“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.

On this site you can read our Position Paper on Blended Learning online and browse a collection of resources to help you and the audiences you communicate with learn about blended learning as an approach.

What else you will find on this site

• Presentations  – AlphaPlus webinars about the position paper and the eNet introduction to blended learning.
• The Blended Learning Field Guide – a reflective practice tool about blended learning models and approaches.
• Blended Learning Overview – from the AlphaPlus Digital Technology for Learning site.
• The Blended Learning Toolbox – resources for applying a Blended Learning approach from the AlphaPlus Digital Technology for Learning site.
• The ProLiteracy Blended Learning Guide – and how it aligns with the AlphaPlus position paper.

and graphics you can share with staff, learners, volunteers and community partners

• Definition – the definition from the position paper
• My Life as a Blended Learner – how we Create, Communicate, Collaborate and Think Critically as lifelong learners
• Benefits – the four benefits of blended learning: Blended learning is supports self-confidence and self-reliance; encourages social connection and collaboration; provides flexibilities; and is helps manage systemic inequalities.
• Principles – the three principles of blended learning: Blended learning is learner centred; relevant and useful; and is enhanced by a strong teaching presence
• Blended Learning Infographic and the 4Cs – an infographic about the 4Cs: Be Creative, Communicate, Collaborate, and Critically Analyze

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.

Blended Learning Research

Blended Learning Resources

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. 

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

AlphaPlus developed this site to help literacy practitioners 

• develop curation strategies
• work with learners to develop curation strategies
• adapt literacy learning starter kits

There are three sections.

• Curating Resources
  • Tips on finding and choosing resources to use with learners and co-learning resources for working with learners on curation strategies.
• Curated Lists
  • Lists created by literacy programs and other educators. This set of learning resources can be a starter kit for literacy practitioners curating a set of literacy learning resources.
• Places to Learn
  • e-Learning lessons, activities and learning pathways that literacy learners can work on independently. The resources are organized by topic. This set of learning resources can be a starter kit for learners curating their own set of literacy learning resources.

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.

• As an Educator Network 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.
• AlphaPlus coaches will work with you to create an individualized plan and develop digital learning solutions for the learners in your program.
• If you get stuck while trying something new, the AlphaPlus Quick Tech Help option can help. 

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.

What is reflective practice?

“Reflective teaching is the practice of colleagues joining together to observe and analyze the consequences for student learning of different teaching behaviors and materials in order to gain insights that will result in the continuous evaluation and modification of pedagogy.”
– Chapter 11: Professional Development and Reflective Practice By William Powell 

• Are you thinking about how you can respond to the ways that digital technologies are changing how we learn, work and engage in daily life?
• Are you wondering about how a new resource, methodology or approach is working for learners?

Reflective practice can help us think through these questions and arrive at solutions.

Would you like to learn more about reflective practice?

AlphaPlus has created a website with a collection of reflective practice resources to support literacy educators develop a reflective process that works for them and the people they work with.

Would you like to engage in reflective practice with an AlphaPlus coach or a cohort of literacy practitioners?

• AlphaPlus coaches will work with you to create an individualized professional learning plan.
• As an Educator Network Blended Learning Program 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.

In the Educator Network Blended Learning program and Planning Your Digital Toolbox, participants have the option of working through the Reflections on teaching with digital technology workbook. Join us or try it our with your colleagues (sign in to a Google account and make a copy).

If you’re interested in using a reflective practice process to plan and explore digital technology for learning, please contact Tracey or the AlphaPlus coaches.

If you’d like a copy of the Reflective Practice for Literacy Practitioners 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.

In 2018, we decided that a guide on writing effective case notes for digital literacy training services would better support our work as coaches. 

We hoped that our guide and our record of how we developed it might be useful to others working in literacy and basic skills (LBS) as they develop, enhance or extend their own system of sharing information through case notes.

Our main finding was that case notes on their own aren’t a solution to the dilemmas in our work, but there are two outcomes of the project that will make a positive contribution to the field: case studies and reflective practice.

Case studies became the Wayfinders Studio and reflective practice became the Educator Network (eNet).

eNet

Join eNet to collaborate with inspiring educators and explore blended learning tools and approaches.

Wayfinders Studio

Join literacy educators who are experimenting, piloting and reflecting on how digital technology can enhance learning.

AlphaPlus staff worked with Audrey Gardner and Matthias Sturm on a paper that describes blended learning in literacy and basic skills. We looked at the research, what academics say, what other educators are doing, what literacy practitioners in other jurisdictions are doing and what we are doing here in Ontario. In this March 13, 2018 webinar, we shared what we learned and asked you about your own experiences with blended learning.

Learners, instructors and coaches share how they use Evernote to manage resources and effectively support learners in a multi-level classroom.

Learn how Maxine, the LBS instructor from Dixon Hall, set up and is using Evernote in her multi-level class.

Explore the videos below to learn how literacy learners from Dixon Hall LBS program in Toronto feel about using Evernote.

An AlphaPlus coach speaks about Evernote:

This research report is based on the study of the perceptions and experiences of ten adult learners with digital media as they work through small group sessions to create their own digital texts and then reflect on whether and how they think that digital media might help them build digital literacy skills and whether they might be able to apply these skills in their daily lives.

The purpose of this small scale study was twofold: 

• To explore and understand the attitudes and experiences of adult Canadians who are non-users or limited users of digital media and Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs).
• To investigate the ways in which adult learners use and respond to digital media in order to expand their communication potential.