an Answer Garden warm up: What is your favourite thing about talking to literacy workers?

We used a Jamboard to guide our conversation: Wayfinders Gabfest 2 Jamboard.

More warm ups here:

Building Community in Remote Learning Environments

On September 27, 2022 AlphaPlus hosted our first Community Gabfest.

The conversation starter for the first Gabfest was Jim Tysick’s video The Way Forward.

Jim is an experienced and innovative literacy instructor who works at the Sharbot Lake location of the Northern Connections Adult Learning Centres literacy program. In the summer of 2022, he participated in the AlphaPlus Wayfinders Maker Space and created a video about changing his teaching styles to increase learner agency and independence. In The Way Forward, Jim describes how he is changing from a “sage on the stage” approach to become a “guide on the side” teacher.

Here are two quotes that inspire and inform Jim’s work:

We used a Jamboard to guide our conversation: Wayfinders Gabfest 1 Jamboard.

Resources mentioned in the video

Scott Young

Google Applied Digital Skills

Presenters from three programs share how they are using game-based learning and quizzes for fun and quick learning activities.

See more about the Showcase and the presentersarrow right

“We are essentially social beings. We live in societies, of course; but more fundamentally perhaps, it is our participation in social communities and cultural practices that provides the very materials out of which we construct who we are, give meaning to what we do, and understand what we know.”

— Etienne Wenger, Communities of practice: where learning happens, Benchmark Magazine, Fall Issue 1991

We created this resource with the Silver Linings Café participants in June 2020. We updated it in October 2022.

The Silver Linings Café was an Metro Toronto Movement for Literacy initiative that AlphaPlus was invited to participate in.

This resource includes ideas from the Silver Linings Café instructors for how to engage learners and build community in video conferences (Zoom) during the pivot to remote learning during the COVID-19 lock down period. We were all getting used to working in this new environment and came together to share ideas, support each other and figure out how to support learners and learning.

Building Community in Remote Learning Environmentsarrow right

AlphaPlus creates microsites for programs.

We curate program-specific collections of resources. Here are some examples:

If you’re interested in curating a collection for your program, please get in touch. 

If you’d like a copy of any of these sites to use as a starting point to adapt and expand for use in your program, please get in touch. AlphaPlus can give you a copy and support you in learning how to use a website builder such as Google Sites or Weebly as online learning spaces for learners, staff and volunteers.

AlphaPlus has collected a set of interesting frameworks, approaches and theoretical foundations that are relevant to adult literacy practice and can inform planning, designing and decision-making.  

We’ve included a blended learning toolbox, an annotated bibliography of tools, apps and websites curated using the framework principles.

If you’re interested in exploring blended learning options for your program, please get in touch. 

The role of resource curation is an important one and can be overwhelming and time consuming.

AlphaPlus developed this site to help literacy practitioners 

There are three sections.

If you’d like to learn more about curating resources, contact Tracey, sign up for an Educator Network program or sign up for one-to-one support through Coaching.

If you’d like a copy of this site to use as a starting point to adapt and expand for use in your program, please get in touch. AlphaPlus can give you a copy and support you in learning how to use a website builder such as Google Sites or Weebly as online learning spaces for learners, staff and volunteers.

Presenters from three programs share how they are using YouTube and TikTok videos to engage learners.

See more about the Showcase and the presentersarrow right

Presenters from three programs share how they digitize and organize activities and learner files.

See more about the Showcase and the presentersarrow right

Are you a literacy practitioner looking for resources to support a remote learning option for learners?

AlphaPlus started this site during the pandemic of 2020-22 to support adult literacy learners and practitioners during the pivot to remote learning. We’ve kept it going because the interest in offering remote learning options has increased.

The Resources for Practitioners page is a collection of resources you can use to build remote learning “classrooms.” Some of these resources were developed or reviewed by Ontario literacy practitioners. 

You may also find The AlphaPlus Guide to Getting Ready for Remote Learning and the AlphaPlus Guide to Building Community in Remote Learning useful resources.

If you’re interested in exploring remote learning options for your program, please get in touch. 

If you’d like a copy of this site to use as a starting point to adapt and expand for use in your program, please get in touch. AlphaPlus can give you a copy and support you in learning how to use a website builder such as Google Sites or Weebly as online learning spaces for learners, staff and volunteers.