Teachers Don’t Pay Teachers – Digital Learning Resources for You!

New Professional Development Opportunity

This year, Literacy Minnesota is offering a new professional development cohort experience: Best Practices in Digital Education. This cohort is an updated version of Distance Learning 101 and 102, and it’s facilitated by Adam Kieffer (Hubbs Center/St. Paul ABE) and myself. The experience welcomes ABE teachers, administrators, and support staff to reflect on the digital skills, literacies, and resilience needed for asynchronous distance learning as well as synchronous classes (online, in person, or hybrid/HyFlex).

What We’ve Covered So Far

In the first few weeks, we’ve focused on:

• defining digital literacy and resilience,
• setting learners up for success with clear expectations and supportive orientation processes, and
• providing ongoing digital navigation and support.

For our first check-in webinar, each cohort member chose a project to complete from this choice board. (View the original document with active links here.)

Featured Resources

It was hard to choose only a few projects to feature in this article, but I’d like to highlight the following:

• Cara Berger wrote a Distance Learning Resource Guide for staff at her program. The guide gives a quick overview of the various platforms used by this program and supports teachers in choosing an appropriate platform for their class.

• Erica Henke created a Technology Checkout form, and Julie Fietek created a Chromebook Request form. These forms clearly lay out the process and requirements for learners checking out a school device, including having a plan for internet access outside of school and the digital skills learners need to master in order to use the device successfully.

• Rebecca Jarvis made a Google Meet Guide for Learners. This learner-friendly slide deck illustrates how to use essential features in Google Meet on mobile devices as well as a computer.

You can view all of the fantastic projects here. I hope you’ll feel inspired to bookmark, copy, or adapt one or more of them for your teaching context. Thank you to all of the cohort participants for your contributions to high-quality digital education for adult learners across Minnesota.