Community Literacy of Ontario

CLO Current Projects

In 2011-2012, Community Literacy of Ontario is managing six projects:

1. Best Practices in Online Learning for Adult Literacy Students Learning at the Lowest Levels of Literacy
2. Guide to Effective Technologies and Tools for Providing Online Staff Development and Training
3. Ontario Adult Literacy Curriculum Framework: CLO’s Sector/Stream Input Project
4. Ontario Adult Literacy Curriculum Framework: CLO’s Training Development Project
5. Ontario Adult Literacy Curriculum Framework: CLO’s Training Delivery Project
6. Ontario Adult Literacy Curriculum Framework: CLO’s Implementation Training Delivery Project

As well, CLO is formally involved in one current project partnership: Succession Planning – For the Future

Each project is described in more detail below.

Best Practices in Online Learning for Adult Literacy Students Learning at the Lowest Levels of Literacy

Community Literacy of Ontario has recently began an innovative new project called “Best Practices in Online Learning for Adult Literacy Students Learning at the Lowest Levels of Literacy”. In our project, CLO staff will research how online learning for adult learners at the lowest literacy levels is being delivered in Ontario’s community literacy agencies. We will also assess the benefits, barriers, strategies and best practices.

CLO then will develop a resource guide that summarizes the research and best practices. We will also develop an annotated online listing of helpful online instructional resources as identified by literacy instructors during the research.

This project is funded by the Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities and will run from January 1, 2011 to December 31, 2011.

Guide to Effective Technologies and Tools for Providing Online Staff Development and Training

Community Literacy of Ontario is hosting a project called “Guide to Effective Technologies and Tools for Providing Online Staff Development and Training”.

In this project, CLO will research current technologies used for providing staff training within the Employment Ontario delivery network and in the broader education and training sector. We will explore various technologies for online staff training, for example, webinars, podcasting, online video training, web-based training modules, and several online learning platforms.

CLO will then write a “Guide to Effective Technologies and Tools for Providing Online Staff Development and Training". This guide will be posted on our website for wide access by any interested stakeholder.

CLO is grateful to the Employment Ontario Network Development Fund for sponsoring this project. It will run from January 1, 2011 to August 31, 2011.

Ontario Adult Literacy Curriculum Framework: CLO’s Sector/Stream Input Project

As part of a provincial working group made up of representatives from MTCU and sectoral and stream networks, Community Literacy of Ontario provided feedback into the development of the Ontario Adult Literacy Curriculum Framework (OALCF), guideline components, and OALCF documents, tools and resources. During this past year, CLO staff provided thoughtful, in-depth input into all aspects of the OALCF.

CLO is grateful to the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities for funding this project. This project operates from April 1, 2010 to March 31, 2011.

Ontario Adult Literacy Curriculum Framework: CLO’s Training Development Project

Community Literacy of Ontario developed the training package for the Overview Training of the Ontario Adult Literacy Curriculum. CLO’s training package was used by trainers in all sectors and streams. CLO also provided Overview Training sessions for the trainers from all sectors and streams. The Overview Training was delivered by the individual sector and stream organizations in the fall of 2010.

As part of this project, CLO also is developing the training package for the Implementation Training for the Ontario Adult Literacy Curriculum Framework. The Implementation Training will be delivered by the individual sector and stream organizations in the spring of 2011. In addition, CLO is providing Implementation Training sessions for the trainers from each sectoral and stream organization.

This project is funded by the Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities and runs from April 1, 2010 to March 31, 2011.

Ontario Adult Literacy Curriculum Framework: CLO’s Training Delivery Project

Community Literacy of Ontario provided in-person OALC Framework Overview Training to community-based literacy agencies in November 2010. Online workshops on Centra were also conducted for practitioners who were unable to attend the in-person training. CLO’s online training was recorded and is available on Centra.

As well, CLO offered training workshops on the OALCF at the conferences of Laubach Literacy Ontario and the Ontario Literacy Coalition. We also provided training to MTCU staff.

CLO is grateful to the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities for funding this project.  This project operates from April 1, 2010 to March 31, 2011.

Ontario Adult Literacy Curriculum Framework: CLO’s Implementation Training Delivery Project

Community Literacy of Ontario is pleased to be delivering Ontario Adult Literacy Curriculum Framework Implementation training sessions in May and June 2011 for Anglophone community-based literacy agencies. CLO is delivering the two-day OALCF training at six regional sessions to allow for greater program participation. CLO has sent out information about these training sessions directly to community-based literacy agencies. Literacy programs in other sectors and streams will receive OALCF Implementation Training from their individual sector and stream networks.

The following is a list of CLO’s training session dates and locations: Thunder Bay (May 3 and 4); Kitchener (May 10 and 11); Kingston (May 31 and June 1); Toronto (June 6 and 7); London (June 9 and 10); and Sudbury (June 16 and 17).

This project is funded by the Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities and runs from April 1, 2011 to March 31, 2012.

Current CLO Partnerships

Literacy Link South Central (LLSC) is a regional literacy network based in London. In 2010, LLSC developed an extremely useful Succession Planning Toolkit. This kit is available at www.llsc.on.ca/about-us/resources.

In 2011, Literacy Link South Central received project funding from the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities for a project called “Succession Planning – For the Future”.  The new project will (a) update the Succession Planning Toolkit; (b) provide three in-person training events; and (c) create an online succession planning training module.

LLSC is partnering with Community Literacy of Ontario on this important project. CLO will develop the online succession planning training module and post it to our ever-popular Literacy Basics self study training website at: www.nald.ca/literacybasics/

The in-person training sessions will be offered in late fall 2011 and early winter 2012. The online training module will be available on the CLO website in January 2012.