Welcome

Welcome to the Web Safari.

We are going to spend the next two hours exploring some online learning resources and blended learning activities. This is your online course about online learning. We will all do the chat together at Chatzy (see the post below).

Once you leave the chat, please read the learner comments about online learning (see post below) and leave your own comment. Or visit Jottit (see post below) and add to the wiki.

After that you can use this time as you wish.

You can use the entire time to explore the links, activities and lessons and reflect you thoughts, ideas and innovations in the comments section.

You can spend about 20 minutes checking out some sample lessons and then use the links and resources to create a lesson to post here on the blog for your class and any others who want to use it. If you choose to post a lesson, please let me know and I will sign you up as a contributor on the blog. I will need your email address.

Or you can spend the time making a video like the one above.

Please explore the topics that interest you most. These are all activities that I have used with literacy learners. I have set them up here in a way that you can use them with learners straight from this blog if you wish.

You can see the topics by looking for the Blog Topics box in the sidebar down the right side of the blog. You can see an index of Labels as well. I have labelled all the posts for this workshop April 16. If you click on April 16 in the Labels box, you can view the whole workshop at once.

I will be here to help out and answer questions. Please leave comments here on the blog when you explore a topic so that others can learn from your explorations.

The blog will remain here so that you can revisit it any time you wish. If you would like to keep the blog going as a way to keep in touch with each other about online learning let me know. Right now I am the administrator for this blog. I can sign people up as administrators or as contributors and you can use this space any way you like. If people who wish to keep this blog going would like a little Blogger support to get started, I can do that for a while.

If anyone would like to start a blog to use with learners and would like a little help getting started, let me know.

Now... join the chat and say hi to everybody.

*All the links are going to open in a new window so that this window will always be open. You can see which windows are open by looking at the toolbar on the bottom of your screen. You can click on them to bring them to the front.

Notice the listen now above each blog post. Odiogo is a free service that adds audio to a blog and creates a podcast for each post.

The video in this post was created at Xtranormal. You can make these easy peasey little videos by choosing one of the free scenes and adding your text. You can fancy it up with expressions and camera angles if you wish.

Chatzy

The first thing we are going to do is say hello to each other.

Click here* to enter our Chatzy chat room. Chatzy is a place to have free online chats. I have set this up as a virtual chat room that anyone can enter without a password ... be discreet. I will clear the room at the end of our session so and erase all of our messages.

You can use Chatzy to set up private rooms that you can use with students. Students or instructors can host discussions or "chat parties". In chat parties, people play word games or answer trivia questions on a theme. Some students really enjoy using chat rooms to connect with other literacy learners. Some students seem to feel less inhibited about writing to an audience of other learners and writing online.

Click here to set up your own chat room at Chatzy. Click here to learn more about how.
Or you can try TinyChat, another free chat room site.

AlphaPlus has chatrooms and forums for students who are enrolled in Alpharoute. Any LBS student can be enrolled. Contact Nancy Friday to find out more: nfriday [at] alphaplus [dot] ca. AlphaPlus also offers Moodle training for practitioners. Moodle is a system for online learning where you can post resources and activities, learners can submit assignments and participate in forum discussions, and instructors and learners can track progress and record success. Many of the activities posted in the April 16 workshop were first developed as part of AlphaRoute online courses using Moodle. If you are interested in learning more about Moodle, contact Nancy.

Learners talk about online learning

Here is what some adult literacy learners said about online learning in course evaluations at AlphaRoute.


You can see more online learning experiences and outcomes at the AlphaRoute Learners Blog.

What have learners told you about online learning?
Click on the comments link below and let us know.

Jottit

Here is a video about wikis.

(**If you cannot see this video because You Tube is blocked, see below).

Jottit is a place where you can set up an easy peasey website that works a little like a wiki. You can post text and anyone can edit that text or add to it.

1. Go to the Literacies Jottings Jottit page. Click on defining literacies. Click on the history link below the definition (on the right) to see how this definition was edited.

2. Click on

• online learning :(
• online learning :)

and add your thoughts. Click on edit to write. Click on publish to save your jottings.

3. Would you use Jottit with adult literacy learners? How? Click on the comments link below and let us know what you think.

*You can see more Commoncraft Shows here: www.commoncraft.com/show

** If You Tube is blocked: You can use Zamzar, a free online video conversion service. I entered the URL for the You Tube video, chose avi as the type of file, waited about 20 minutes, checked my email, went to the web address and then uploaded the new video onto this blog. You can also download the videos directly onto a computer (MPEGs are probably best -- check with the TDSB tech people) and watch them without using the internet at all.

Workplace: Pay and Hours

Here is an activity for students interested in finding out about their rights in the workplace.

This week we will look at the WorkRights.ca website.

We will look for information about Pay and Hours of Work. You will see the topics in the bar on the left side.

There are 5 things to do:

1. Go to Getting Paid and click on Ont at the top of the page. (The short forms for each province are in the row of teeny, tiny white writing that is almost impossible to read.)

What is the general minimum wage in Ontario 2009?
What will it be next year?
Look at another province. Is the minimum wage the same or different?

2. Go to Work Time. Click on Weekly Hours and Overtime and click on Ont at the top of the page.

How many hours in standard work week?
Are you entitled to a break?
What about days off?
What can you do if you still have questions about the rules?

3. Look along the left sidebar of the WorkRights.ca website.
What other information can you find on this site?

4. Click on the comments link below and tell us what you think about this website. Is it easy to use? Is the information useful?

5. Here are some questions to think about. We will discuss these questions in class.

What do you think about Fair pay? Have you ever worked for minimum wage? Is it enough money? How much should people get paid? How can workers get fair wages

What do you think about Hours of work? How many hours should people work? Should it be the same for everybody? How can workers get fair hours?

Workplace: Health and Safety

Health and Safety 101 is an e-course developed by the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) in Ontario, for workers 24 years old and younger.

The course also prepares you for the Passport to Safety test and online program. The Passport program is for people who want to get nationally recognized certificate, or Passport, to show employers they have a basic level of health and safety knowledge.

Go to Health and Safety 101.

Choose high speed if you are using a cable or DSL internet connection or low speed if you are using a dial up connection. If you use high speed, you can see videos and some of the information will be read out loud. If you use low speed, you will have to read all of the information so if you need help with the reading make sure a tutor is with you.

Look at the menu bar along the top.

Click on Safety Roles.

A menu will pop down.


Click on Your Rights - You will be looking at pages 12-21 of the Safety Roles lesson.

You can watch more, but that is the part we are talking about today.

Find out:
* What are our 3 health and safety rights?
* What are the 4 steps we can take if we are not safe at work

If you want to learn more about the Right to Refuse,
click here to listen to a story from the Learning Edge.

If you want to learn more about safety in different workplaces,
click here to see how well you can Fix the Hazard.

2. When you have looked at the websites, click on the comments link and tell us what you saw. Here are some questions to think about:

What websites did you look at?
What information was new to you?
What information surprised you the most?
What questions do you still have about health and safety in the workplace?
Where do you think you could find the answers?

Workplace: Health and Safety - Fix the Hazard

These virtual games from Australia help us learn to identify and solve safety hazards.

This was a way to get a certificate. You cannot get a certificate any more but you can still play the games.

You will need a high speed connection and the Macromedia Flash 6 Player to be installed on your computer. If you do not have the Flash Player installed, you can download the player by visiting Macromedia's Flash Download Centre and following their installation instructions.

To play the games, move your mouse over the pictures.
When the arrow turns into a hand, you have found a hazard.
Click on it.
A multiple choice quiz will pop up.
Read the options and click on the one you think is the best solution.

Choose the workplace you work in most and see how well you do.

Play the Safe Office Game

Play the Safe Kitchen Game

Play the Safe Hotel Game

Play the Safe Supermarket Game

Workplace: Change

Part 1

Go to the Learning Edge, Issue 5. Then click on the box called “The changing face of work.”

What do you think about what these people are saying about the changing face of work?

How did you feel about going back to school?

What were your reasons for going back to school?

How has the world of work changed for you?

Did your job change?

Part 2

At Job Futures we can learn where the government says jobs are now and where they will be in the future.

We can learn about whether we have the education we need for a certain job and if we will like the job.

To learn more about how to use this site, go to the Learning Edge, Issue 5.
Then click on the box called “Using the internet to find jobs.”

Listen to the recording and then click on the Job Futures button.
Listen to the information about the website and then go to the Job Futures website.

Look up a job that you are interested in. If you know what job you would like, look the job up by clicking on alphabet and finding the job in the list. Remember, they may use another word for your job. For example, sports is called Athletics.

If you do not know what job you would like, click on Interest and choose whether you would like to work with things, people or information and choose a job from the list.

If you do not care what job you do just so long as there are lots of jobs in that field and the pay is good, click on Work Prospects and find a job to research there.

One you have found a job to research, find out:

- the average pay

- what the outlook is (will there be many jobs in this field and how many people with these skills are employed)

- what you will do on this job

- what education you need

and important facts (like how many women work in this field)
Click on comments and tell us what you found out.

And tell us what you think about this website. Is it helpful? What is easy about using it? What is difficult? Did you learn anything new about work?

Workplace: Finding Work

We can use the Learning Edge to look at ways to find jobs.

Here are some questions to think about:
- What are the four traditional methods of looking for jobs?
- Are they successful? Why or why not?
- What is the difference between active and passive ways of looking for work?
- What are two ways of looking for work?

You can find the answers in the Learning Edge.
Go to the Learning Edge, Issue 5.
Then click on the box called “Networking.”
Listen to the recording for scene 1.
Then choose a way of looking for work that you would like to practice.

1. Networking

2. Cold calling

3. Using the Job Bank

If you choose Networking:
Listen to the recording for scenes 2 and 3.
What do you think of this method?
Does it seem good to you?
Does it seem easy or difficult?
--------------------
Make a networking plan.
How will you start?
How will you find new people to network with?
What will you say?
What will you do after?

If you choose Cold calling:
What do you think of this method?
Does it seem good to you?
Does it seem easy or difficult?
--------------------
Make a cold calling plan.
How will you decide where to call?
What will you say about your experience?
What will you say if they do not have any openings right now? What will you do after?

If you choose Using the Job Bank:
Listen to the information about the website and then go to the Job Bank website and try to find a job.

What do you think of this method?
Does it seem good to you?
Does it seem easy or difficult?
-------------------
Reply to this message. Tell us what you found out.
Are there any jobs for you in your region? What will you do next?
And tell us what you think about this website. Is it helpful? What is easy about using it? What is difficult? Would you use the “resume builder?”

Storytelling: Film Shorts as Text

From Bill Boyd @ the Literacy Advisor:

The short film is an ideal medium for developing the “traditional” literacies of reading, writing, talking and listening, a “short” film being a complete text lasting anything up to 30 minutes, but for our purposes ideally no more than ten or fifteen minutes, which means it can be shown two or three times in the course of a lesson if necessary. This is preferable to using an extract from a feature film as it doesn’t require an understanding of the whole work from which it has been taken, and there is a huge range of texts available, from animation to live action, fiction to documentary.

With a minimal understanding of the language of film, teachers can use short films to introduce and reinforce concepts related to reading and writing printed texts, such as narrative viewpoint, plot, characters and setting, as well as developing a greater understanding of the medium of film itself, the medium with which most of us engage most frequently. It is important to emphasise the similarities between printed and moving image texts, as well as the differences, since ultimately they are both about telling stories, and why we tell stories is arguably the reason for studying any kind of texts at all!

At the National Film Board site you can watch full-length NFB documentaries, animations and dramas online - beta.nfb.ca/

Storytelling: Anecdotes

This is Ira Glass. He has a show called This American Life about storytelling.
This video is 5:24 long.
(If you cannot see this video because You Tube is blocked, see below).

Ira Glass tells us that the building blocks of storytelling are:

1. Anecdotes. Anecdotes use bait and momentum to keep the listener interested.
   
2. A Moment of Reflection. This moment answers the question, "Why am I listening to this story?"

What is an anecdote?

Why are anecdotes powerful?

How do anecdotes use momentum to make boring stories exciting?

What is bait?

Think of something funny or scary that happened last week. Tell an anecdote about that event. Use bait and momentum to make your story interesting. Use a moment of reflection to answer the question, "Why am I listening to this story?"

** If You Tube is blocked: You can use Zamzar, a free online video conversion service. I entered the URL for the You Tube video, chose avi as the type of file, waited about 20 minutes, checked my email, went to the web address and then uploaded the new video onto this blog. You can also download the videos directly onto a computer (MPEGs are probably best -- check with the TDSB tech people) and watch them without using the internet at all.

Storytelling: Tales we Tell Children

Some people tell stories.
Some people sing stories.
Some people read stories.

Why are stories important for children?
What are the stories people tell children?
Why those stories?

Here are some stories:

# Christopher, Please Clean Up Your Room! (NFB Video)
# The Cat Came Back

# The Magic of Anansi (NFB Video)

# Roses Sing on New Snow (NFB Video)

# The Hockey Sweater by Roch Carrier (NFB Video)
# The Hockey Sweater by Roch Carrier (CBC Audio)

# The legend of Nanabozho (CBC Audio)
# Summer Legend (NFB Video)

Did you listen to any of the stories?
Which ones did you like best?

What stories did you like best when you were very young?
Why do you think you liked them so much?

What stories do you tell the children you know?
Why do you pick those stories?

Storytelling: Interviews

What story do you want to hear?











Who would you like to ask to tell you a story?
What stories from your family or your community are interesting to you?

There are 3 things to do.
1. Listen to people tell each other stories.
Here are some links.

* A son asks his father about his marriage and divorce and marriage
* A great-nephew asks his great-uncle about the secret of long life
* Debra asks her friend Ed about his best tip ever
* A Big Brother and Little Brother ask each other questions
* Listen to more stories

2. Plan your interview.
Think about who you would like to interview.
Make some questions.

You can use the Question Generator at Story Corps.
You put your information into the question generator and they will send you a list of questions by email.

You can use the the Great Questions List at Story Corps.
When you go to the Great Questions List, you can click on the topic you are interested in and find questions you would like to ask.

Or make up your own questions.

3. Write up your questions and share them with the class.

Storytelling: Memoirs

What story do you want to tell about yourself?
A memoir is a story from our own lives.

The idea for a 6-word story came from Ernest Hemingway. Hemingway was an American novelist, short-story writer, and journalist. He was born on July 21, 1899 and died on July 2, 1961. That is him in this picture -->

One day he bet a friend that
he could write a whole story in 6 words.
He wrote a very sad story.
His story was "For sale: Baby shoes, never worn."
He won the bet.

Smith Magazine had a contest. People had to write a story from their lives in 6 words. They collected 1,000 stories and made a book.

You can read some of the 6-word stories here.

What about you? Can you write a story from your life in only 6 words?
Click on Comments and give it a try.

Health: The Human Body

Click here to open The Virtual Body.

A new page will open up.
Choose English.

You will see pictures of the inside of your body.
The pictures will be cartoon like the ones on this page, not photographs.
Some people do not like looking at pictures like this.
If you do not like looking at pictures like this, choose another activity.

Click on The Human Skeleton.
Click on Bones Narrated and listen to the information.
You can read along.
When you have heard the information, try the Build a Skeleton game.

Click on Comments.
Write a message and tell us:

• which activity you did
• what you liked about it
• what you did not like about it
• 3 things you learned
• which activity you are going to try next at the Virtual Body
  

Health: Our Bodies

We are going to read and write about what makes us magic!
You can write a poem or a story.
You can write about your body or something that you can do that makes you feel magic.

Read the stories and poems below.
Write your own poem or story about how your body is magic.

Read a poem.
This poem is by a former construction worker called Kate Braid.

There is a story about Kate Braid in a literacy reader called Coast-to-Coast Reader by Joan Acosta. You might have it in your program.

These Hips
by Kate Braid

Some hips are made for bearing
children, built like stools
square and easy, right
for the passage of birth.

Others are built like mine.
A child’s head might never pass
but load me up with two-by-fours
and watch me
bear.

When the men carry sacks of concrete
they hold them high, like boys.
I bear mine low, like a girl
on small, strong hips
built for the birth
of buildings.

Read a story.

There is a story that you can read.
It is by a literacy student called Brenda Meyers.
It is about her favourite body part.
She wrote the story after reading the poem by Kate Braid.
You can see the story here.

Listen to a poem.

You can find the poem to listen to here.
It is called homage to my hips and it is by Lucille Clifton.
A homage is a way of showing respect to someone – or something.

In this poem, she talks about her magic hips.
She also talks about being sexy.
I do not think it is rude.
I think it is funny.
But everybody has different ideas about what is rude and what is funny.
If you think that this will make you feel uncomfortable, do not listen to the poem.
Or if you are worried about people in the program overhearing the poem – use headphones.

When you click on the link, wait for the poem to load – watch the blue bar grow – and then click PLAY.

You can read the poem below.

homage to my hips
by Lucille Clifton

these hips are big hips
they need space to move around in
they don't fit into little, petty places

these hips are free hips
they don't like to be held back
these hips have never been enslaved
they go where they want to go
they do what they want to do

these hips are mighty hips
these hips are are MAGIC hips
I have known these hips to put a spell on a man and to spin him like a top.

Health: Nutrition

Think about a question you have about your body and how to keep it healthy.

Which story do you think will answer your question?

Pick a story that looks interesting.

If your question is about eating in a healthy way, these stories might help:
1. Ingredient labels
2. Less meat more beans
3. Nutrition facts
4. Men don’t eat enough vegetables

Write a review of the story you read.
Write your review as a paragraph.
Do not write it as a list of answers to the questions.
Make it interesting for other students to read.

Then read some of the reviews by other students. Which story will you read next?

Some questions to think about for your review:

Did the story answer your question?
Was the story easy or difficult to read and understand?
Was the story interesting or boring?
Would you recommend this story to other students?
How many stars (from 1 to 5) would you give this story?

Health: Taking Care

Think about a question you have about your body and how to keep it healthy.

Which story do you think will answer your question?

Pick a story that looks interesting.

1. Active living - Ken's story
2. Preparing for a doctor’s appointment – vocabulary and comprehension
3. Feeling the blues – vocabulary and comprehension
4. Menopause

Write a review of the story you read.
Write your review as a paragraph.
Do not write it as a list of answers to the questions.
Make it interesting for other students to read.

Then read some of the reviews by other students. Which story will you read next?

Some questions to think about for your review:

Did the story answer your question?
Was the story easy or difficult to read and understand?
Was the story interesting or boring?
Would you recommend this story to other students?
How many stars (from 1 to 5) would you give this story?

Further Education

There are no prepared, student-tested activities here... yet.

For people with academic upgrading goals, check out the activities at Skillswise and at the GED blog.

The Northern Edge has some excellent activities about learning and learning styles.
Learning in Action
Learning to Think in New Ways
Multiple Intelligences