Increase Your Reach with Online Learning
Cheryl Lovstrom, Community Learning Network
Change is in the air. You can feel the energy shift from lazy summer days to a quicker autumn pace. As we get ready for fall, CALP staff are busily creating schedules and completing program plans for a new year of learning. Just what does that look like in this time of the "new normal"?
If COVID taught us anything, it was how to be flexible! Some CALP staff offered face-to-face learning where they were able. Others connected by phone or text and dropped off paper packages for learners to work on. Still, others were able to pivot to online learning. Now that the province has returned to a new normal, learners are once again coming to CALPs all over Alberta for face to face learning opportunities. They are happy to be back, and we are happy to see them.
But what about those learners who found they prefer online learning? Connecting online offers some accessibility and privacy that meeting in person can't. Learners who don't drive or live too far away to get to class can benefit from online learning opportunities. Those who work right up until class time may appreciate the option to log in from home (and be at home as soon as the class ends). Learners with children may appreciate not having to find child care or bring their children out, especially in winter months. In-person learning opportunities work for an awful lot of learners, it's true. But, for many, online is now the place to be.
What's the best part about online learning? You don't have to run online classes to offer them. Adultlearningalberta.ca is a site where Alberta CALPs can post their online learning opportunities and learners can get connected. If you don't offer a certain course online, chances are someone else does. You can help learners get what they need while staying in their own community.
There are many advantages to offering online learning:
- You can help CALPs all over the province to serve learner needs and increase your reach. Fill classes by offering them online at home and outside your community.
- Save money for child minding and travel subsidies by offering programming that's accessible right in the learner's home.
- Share your online learning opportunities to support the CALP system and meet learners' needs all around the province.
And, if you do offer online learning opportunities, adultlearningalberta.ca is a fantastic place to promote them! Adult Learning Alberta is the place to be! Sign your organization up for an ALA account today: https://adultlearningalberta.ca/submissions/request-an-account
Want to learn how you can get connected? Check out our tutorial video:
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