Norma Lesperance Receives Lois Land Award of Achievement

Sioux Hudson Literacy Council (SHLC) and Good Learning Anywhere (GLA) are proud to announce the 2011 recipient of the Lois Land Award of Achievement.  Congratulations Norma Lesperance of Nipigon, Ontario!

When we are working at a distance with our learners, many outsiders have a hard time understanding what we do at Good Learning Anywhere.  How are we helping learners achieve their goals?  And truthfully, we sometimes wonder what sorts of impacts we are having on learners too.  The results are not always quantifiable and recorded in statistics.  It’s part of the challenge when working at a distance.

However, I would like to introduce you to Norma.   I got to know Norma over a period of almost 4 months.  Norma is a tremendously hard worker.  Norma clearly had her goals in sight and worked very hard at figuring out what she needed to do to reach her goal.  We commend Norma on her focus and we know that Norma will continue to apply what she learned from the Good Learning Anywhere and ENABLE programs.   Here is a short video about the ENABLE program that was produced by Thunderstone Pictures.

When I told Norma that we selected her for this award, she was very excited.  I asked if we could share her success story by means of answering a few questions.  She declined that and decided she would like to reply in a paragraph format.  This is her journey.

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 I first heard about this program through an “ENABLE” project that was offered to a handful of adult learners at Lake Helen Reserve. The on-line course was one part of many that we were required to participate in. As an adult learner these on-line courses made me less afraid of the computer. By this I mean, that I took a college course on-line a few years ago and I can honestly say that I was not prepared to do certain tasks with the computer. I didn’t understand networks, modems, e-mails, attachments; nothing. But now thanks to these courses and the jobs that followed; I am more confident in my computer skills.

When I was in high school the first time around, (in the late seventies, early eighties) I was a shy, gawky teenager, you wouldn’t catch me reading out loud, public speaking, or even standing up in front of a room full of my classmates. The computer had given me the ability to “speak up,” to “express my opinion,” to “participate,” without the fear of being laughed at, ridiculed, or rejected.

 Like I’ve stated before, I’ve become more confident in my computer skills and this meant more job opportunities were becoming available to me. Since I have graduated in October of last year, I have gained employment as a relief secretary, an after-school tutor, then onto the Band Manager’s Assistant for the Red Rock Indian Band. I’m very proud of all my accomplishments and I plan to celebrate my achievements at our Annual Graduation Dinner on June 20^th.

The only advice I can offer others is, “Just do it!”

 If I had one word or sentence to describe my experience with GLA/ENABLE, it would have to say: “AWESOME, TOTALLY AWESOME!”

Norma

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Norma earned her Grade 12 diploma with the help of the ENABLE and Good Learning Anywhere programs.  As a matter of fact, she is having a graduation celebration today at Lake Helen Reserve 53A.  She is also going to take the skills that made her successful and continue to apply them throughout her lifelong learning journey.  Norma has told us that she wants to continue her learning and eventually become a school teacher.

Norma…we can’t wait for that day and who knows, maybe you’ll be teaching online too!

On behalf of Sioux Hudson Literacy Council (SHLC) and Good Learning Anywhere (GLA), we congratulate Norma on her achievements and sincerely hope all her dreams come true.

To learn more about the ENABLE program with Anishinabek Employment and Training Services, please visit their website: www.aets.org.  To learn more about SHLC and GLA, please visit us at www.siouxhudsonliteracy.com or call us at 866-550-0697.

Follow Up: 1st Class – 2011 Canadian Federal Election

This new blog post is a follow-up to our blog announcing the new Centra course we launched called 2011 Canadian Federal Election.

Our first class was on Thursday April 14th, 2011 and the results were fantastic!  If I were to speak in Elections terminology, I can say that we had an 81% turnout rate for this class.  These numbers are actually high for what we are typically used to in a LIVE Centra class.  There are still learners that may go back and listen to the recorded Playback which may in fact increase the turnout rates even more.

There were some interesting observations from this class.  There was approximately 85% of the group that have never voted before.  And I mean never voted for anything.  They have never voted for mayor, their band council, the provincial government or anything at all.  One might think that this is shocking and disappointing but I looked at this as an opportunity and a definite reason why we needed to run this course.

The class was structured in format and outline but flexible because learners were encouraged to use their voices and text chat to discuss their concerns about the upcoming election.  Here is a sample of their concerns from the class:

• TRUST was a big concern for these potential voters – How do they trust that a leader will follow through on their promises?
• Votes don’t seem to count if the person you vote for loses
• Are water issues present on First Nations reserves because not enough people are voting?
• How do I know who I should vote for?

The course was also set up to accommodate different learning styles among Aboriginal learners.  The Aboriginal Approach to Learning encompasses the philosophy of teaching holistically and uses the medicine wheel as it’s symbol.

From a medicine wheel perspective, the course adapted well to these 4 different learning styles.  Intuitive learners are represented in East quadrant of the medicine wheel.  These learners may have recognized that they needed to learn more about the elections process.  They needed to visually see what this process looks like.  Emotional learners are represented in the South quadrant of the medicine wheel.  These learners could relate to the issues and understand the impacts of not voting.  Mental learners are represented in the West quadrant where they were introduced to the process and steps involved to vote on election day.  Some learners prefer to be more objective and logical with their learning.  Physical learners in the North quadrant learn more by observing and doing.  They were provided with interactive online resources to reinforce what they were learning through self-directed participation.

This class was balanced and respected all four different learning styles.

At the end of class, I also shared with the learners the results of a social media experiment using Twitter. Prior to the class, I contacted all of the MP candidates in Ontario who were on Twitter and introduced them to this course we are offering to learners. I also asked if they had any advice for our learners.  The comments and feedback were priceless.  I shared a few of these with learners and it seemed to bring the class full circle.  The comments and advice from the MP candidates helped the learners feel a part of the election and that their voice counted for something.

In the end, all but one learner expressed that they would be at the polls in their community on May 2^nd!

2011 Canadian Federal Election

Announcement: New Course from GLA

2011 Canadian Federal Election – About Canada Votes 2011

On May 2, 2011 Canada will be having a federal election to either re-elect our Prime Minister or elect a new Prime Minister.  Many experts agree that the Aboriginal vote is very important and in some cases, these votes may decide who the next Prime Minister of Canada is.  Good Learning Anywhere is offering a LIVE Centra course for learners interested in learning about voting in a Canadian election.

The course is not going to be a political debate.  It will focus on the importance of voting in Canada.  Questions that will be covered in this 2 hour course are: What is an election?  Why is it important to vote?  What is the history of Aboriginal voters in Canada?  Who can vote?  Where do people vote?  How do people vote?  Who are you voting for?  What impact does my vote have?

We are offering this course 3 times before the election.

• Thursday April 14 – 10:30 am ET
• Wednesday April 20 – 10:30 am ET
• Tuesday April 26 – 10:30 am ET

Sign up for one of these dates by visiting our website: http://www.siouxhudsonliteracy.com/register.htm or by calling 1-866-550-0697.  If you have any questions, you can also contact Warren by email – warren@siouxhudsonliteracy.com.

If you are new to online learning and using Centra, we recommend you register for an Introduction to Online Learning class prior to taking the elections course.

• Wednesday April 6 – 10:30 am ET
• Wednesday April 13 – 10:30 am ET

The Sioux Hudson Literacy Council (SHLC) is a non-profit, community based, client centred Literacy and Basic Skills program.  We also operate the Sioux Lookout Learning Centre and Good Learning Anywhere e-Channel distance delivery program.  SHLC is a non-profit agency and is funded by the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities (MTCU) and formerly the National Literacy Secretariat (NLS).

Good Learning Anywhere – NEW Moodle courses

 

Sioux Hudson Literacy Council (SHLC) and Good Learning Anywhere (GLA) are excited to announce the release of 2 new Moodle courses:

• Canadian History
• Essential Skills Investigation (ESI)

So if you are new to Moodle as a learner, you might be confused, feeling stressed and unsure if this type of online course is for you.  But at the same time we hope you are excited and curious…maybe just a little!

So what is Moodle?  Some people like technical definitions.  If that’s you, Moodle is an acronym where each letter of the word Moodle means: Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment.  It’s a software package for developing online courses and websites.  No offense to Moodle but that description doesn’t catch my interest.

If you live in the real world, like I do, this definition might make more sense.  Moodle is a place where you can take courses at your own pace according to your own schedule.  Courses in Moodle are designed for the learner who wants to explore independent learning. There is no live instructor but there is a mentor working behind the scenes to ensure your questions are being answered, encouraging you along the way and providing feedback on the work you complete. Moodle is very dynamic and as you will see with our courses there are several activities, several resources, different options to chat, interactive websites to explore, videos to watch and voice recordings to listen to.  We recognize that people learn in different ways and we want to give everyone those options to try something different.  Is Moodle sounding more interesting?  If so, continue reading.

Sneak Preview

The following are 2 short previews to give you a glimpse of the Moodle courses.  The videos are short but hopefully interesting enough for you to consider registering for the courses.  Click on the picture below and then click the Play button.

Start Dates

Both courses will start Monday February 14, 2011 and will be running for a period of 5 weeks.

Login instructions will be emailed to you prior to the start date.

Warren will be your Moodle Mentor guiding you through the courses – warren@siouxhudsonliteracy.com

How to Register

If you like what you saw, please feel free to register for the courses at www.siouxhudsonliteracy.com.   Click on our website link and that will take you directly to our registration page.  Please fill in the required information at the top of the page and then scroll down to the very bottom where you will see the 2 Moodle courses in the bottom left hand corner.  Select the dates, provide any comments in the box on the right hand side and then click on the Submit button.

If you do have any questions about Moodle and the courses we are offering please email Warren – warren@siouxhudsonliteracy.com

After you enroll and login to the course, you will officially become a Moodler!

Happy Moodling!

Improving Skills and the Internet: Reading Text

Hands up if you like to read!

Did you know World Literacy Canada estimates that 22% of Canadians struggle to read road signs, prescription bottles and can’t fill out application forms?

And did you know that reading text is one of the 9 Essential Skills identified by the Office of Literacy and Essential Skills?

ABC Life Literacy even calls reading a muscle, and like all muscles, if you don’t use it, you lose it.

So, what do you do if you want to improve your reading, but you don’t really know where to begin.

Well, as my colleagues already know, I’m a strong believer in the power of the Internet and what it can give back to the user, and I think that the Internet can be a powerful tool to improve your reading skills.

So, let’s explore some ways that you can use the Internet to improve your reading.

1. Use TTS technology.

TTS, or text to sound is a wonderful tool that you can use for free. It does exactly what it says it does, it takes a paragraph and reads it back to you. So, if you want to catch up on the news, find out who Drew Hayden is, or discover the world of micro-organisms, you can use a TTS program to read along with the text. What a great way to improve your reading skills. Here’s a good program to use. Natural Reader will read back any text that you paste into the reader box.

2. Use a dictionary.

Did you know that Google is like a dictionary?  Try it out. Type in the word matriculate in your search box. The definition will pop up right away! So when you are reading and you come upon a word that you’re not quite sure of, use Google.

3. Follow the links.

Those blue and underlined words that you find on a web page aren’t just for decoration. If you click on them, you’ll be taken to a whole new world. My favorite way to learn about things is to go to Wikipedia. Go ahead, click on the blue word. Then, type in a famous person or event that you want to learn more about. If you’re not comfortable, use your TTS to read the words while you follow along.

4. Take a Reading Class.

We offer reading and English courses that help you with your reading skills. By signing up with us, you can take any of our courses for FREE. You can even call us at 866-550-0697 (free call) to talk to someone about your learning goals, or visit our website to see our course calendar for times and dates.

5. Read Your Favourite Song.

That’s right, read it.  Websites like songlyrics.com and elyrics.com hold tons of lyrics to popular music. Reading the words to your favorite songs will improve your reading ability AND you’ll finally get the words right!!

6. Play games.

Playing word games is a fun way to improve your reading skills. Check out websites like wordgames.com and Faceboook.  Yes, Facebook.  The social media platform has many word games to improve your reading skills.  Check out this article on the top 5 word games on Facebook.

7. Read what you love.

I believe that the things that we are good at are the things that we love. So, when you’re improving your reading skills, don’t read something you’re not crazy about. Read stuff that you are passionate about. Once you are more comfortable and are ready for more, explore: there is a whole world out there waiting for you.

So, what do you think?

Will some of these jump-start your reading journey? Do you have other ideas about using technology to improve reading?

Use the comment section below to leave your thoughts.