On March 9, 2023 AlphaPlus hosted our sixth Community Gabfest.

The conversation starter was Lori Armstrong’s video The Personal Web.

Lori is a knowledgeable and inventive literacy instructor who currently works at the Thunder Bay Literacy Group and will soon be moving to the Lakehead Adult Education Centre (part of the public school board in Thunder Bay).

In the summer of 2022, Lori participated in the AlphaPlus Wayfinders Maker Space and created a video about the Personal Learning Web – a map of how Lori works with learners to identify the ways connection, relationships and power impact the whys and hows of learning for each of us differently and specifically.

We used a Jamboard to guide our conversation: Wayfinders Gabfest 6 Jamboard.

It was a lively and engaging discussion as usual.

We started by talking about the elements that create good learning. We then watched the first part of the video — the overview of the Personal Web — and moved to breakout rooms to discuss how the web resonated with us and our practice. One group made connections to the issue of digital justice.

We watched the second part of the video and stayed together to talk about how teachers dance with chaos and navigate the web of webs. We all found that the pace and flow of Lori’s video — her calm and encouraging tone — put us into an open-minded and meditative space.

Lori finished the session by walking us through some of the ways she has been expanding the personal web concept.

Lori shared a couple of examples of how she’s been extending her Personal Web reflections lately. She showed us how she

• mapped the Anishinaabe Seven Grandfather Teachings onto the Personal Web and
• explored the ways that ADD might be mapped and how the Personal Web can nurture a conversation about the specific ways different people with ADD can be supported as learners
• uses the personal web to work with groups of learners

The PDF linked below shows some concept mapping for the following:

• Page 1: Understanding / discussing Indigenous cultural values (the example here is the Anishinaabe 7 Grandfather Teachings, which I have worked with in a few of the local high schools and adult education programs for Indigenous students).

• Page 2 and 3: Understanding and supporting learners affected by ADHD. I have been researching this because it is such a prevalent condition among my learners and also in my family and community. I have also recently been gob smacked to discover that I am an ADD-affected person, as well.

• Page 4: A simplified think/plan tool that might be used by an individual to prioritize activities for a class, a day, or a week.

Personal Web Additions

Thank you Lori for sparking this good conversation and for your generosity in sharing your research and insights with us.

Thank you all Gabfesters for your wisdom, experience, knowledge and, most of all, your fine collegiality.

We agree with this participant: “Brilliant!! Incredible learning, thank you so very much! Always a pleasure.”

On February 9, 2023 AlphaPlus hosted another in our series of Community Gabfests.

We started by asking people about where they like to learn best.

The conversation starter was: If there were no barriers to running a program, what program would you want to run?

We talked about

• If you had the freedom to create your ideal learning place, what would it be like?
• If learners had the freedom to create their ideal learning place, what would it be like?
• How does the tension between dreaming big and working within the constraints of reality strengthen and/or weaken programming?

We moved into break out rooms to discuss the three questions.

Here is what the groups shared on the Jamboard.

We wrapped up by thanking each other for their contributions and generosity.

• Amazing session everyone. Thank you for your ideas and support!
• What a creative group of problem solvers.
• The enthusiasm is encouraging and infectious.
• Being with people who understand what we do is invigorating.
• Has anyone suggested changing the name? The word ‘gab’ gives me a connotation of idle chitchat, which doesn’t reflect the inspiring conversations that occur. Maybe Community Conversations, or something…

On January 12, 2023 AlphaPlus hosted another in our series of Community Gabfests.

We started by asking people to share the things that they were proud of from 2022.

The conversation starter is: New Year’s Blended Learning *Aspirations

We talked about

• what is going well
• what we are proud of from 2022
• what we want to try next
• who / what could help us

*not Resolutions – the things that are still in dreams, wishes and ambitions phase of planning.

We had a an amazing conversation about

• what went well in 2022
• the specifics of what it means to start where learners are at when we include digital technology as part of that
• the challenges of supporting learners and reducing barriers to learning in the marketplace of apps and devices
• what educational technology we are using and how it is working
• we shared ideas about what technology we want to use and people in the group who were already using that technology shared their expertise
  • Smartboards and hyflex and hybrid learning – where some learners are in the bricks-and-mortar classroom and some are connecting remotely – and how people are making it work
• bite-sized learning and byte-sized learning (examples: Skillswise and Rumie)
• the AMAZING Metro Toronto Movement for Literacy Smartphone project
• the changing definition of blended learning and how do we know we are doing it
• how to create independent learning modules, or bytes, in an emergent curriculum context and could H5P be part of the solution
• who used the Winter Break H5Ps in their class 🙂

It was inspiring and interesting.

We wrapped up by thanking each other for their contributions and generosity.

• It is amazing to work with people on their learning adventure!
• Thank you so very much everyone. Your inspiration is great!
• Thanks so much for sharing all your wonderful information
• Thank you for inspiring us!
• Thank you for the excellent ideas and resources!

On November 24, 2022 AlphaPlus hosted another in our series of Community Gabfests.

We started by asking people to share the things that people love about them.

Our conversation starter was: Learner identity (and blended learning)
Here is what Wayfinder Evan Hoskins said:

Each learner has a connection to the past to be considered. All teachers know … every student comes to learning with a different backstory … and you have to know how to adapt your teaching methods quickly. For example, one day we’ll be talking to a learner about how they learn while dealing with anxiety. On another day we will have to talk about what happened in their world before they dropped out of high school in grade nine. What made them not feel comfortable on the computer? We as teachers learn how to help the learner work through that emotional pain in order to gain the confidence needed to learn how to use the computer, to get their fingers moving again.

What do you think? How do you navigate this terrain and support learners as they develop their learner identities and confidence?

We had a an amazing conversation about

• what we need to know about people so that they can thrive in literacy programs
• how working with learners is an iterative process of experimentation and discovery as literacy facilitators work to find the learning environments that work best for each participant
• the challenges of supporting learners and reducing barriers to learning while mapping boundaries and expectations
• the challenges of nurturing our own mental health and staying energized so we can do the work that we love
• how pandemic recovery is about more than economic opportunities and assessing where we are in terms of digital technology integration

It was a lot. And it was inspiring and validating.

We wrapped up by thanking each other for their contributions and generosity.

On October 27, 2022 AlphaPlus hosted our second Community 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.

• What are some warm up ideas instructors use with their class?
• What techniques or approaches are people using to engage learners and keep them motivated on their educational journey?

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:

• The one who does the work does the learning. – Terry Doyle
• The purpose of adult education is to help them learn, not to teach them all you know and thus stop them from learning. – Carl Rogers

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

Resources mentioned in the video

Scott Young

• Practice Made Perfect: The 10 Keys to Optimize Improvement
• See-Do-Feedback: The Right Way To Practice

Google Applied Digital Skills

• Get Started Guide
• The Digital Skills Library indexes Google Applied Digital Skills by topic. In the search box, under name choose Applied Digital Skills to see the list.

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. 

• AlphaPlus coaches will work with you to create an individualized plan and develop blended learning solutions for the learners in your program. 
• As an Educator Network (eNet) participant, you’ll join a cohort of Ontario literacy practitioners in a reflective practice process and have access to both AlphaPlus knowledge and peer experience.
• If you get stuck while trying something new, the AlphaPlus Quick Tech Help option can help.