Presenters from three programs share how they extend learning and critical thinking beyond virtual meetings.
Presenters from three programs share how they engage learners to collaborate remotely.
A HyperDoc is a teaching and learning tool that helps you organize content and instructional activities using text, audio, video, images and, of course, hyperlinks. Think of it as an interactive lesson or unit plan.
HyperDocs can be short, specific lessons, like introduction to fractions and their uses. They can also be more general and then applied to different topics and subjects, like the inquiry template. They can even be a comprehensive collection of learning activities, resources and ideas that you can use to develop smaller lessons or modules, like digital storytelling ideas.
Creating a single HyperDoc does take time and effort. But what if it’s not all up to you to do the work? What if we could build a collection — sort of a crowdsourced effort? This is something we’re currently exploring.
AlphaPlus developed four HyperDocs to model their use and help you transition from paper to digital planning and activity development.
Visit the Hyperdocs site to learn more:
- Review copyright with paper and online resources.
- Think about what you’re digitizing and why.
- Organize your digitized content using Google Drive.
- Explore ways to make your activities interactive .
Presenters from three programs share how they create community and engage learners differently in video conferences.
These energizing and inspiring Zoom sessions showcase how innovative Ontario literacy program workers and instructors use digital tools and approaches to connect and work with learners and colleagues remotely.
Each session features guest presenters who share their approaches, strategies and tips followed by a Tech Q&A to explore some of the digital tools mentioned during the session.
Yet another inspiration to try something new to help my learners!
There is a vast amount of knowledge out there and to be able to listen to how people are using the various apps/tools was very informative.
It was such an informative couple of hours. Many bits of information stood out. The sharing of information was so exceptional.
This site is for people in the ACE* or Adult Upgrading programs at Ontario Literacy and Basic Skills (LBS) programs who want to upgrade their computer skills in preparation for post-secondary education. We made this site especially for people in programs that do not include digital skills upgrading on site.
It is a companion to the Post-secondary digital skills readiness assessment developed by the College Sector Committee for Adult Upgrading and AlphaPlus.
Learners can use this site on their own or educators can use the site as a resource to develop a digital skills curriculum.
*ACE – Academic and Career Entrance program
In 2018, a college upgrading instructor came to AlphaPlus with an idea.
He had developed an assessment tool to determine whether literacy and adult upgrading (AU)Nlearners were ready for the ways they would be using digital technology as post-secondary students. He wanted to enhance that resource and make it available to all literacy and basic skills (LBS) instructors.
Six other LBS college instructors joined him and worked with AlphaPlus and the College Sector Committee for Adult Upgrading (CSCAU) to determine the digital technology skills that learners need as they enter post-secondary education.
The working group developed assessment tools that college LBS/AU programs can use to help assess their learners’ digital skills readiness for transition to post-secondary studies.
Learners can try out their skills and knowledge in a quiz and a set of holistic assessment activities for Microsoft Word, Powerpoint and Excel. There are two versions of each of the holistic assessment activities that cover the same set of skills in different contexts and that can be used as a pre- and post-assessments.
If learners find that they need to work on a particular skill or suite of skills, we’ve collected learning resources to help with that: Technology Readiness
AlphaPlus curated a collection of shareable, free and high-quality learning materials that adult literacy educators can use to enhance their personal and program collections.
Learning materials
The collection is divided into five sections for learners working at Ontario Adult Literacy Curriculum Framework (OALCF) Levels 1 and 2:
- Reading texts
- Practice tasks and writing
- Numeracy and mathematics
- Professional learning and how-to guides
- Creating, modifying and analyzing your own materials
Shareable
We looked for materials that could be copied, printed or posted in online and offline environments. This means you can add materials to a website or learning management platform, attach them to an email or share them with learners in Google Drive. They can also be printed. In addition, some materials are templates or permit adaptations, allowing you to build and modify materials for your own use. Copyright information and Creative Commons licensing details are included for all materials.
Download a PDF version below or click here to open the collection in your Google Drive.
Today, there are 2 million applications available in the App Store. That can make it tough to find the right one for your literacy program, especially if you aren’t sure what you’re looking for. That’s why we’re giving you tips, hints, and tricks for finding apps from scratch.
WHAT TO CONSIDER WHEN EVALUATING APPS
HOW TO FIND WHAT YOU’RE LOOKING FOR IN THE APP STORE
What Is Blended Learning?
Blended learning is an approach where educators leverage technology and digital access for learners to create, communicate, collaborate and apply critical thinking skills to construct knowledge in our connected world. The four Cs — collaborative, communicative, creative and critical— are concepts that help educators make decisions about the ways they blend online and offline activities and integrate technology to support literacy, language and numeracy development.
The State of Blended Learning in LBS
Ontario’s Literacy and Basic Skills (LBS) Program supports the integration of technology in face-to-face learning centres and classrooms, and offers exclusively online courses through e-Channel. The pandemic crisis forced many LBS educators to rapidly expand their integration of technology to provide remote learning options. Although LBS educators were able to facilitate access to e-Channel courses for learners, the vast majority adopted the use of a variety of communications and instructional technologies that considered learners’ digital access and readiness to learn online.