CALP Connections: April 2016

Spring Greetings from the Board

Spring is here, and the sense of growth and renewal is all around us!

This month, the CLN Board will meet in Edmonton for our annual Board Advance, to reflect on our accomplishments over the past programming year and to plan for the future. As I think about how far we have come as an organization and as a provincial community over the past few years, I am truly inspired and excited for the opportunities that lie ahead.

I’d like to invite you to consider being a part of the next stage of our collective journey.

The CLN Board is currently recruiting Community Adult Learning Program Staff and/or Board Members to join our team. We’re looking for individuals who will bring their passion and their skills to the CLN Board, and help advance our vision, where “Community Adult Learning Programs are the hub for adult learning in every community.” If you are interested in learning more, please see the CLN Board Recruitment package on the CALP Portal (member login required) or email board@calp.ca. Note that extensive time and travel are not required, as we hold the majority of our meetings online.

I’d also like to share an opportunity to recognize and acknowledge the accomplishments of your colleagues and peers. As part of our commitment to adult learning, each year the CLN Board presents the Outstanding Contribution to Community Adult Learning Award. Please see below for all the details on how to nominate someone outstanding in your community or program.

On behalf of the CLN Board,

Happy Spring!

Brenda Adams, Chair

Outstanding Contribution to Community Adult Learning Award Nominations Open

As part of our commitment to adult learning, each year the CLN Board presents the Outstanding Contribution to Community Adult Learning Award.

Do you know someone who, in the 2015-16 CALP grant year, has:

• Shown leadership in the adult learning field?
• Inspired his/her CALP or community to further lifelong learning?
• Increased capacity in their organization and/or community to better meet the learning needs?

Why not nominate them for this award!

The award will be presented at the annual Literacy and Learning Symposium Banquet on September 29th in Calgary.

You can access the Award Guidelines and Nomination Package in the "All Members and Partners" Documents (login required).

The deadline for nominations is August 24th, 2016.

Collaborative Learning at 2016 Regional Meetings

Spring Regional Meetings will be taking place throughout April and May! Find your regional meeting under the Events tab and click the "I Am Attending" button to register.

Over the last few years, CLN has conducted and participated in a number of consultations, meetings and information sessions in person and online. CALP practitioners, government, professional development providers and other system partners came together a number of times to identify ways to strengthen the professional development and support network for the Community Adult Learning Program. A key theme that surfaced again and again, was that there is already so much knowledge, wisdom and experience within our system, and that CALPs can provide each other with incredible professional learning opportunities.

So this year, Regional Meetings will be dedicated to networking, sharing and collaborative learning.

Unlike more traditional forms of professional development where an “expert” presents to a captive audience (the "sit and get" model), people engaged in collaborative learning capitalize on each other's strenghts. They share their knowledge, skills, experiences and resources in order to explore and refine ideas, work together to come up with strategies and solutions, and develop best practices. We know that there is a wealth of wisdom in the CALP system, and we can’t wait to hear what you have to share.

We are looking forward to seeing you at your regional meeting!

CLN Membership Renewal

We have had a number of questions and calls recently about CLN Membership Renewal. Here is everything you need to know about CLN Membership:

• If your organization receives a CALP grant from Advanced Education, you ARE automatically a member of the Community Learning Network.

• There are NO membership fees or dues to pay.

• Our membership year is aligned to the grant cycle, from July 1st to June 30th

This year, we will be making some changes to how we collect and manage our membership data and our member feedback. We will be combining membership renewal with our annual member survey in May.

• To keep your membership current, we will ask you to confirm your CALPs contact information and key contact people. This will ensure our records are accurate so that we may provide you with the best service, and will also help us keep our online CALP directory up to date so that learners anywhere in the province can easily find a CALP.

Once you have updated your current membership information with us, you will receive your CALP's 2016-17 CLN Membership Certificate by Canada Post.

• We anticipate that our member survey this year will take you a little longer to complete than it has in previous years. Our goal is to ask that you set aside about 20 - 30 minutes to complete the survey.

• We will be asking questions based on the Outcomes-based Measurement and Evaluation Framework for CALP Professional Development. (Yes, we are collect outcomes-driven data too!)

We thank you in advance, and look forward to hearing what you have to say.

Portal Pro Tip: Advanced Education on the Portal

Last month, we worked with the CALP grant management team at Alberta Advanced Education to launch a new feature on the Portal. You may have noticed a new tab on the main navigation bar that popped up recently, labelled "CALP FAQs". If you haven't checked it out yet, we encourage you to head over to explore.

The page features Frequently Asked Questions, and the answers - straight from the CALP team at Advanced Education. You can search through the questions posted there to find answers that have been developed by the CALP Grant management team. If you can't find what you are looking for, you can also submit your question directly to Advanced Education.

The CALP grant managers will continue to work to identify the common questions CALPs have about the Guidelines and the Grant, and to post responses.

Other items to watch for, coming soon...

• Advanced Education will post a monthly poll, to take a quick snapshot of what's on the minds of CALPs across the province. You will also notice, starting this month that your "My Portal" dashboard will a have "Polls" component when you log in. Once you submit your answer, you will also be able to see what other folks are saying.

• CALP Team Blogs - Engagement with our blogs just keeps growing, and the CALP team plans to join in on the action by contributing to the blog as a way they can address pressing or emergent issues. If you have any hot topics, concerns, questions, etc. on your mind, please reach out to your Regional Support Staff, who will be sure to share your ideas with the CALP team to inform the development of these blogs.

CLN is pleased that the CALP team reached out to us to support these new ways of staying connected to the field through the CALP Portal.

Featured Resource - writeforward: It's all about the conversation!

writeforward is a formative assessment. It is a ’conversation’ about writing which includes an intake and placement activity, exercises and rubrics and guiding questions to understand how to assess writing and support writing skills and strategies development. The exercises have writing tasks that represent writing at home, in the community and at work. The resource includes supplemental materials that can support instruction and assessment, and for learners support self-awareness and reflection.

(retrieved from https://centreforfoundationallearning.wordpress.com/projects-in-progress/write-forward/, March 31st, 2016)

The goal of the writeforward project was twofold:

• Increase practitioner knowledge, confidence and skills for effectively working with adults with low writing literacy; and,

• Support adult learners to build on and increase their knowledge, confidence and skills in writing.

Thank you to the amazing team and Advisory Committee (see About page) and all of the provincial and national adult literacy and essential skills practitioners who so generously contributed their knowledge and time in the development of this assessment resource. It is stronger because of you.

Production of this resource has been made possible through financial support from the Government of Canada’s Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC), Bow Valley College, and the Government of Alberta’s Aboriginal & Community Connections, Alberta Advanced Education.

Throughout the month of April, writeforward will be featured on your My Portal dashboard for quick access and easy reference.

Volunteer Appreciation Gifts, Swag and Marketing Materials

National Volunteer Week is just around the corner, from April 10th to April 16th! We know that volunteers are a vital part of the CALP system - in the 2012-13 CALP Report to Partners, Advanced Education reported that 4,579 people volunteered 117,827 hours to support CALPs across Alberta!

If you are looking for some ideas for appreciation gifts for your awesome volunteers, CLN has some CALP Swag available to buy, that just might do the trick!

And, for your organization, we also have personalized engraved magnetic nametags available to order - now with the new CALP logo!

Your choice of logo, colour, name and organization set-up. $13.00 each

If you would like to place an order, we are currently accepting orders by fax and email. Please download and complete the Marketing Order Form for more details.

Dates and Deadlines

April 10th - 16th: National Volunteer Week

April 22nd: Earth Day

May 2nd - 6th: The Training Institute (Deerfoot Inn, Calgary)

May 4th: Star Wars Day

Don't forget to register for your Regional Meeting and CALP Portal Training events in April and May.

June 30th - October 31st: 2015-16 CALP Grant Final Report

Advanced Education will accept CALP Final Reports anytime between June 30th and the final deadline, October 31st, 2016.

Quote of the Day

“Where my reason, imagination, and interest were not engaged, I would not or I could not learn.”

- Winston Churchill