What We Learned

The people who participated in this project have had a lot of experience with professional learning and value professional development for themselves and for their colleagues,

I am a professional development enthusiast – I take anything that is going.

Participants who supervise staff spoke about the need for professional development for the health of the program,

In our job descriptions – no one person can do it all when they come in but hopefully, they know it all by the time they leave.

I would love for people to be cross trained in some of the executive director responsibilities. This would help in succession planning as well – for when I leave or even if I need to take time off.

and the personal and professional fulfillment of the people who work there,

We have professional development and compensation – community-based programs cannot do as well in compensation as school boards and colleges – there is no promotion available but professional development can help people grow and feel fulfilled at work.

We want to pay for people to get training in things the organization needs them to do but also in the things that are of interest to them.

People working in LBS programs learn at work for all the reasons that were described in the literature.

They learn for inspiration.

PD is not just for keeping up and for compliance but also about your interests – not just to do things in your current job description but also things you want to do in the future or to enhance your resume.

They learn to stay current and reflect the ways literacy learning is evolving.

If we do not include digital technology in our learning environments, we are not reflecting the real world. We used to be able to manage learning by being an avid reader but now we need to access the resources that are available online – if we don’t, we will miss out on a lot.

They learn to become competent as instructors.

I always want to be able to improve my ability to help students. I always feel there is more to know.

and in leadership roles,

I manage staff, volunteer and the Board – people turn to me for answers. I need to know policies of the organization, funders and government. I have a leadership role to keep the organization working and keep people working well together.

They learn whether they are new to the field or have been working in literacy for a long time.

I don’t always feel confident. I am new in the field and do not have as much experience as my colleagues. …. I want to learn to become a more effective teacher and to learn to better manage the administrative part of this job – as you know that has become a big part of being an LBS instructor.

I have been in field for 24 years. I am looking to change what I do.

They learn to become conformant or compliant.

I want to make sure I am doing the right thing and things are constantly changing.

And they learn to create a career path.

I do this to keep skills current. I like micro-credentialling to keep my resume current. I recommend this to all the staff and the learners.

I have also done AOAD training [Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act] and CPR and Naloxone training. This might not seem like LBS PD, but these are things that I need to know in my workplace and are transferable to other workplaces.

Note: More about the reasons LBS practitioners engage in workplace learning can be seen in the companion document AlphaPlus LinkedIn Learning Report – Field Research under the heading “Learning 1: Why project participants learn.”

Workplace learning that happens in Literacy and Basic Skills community-based programs happens mostly in these two ways described in the literature:

• from time to time – as and when needed; and
• continuously – daily or very regularly.

Opportunities for participating in educational events outside or at the workplace do happen but are less common. These opportunities are valued highly and rated as effective ways to learn from a facilitator with expertise and from each other.

When we get together there is a whole bunch of learning that happens in ad hoc conversations and networking as well as what happens in workshops.

People spoke about the constraints to participating in professional development that requires fees, travel and time away from their usual work. Program budgets do not have funds for the fees, the travel costs and the cost to replace staff so LBS practitioners are rarely able to participate in this type of workplace learning.

Budget constraints are the main barrier to professional development – not practitioner motivation. It is not just the cost of attending professional development opportunities, it is also the cost of replacing people at work and/or paying people for the time they spend on professional development.

As a learner centre our mandate should be professional development – we should walk the talk – but it is mostly time and cost prohibitive.

In some programs, most of the staff works part-time and this creates another barrier.

In the past everyone was full time. It is hard to ask part time staff to take time off their other work to do professional development.

Note: More about the ways LBS practitioners do workplace learning can be seen in the companion document AlphaPlus LinkedIn Learning Report – Field Research under the heading “Learning 2: How project participants learn.”

When we asked people about their criteria for a positive and effective learning experience, they reflected the literature in valuing a personal experience and learning that is self-organized and self-managed. Some people valued learning that is an integral part of the daily work while others felt that they needed quiet and uninterrupted time in order to be able to focus, reflect and practise.

Most people felt that learning is best when there is a variety of ways to experience new ideas and to communicate about what they were learning. They also valued facilitators who showed a high level of expertise, prompt and relevant feedback and for some, a certificate.

Note: The criteria LBS practitioners have for workplace learning can be seen in the companion document AlphaPlus LinkedIn Learning Report – Field Research under the heading “Learning 3: Criteria for good learning” and in Appendix H.

Most people found that the LinkedIn Learning course (or courses) they took met enough of the criteria to make the experience engaging and worth the time and energy. Many were very positive about the experience.

I liked the material and how it was presented – I did not want to fall asleep or think, “When will this be over.” It takes a lot to impress me. I often think, “I knew all of that.” But not with LinkedIn Learning.

People found that everything worked well.

Everything works so well! There is no waiting for videos to load and watching that little circle going around and around. All the handouts and downloads worked perfectly.

Note: More about what LBS practitioners thought about the LinkedIn Learning courses they took can be seen in the companion document AlphaPlus LinkedIn Learning Report – Course Evaluations.

We asked people to evaluate the platform as well as the courses to see how well the LinkedIn Learning algorithms can help individual LBS program workers navigate their own personal learning journeys or if they would need to have an LBS specific pathway created to help them choose the courses. Some people found the recommendations helpful.

The recommendations were accurate and helpful. Yes, I really like the idea of building my own learning pathways.

But most felt an LBS pathway would be helpful.

I think it would be very helpful to have LBS specific learning pathways. It would filter out a lot of the tangential stuff. I like to think I’m pretty smart, but I felt like I was struggling a bit to find the stuff I wanted. There were lots of pathways I thought could help me and my staff in specific areas of our fields, both as individual workers, but also with transferability to things we could use/share with our students.

Note: More LBS practitioner recommendations and their thoughts about an LBS pathway can be seen in the companion document AlphaPlus LinkedIn Learning Report – Field Research under the heading “Learning 11: The LinkedIn Learning algorithm.”

Some people found that they could do the course at their workplace while others found that the courses required a level of concentration that they could only achieve in a quieter place,

I did a lot at home because there are too many interruptions at work.

Some managers worried that this would make LinkedIn Learning difficult to integrate into the workday.

It can be hard to sequester yourself at work – even 15 minutes can be a challenge sometimes. We could do the courses during our lunch hour, but we have to be careful about making sure we have a sustainable work/life balance.

When asked if there were enough courses that were relevant to LBS practitioners, we heard that there was for some people.

There is enough that intertwines and it is also a great place to get ideas for curriculum.

But others, especially those who work mostly as instructors, felt that courses created for Ontario LBS practitioners would be helpful.

It would be great if there were courses that included lesson prep for adult literacy, information about how to use the OALCF, how to create differentiated or individualized learning opportunities and how to work with people who are working at a grade 7, 8, 9, academic level but are adults. It is easy for someone with experience to adapt the ideas to the adult literacy context, but this may be more difficult for someone new to the field, especially if they were coming from the K-12 system.

Some people saw the potential for using the courses, or what they learned in the courses, with learners.

It is going to be so good for our learners. When they take courses in school, they are weeks long. LinkedIn Learning will give learners experience learning online in shorter courses. We can start them in one-hour courses and then move them to longer courses as they get experience. Plus, the courses prepare them for employment and daily life in terms of content. I saw many matches for learners in our program.

Others saw the value of using the courses with staff teams.

I think this is a useful group tool as well as a good resource for individuals. We can watch a video together at work and discuss the content.

I liked the transcripts. I copied parts and shared with other staff when we were preparing for a discussion at a staff meeting.

and making professional connections with a wider network,

I got a response from a colleague who saw I was taking a course through my LinkedIn profile. It gets people talking about what and how they are learning.

Some people appreciated the access to expertise.

The content is solid. I felt as though I was listening to an expert. I watch videos on YouTube when I want to learn something but the content there is not always a good standard. In the LinkedIn Learning course I really felt as though I was getting somewhere.

And some appreciated access to a wider perspective.

I liked that this was not specific to LBS. The ministry funds training that is specific to LBS and that is most of what I attend these days, but I feel that I am missing the wider picture. I want to learn about more general topics that are related to my work and to have access to what people are doing in other jurisdictions. We no longer learn about what is happening in adult education internationally.

Professional development does not have to be so intrinsically linked to how-to-teach or the class we are teaching to be relevant – it keeps our brains open, develops breadth and is especially helpful for developing individualized curricula.

Most people expressed that they felt LinkedIn Learning connected them to “something bigger.”

We are used to scrimping and saving in LBS – we are used to making do. This feels like it is part of something bigger and not the usual make-do opportunity.

Note: More about how LBS practitioners thought LinkedIn Learning would work for people in community-based LBS programs can be seen in the companion document AlphaPlus LinkedIn Learning Report – Field Research under the headings “Learning 8: Benefits for LBS practitioners,” “Learning 9: Challenges for LBS practitioners” and “Learning 10: LinkedIn Learning for LBS learners.”

Many of the participants were positive about LinkedIn Learning as a professional learning tool, but felt that funding for LinkedIn Learning should not come at the cost of other resources,

This should not be funded at the cost of operating funds – only as an add on.

They felt that funding for LinkedIn Learning should include funding for an LBS channel.

If we ask the ministry to add LBS access to LinkedIn Learning across school board and community-based programs as well as colleges, we should include the development of LBS content by Ontario experts.

Add a focus on adult learning – perhaps use the teachers from the adult literacy certificate program to create courses.

Create professional development each year for practitioners – perhaps required – on policies and procedures (for example, confidentiality of learner records and privacy), directions and priorities so that we are all told the same things and we are all on the same page.

One participant suggested that a support organization be given administration of a set of licences that would be available on a rotating basis to practitioners on school board and community-based programs.

It would be great for a support organization to take it up – to buy 300 licences and people can sign up and use it for a month at a time.

And another cautioned that, because online learning can be tracked, practitioners might feel that learning on the platform was mandatory. She felt that this might be mitigated if a support organization was the administrator of the licences.

I am concerned that access might include tracking and that this could become more ‘thou shalt’ than ‘you can’. I think that it would be better coming through AlphaPlus – it would ensure a more ‘you can’ than a ‘thou shalt’ approach.

Note: More recommendations LBS practitioners had for using LinkedIn Learning in LBS community-based programs can be seen in the companion document AlphaPlus LinkedIn Learning Report – Field Research under the headings “Learning 12: Recommendations for LinkedIn Learning,” “Learning 13: Recommendations for the funder” and “Learning 14: Recommendations for AlphaPlus.”