Resources for Practitioners

If you need help or ideas for using digital technology for learning or program administration, please contact us at AlphaPlus. If you have ideas for resources that we can add to Resources pages, please contact Tracey .

Which forms of interaction for learners will you include in your remote learning environment?

From er.educause.edu/blogs/2020/4/student-centered-remote-teaching-lessons-learned-from-online-education

Student-instructor interaction: instructors create a framework for how they will interact with students during the learning experience

  • How will you connect with learners?
    Email?     Chat? Messages? Phone? A learning management system?

  • If learners are not able to access various tools, how can we improve their skills or availability?

Student-content interaction: instructors provide active learning experiences for students (meaningful learning activity plus reflection)

  • How do we engage learners so they are motivated to create, communicate and think critically?

  • How do we enhance learning using a variety of digital technology and online tools and resources?

Student-student interaction: instructors structure the learning community and make it clear how students should interact with peers

What would you like to design?

  • learning pathways for individualized instruction;

  • something collaborative that incorporates peer learning;

  • a hybrid;

  • or something completely different?

Building Remote Learning "Classrooms"

Planning remote learning

  • Planning the Digital Toolbox - bit.ly/toolboxplan
    We made this planning guide for instructors who want to enhance their digital toolbox. This planning guide was used as part of a reflective practice process to building a digital toolbox for remote learning. If you want to see more about what we did, look through the Google Drive folder we used with the group from the Toronto District School Board: bit.ly/TDSBplanning If you are interested in a facilitated version of these workshops, please contact Tracey.

  • Curating Resources in Adult Literacy - sites.google.com/alphaplus.ca/curation/home
    This collection was created by AlphaPlus and is for literacy instructors interested in incorporating e-learning resources into the learning environments they are creating.

  • You may find the curated lists in the Blended Learning Toolbox helpful when thinking about what tools to use.

  • School Virtually planning guide - schoolvirtually.org/educators
    This guide is designed for teachers who work with children but a lot of the planning tools will work well for adult education instructors.

  • The Digital Inclusion Playbook - digitalinclusion.alphaplus.ca/welcome
    The Digital Inclusion Playbook contains information, ideas and strategies to support digital inclusion activities. The playbook’s facts, resources and mini-infographics can be shared to:

      • Help adult learners access affordable internet and devices.

      • Discuss key issues with colleagues and stakeholders.

      • Build a case for support with funding partners and community partners.

      • Get involved and take action.


AlphaPlus Tip Sheets

Here are two easy-to-use online resources that are free and do not require accounts. They are good places to create, communicate and collaborate with groups or individuals.


QUILL Network

The QUILL Network collected all the good ideas from community-based literacy agencies in the Western Region of Ontario tasked with continuing to deliver literacy programming during the COVID-19 pandemic: https://www.quillnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Best-Practices-Report-March-22-2021.pdf

QUILL Network Tip Sheets


Silver Linings Café - Tips for how to use Zoom in adult basic education

The Silver Linings Café was created by the Metro Toronto Movement for Literacy to help instructors with the pivot to remote learning and took place from April to June 2020. AlphaPlus supported the development of the Café and co-facilitated the sessions.

MTML created a set of "manuals with step-by-step instructions and practitioner tips on how to use Zoom, as well as highlights of some of the features that Silver Lining Café participants have told us are useful in making the most of their Zoom meetings with learners."


More

These collections may have some good information for programs connecting remotely with learners.

If you find a resource here that is particularly useful to you, get in touch and let us know how you are using it so we can highlight it here.

Places to Learn Online (online resources to incorporate into your remote learning program)

The Resources for Learners page has activities that literacy learners can do at home.

AlphaPlus made this collection for a community-based literacy program.

AlphaPlus made this collection for a community-based literacy program.

The Learning Centres at Simcoe County District School Board have created a website with online learning resources and activities organized into topics and by level.

The Literacy Group instructors Julie and Johanna have created a website with lists of good places to learn online.


Open Educational Resources (online textbooks to incorporate into your remote learning program)

Workbooks and Activity Sheets that are freely available in digital formats to cut down on scanning and converting time for instructors.

There are many free, customizable, and editable resources for adult educators and their learners. By using Open Educational Resources (OER) in the classroom and online, teachers and agencies can save money, revise and refresh curriculum, and give learners an opportunity to customize their learning.

Resources for Online and Offline Learning

AlphaPlus created this curated collection of shareable, free and high-quality learning materials that adult literacy educators can use to enhance their personal and program collections. 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 a learning management platform, attach them to an email or share them with learners in Google Drive. They can also be printed.

The collection is divided into five sections for learners working at OALCF Levels 1 and 2:

  1. Reading texts

  2. Practice tasks and writing

  3. Numeracy and mathematics

  4. Professional learning and how-to guides

  5. Creating, modifying and analyzing your own materials


More OER

*These resources were recommended to AlphaPlus by instructors at the Toronto District School Board.

Reading and Writing

Adult Literacy Fundamental English Series from BC Reads

  • Are you looking for free online reading resources for adults working on their reading skills? You can find great, made-in-BC content in the BC Reads: Adult Literacy Fundamental English series. Written by Shantel Ivits, this set of six readers includes original, high interest stories written for adults. Each reader is available to download in several electronic formats, including editable formats you can customize. They are also available to purchase in hardcopy. Each reader has an accompanying Course Pack that includes audio recordings and exercises.

  • These books are also available on the eCampus Pressbooks site. You can find them by putting adult literacy fundamental english into the search.

*Changing Lanes: English as a Second Language Reading Series

  • Emerging reader texts with appropriate graphics for adults (no caterpillars or bunnies). It's for low level 1 learners so there's only a few sentences on each page. Because it's an ESL resource, it's more situational vocabulary-based (lots of sight words) rather than boosting phonemic-awareness in approach, so this may or may not meet the needs of the learners you're working with.


Numeracy

*eTextbooks: Adult Education from Open School BC

  • These foundation-level resources are helpful for adult learners to prepare for assessment testing, post-secondary programs or career training. They’re also useful for students in Grades 7 to 10. There are 4 levels of math textbooks and one science text book.

Adult Literacy Fundamental Math Series from BC Reads

  • Available on the eCampus Pressbooks site. You can find them by putting adult literacy fundamentals math into the search.

  • These fundamental mathematics books are for adult learners and include a Table of Contents, Glossary, Grades Records, Self Tests, Practice Tests, and Unit Tests. Each book is available to download in several electronic formats, including editable formats you can customize. They are also available to purchase in hardcopy.

*My Math Path: 4, 5 and 6 from Decoda Literacy

  • This is an e-learning textbook for adults who want to upgrade their basic math skills, and for teachers or tutors looking for math resources they can use with students. The first section covers decimals in general, with specific reference to place value; mathematical operations with decimals; and order of operations. The second section of the textbook covers fractions and includes material on operations with fractions; equivalent fractions; converting between fractions and decimals; and estimation. The third section is subdivided into modules on ratios and proportions; percent; powers and roots; and statistics. Each section or module begins with a statement of learning outcomes; a glossary of terms used; numerous math exercises; and a practice test and solutions.

*Problem of the Week from Centre for Education in Mathematics and Computing at the University of Waterloo

  • Math word problems in PDFs. These are designed for students in Grade 3 and up. The graphics and content mostly seem appropriate for adult learners as well as younger students. Instructors working with adults may want to change some of the elements in the scenarios slightly.

  • The Problem of the Week is designed to provide students with an ongoing opportunity to solve mathematical problems. Each week, problems from various areas of mathematics will be posted here for use with their students from grades 3 and up.

  • You can subscribe. to the problems - the problem will be emailed to you and the solution will be emailed a week later. You can download a booklets with all past problems organized into strands (topics).

30 Free Google Drawings Graphic Organizers by Eric Curts

  • Plus directions for how to make your own.

  • Graphic organizers are a great tool to share information, explain a concept, or illustrate a relationship using elements including images, shapes, text, colors, and connecting lines. They can be used in education with any age group or subject area.


Professional Learning (places to learn about digital technology for learning)

AlphaPlus

Here are some links that may help if you are working remotely with learners and some professional development resources if you have time for that while you are working from home.


QUILL Network