A Message from Cindy Heidecker, Secretary

Happy New Year, CLN Family!

My name is Cindy Heidecker and I am thrilled to be in the second year of my Board of Director term. This year I am also responsible for the secretarial duties for the Community Learning Network. I am connected to the CALP system through my position as the program manager for Paintearth Adult Learning. Our organization serves County of Paintearth learners in the east central Alberta communities of Brownfield, Castor, Coronation & Halkirk. When I am not supporting community learning opportunities I am a passionate sports fan and enjoy spending time with family, travelling, quilting, reading and being outdoors.

I had the pleasure of completing my Masters in Open, Digital & Distance Education from Athabasca University in October, 2022. During my final presentation my amazing professor asked me to share my thoughts on the following Adam Grant (professor of organizational psychology in the United States) quote; “Beating yourself up doesn't make you stronger. It leaves you bruised. Being kind to yourself isn't about ignoring your weaknesses. It's about giving yourself permission to learn from your mistakes. We grow by embracing shortcomings, not punishing them.”

We see bruised learners walk through our door. The CALP philosophy of providing warm and welcoming space assists learners through the process of being kind to themselves. Together CALP staff and learners identify where they are at in their learning journey and where they want to be. This is all part of the lifelong learning process.

Celebrate the learners that you have witnessed move from beating themselves up to embracing their shortcomings and hold space for those that were not ready yet.

Cheers to the work that each and every one of you does to give your students permission to learn from their mistakes, not punishing them!

Symposium 2023 Updates

Happy New Year! As our Symposium planning continues, we are excited to announce what’s new in January!

First, we’re excited to reveal our new theme logo for 2023:

Next, we’d like to announce two more Symposium Keynote Presenters:


Peter Felten is a professor of history, Executive Director of the Center for Engaged Learning, and assistant provost for teaching and learning at Elon University. During the 2022-2023 academic year, he has been named Fulbright Canada Distinguished Chair in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, at Carleton University in Ottawa. Peter has published six books about undergraduate education including (with Leo Lambert), Relationship-Rich Education: How Human Connections Drive Success in College (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2020).  His next book, a student guide to relationship-rich education, is co-authored with Isis Artze-Vega, Leo Lambert, and Oscar Miranda Tapia, will be published by Johns Hopkins in 2023 (with an open access online version free to all readers).

Keynote Topic: Relationships at the Heart of Learning

Lana Bentley has served as the Director of Strategy at YW Calgary since 2016. Prior to that she worked with Alberta Health Services for nearly a decade in child and adolescent mental health. A therapist by training, Lana has won awards for her clinical work. A believer in the power of post-secondary education, she teaches at the University of Calgary, and Mount Royal University. In her spare time, Lana sits on the boards of Youth Central Calgary, the Calgary Black Chambers and the Alberta College of Opticians.  

Keynote Topic: How does a trauma informed approach create open and safe learning environments?

Watch for more information on how to register and all the fun and exciting events planned for the Literacy & Learning Symposium 2023 in February! 

In the meantime, if you have any questions, please contact Pat Halewich, Symposium Lead, at pdevents@calp.ca

And remember - SAVE THE DATES!

Literacy & Learning Symposium 2023: May 9-10th (Virtual) & May 11-12th (In-person)

Upcoming Professional Development Opportunities

Registration is now open for A Town Hall with Skilled Trades and Professions

Jan 19 Please join Mike Fernandez, Carla Corbett and Cora Roberts of the Ministry of Skilled Trades and Professions for this online session. They will be providing an overview of the results from the CALP System Survey conducted in July 2022 and talking about upcoming work for 2023.  There will also be lots of time for questions so we hope you can make it!

Click here to register.

NEW!!! Registration is now open for these events in February

Feb 15 (4 Wednesdays) Trauma-Informed Care for Adult Educators – Creating learning environments that are trauma-informed can have lasting benefits for learners, staff, and furthermore the communities we live in. Participants will become familiar with the 5 core principles of trauma-informed practice in adult education.

Feb 15 Holding Safer Spaces Open Circle – Finding Joy in Liminal Space. In this time of rapid change, how do we find joy for ourselves in the liminal space (transitional space; being on the boundary or threshold) and what difference would that make to the staff and learners we work with?

Feb 15 New Staff Chat Grab a coffee, bring a question, share a success or challenge, and settle in for five minutes or all sixty. The New Staff Chats are a great way for CALP staff that are new to their role and/or the CALP system to engage with their peers in conversation.

Feb 21 Staff Picks - Teaching Reading: Strategies & Resources Come learn about this new Portal resource. It is a collection of instructional strategies to support the development of reading.

Feb 22 Designing the Online Learning Experience - Explore an approach to designing online learning for foundational learners. This simple to use, learner-centred approach draws on emerging online practices to support learner engagement, accessibility and retention.

January Events

Jan 17 (11 Tuesdays) Holding Safer Spaces Holding Space, as defined by Heather Plett, is “Being willing to walk alongside another person in whatever journey they are on without judging them, making them feel inadequate, trying to fix them, or trying to impact the outcome.” Discover approaches and practices for holding space for your own personal and professional growth.

Jan 18  Staff Picks - Opening Doors: A Literacy Audit Tool Kit Think of the people who use your organization’s services. What literacy tasks are they expected to perform? How can you help them feel more comfortable accessing your services? Join Rebecca Still to learn more about completing the literacy audit checklists in Opening Doors and the practical suggestions for improving your service delivery to engage and retain the people you serve.

Jan 23 New CALP Staff Webinar If you are new in your role in CALP, and still looking to get the lay of the land, please join us to connect with your colleagues from across the province.

Jan 23 NEW CALP Community Talks About…Finding Learners Let’s talk. CLN is creating a monthly space for a conversation highlighting one topic that is timely, responsive and relevant to your work. Each topic will be important, impactful and/or actionable because it will be drawn directly from the experiences and wisdom from the field. Regardless of whether you are new or experienced CALP staff your perspective is welcome, and we hope you can join us next month to discuss “Finding Learners.”

Jan 24 Plain Language Workshop When you use plain language, people can understand your message the first time they see or hear it.  In this workshop, you’ll learn the principles of plain language and be given an opportunity to apply these principles to your own organization’s resources and materials.

Jan 25 (3 Wednesdays) CALP Essentials for Family Literacy Programs (Required Training) In this participatory training, CALP-funded staff will learn what family literacy programming is, how well suited it is to the needs of adult foundational learners and their families, and which practices support effective CALP-funded family literacy programs. This is a CALP required training for organizations who deliver family literacy programming.

Jan 26 (5 Thursdays) Introduction to Adult Foundational Learning (Required Training) Mornings  and Afternoons This CALP required training aligns with the Government of Alberta Community Adult Learning Program (CALP) Guidelines and is intended to give CALP-funded practitioners fundamental knowledge for supporting adult foundational learners in communities across Alberta.

Jan 31 Indigenous Literacy Assessment  Join LeeAnne Ireland of the Urban Society for Aboriginal Youth (USAY) to learn about the findings from the Indigenous Literacy Assessment project. LeeAnne will be sharing insights for practical and program strategies for CALPs working with Indigenous learners that were informed by learners themselves. Following the release of the report, USAY set to work implementing these strategies in their literacy program in the fall of 2022. LeeAnne will be reflecting on the impact these strategies have had with the learners in their program.

Don’t miss this opportunity!

One-on-One Mentoring for CALP Staff – Back By Popular Demand!

For the second year in a row, CLN is pleased to provide customized mentoring to CALP staff. If you are looking to build your CALP programming in directions that meet the learning needs of your community and you are looking for new ideas, advice or to get input on initiatives you’ve started, or strategies for accessing additional funding, then you can book up to an hour with a mentor. Jane Brenner has an extensive background in community needs assessment, accessing funding, and managing projects to meet the foundational learning needs through CALP.

Communities of Practice

Join your peers in informal online discussions facilitated by CLN staff. Grab a coffee, bring a question, share a success or challenge, and settle in for five minutes or all sixty.

• Ask Us Anything About Metis and Indigenous Worldview: Jan 10
• North Connections Cafe: Jan 18, Feb 14
• East Central Connections Cafe: Jan 19, Feb 14
• West Central Connections Cafe: Jan 19, Feb 14
• Central Connections Café: Feb 14
• South Connections Cafe: Jan 19, Feb 14

Literacy in Action

Have you ever wondered how accessible your organization is for potential adult learners? What practices or processes might cause barriers for those you serve?

You can find the answers to these questions (and more) in Opening Doors: A Literacy Audit Tool Kit.  

This resource has six sections that include five Literacy Audit Checklists such as Service Delivery and Advertising. You can choose which checklist you would like to use to conduct an audit or choose to look at all five checklists. There is a section on how to conduct the audit within your organization and a section on plain language principles.

You might be wondering, "What is a literacy audit?"  A literacy audit is a process to examine how accessible and literacy-friendly your organization is for everyone who uses your service.  The process includes looking at various literacy-friendly practices you use in your organization and determining how well you are doing. You can then create action plans to create change. Completing an audit tells you what you are already doing well and where you might want to make improvements. From the audit you can choose what you would like to work on and use the action plan templates to guide you in making those changes.

Once you have completed an audit for your organization, you can use this information and process to build relationships with community organizations and help them identify literacy barriers and strategies for improving service to their clients. You can share information from the Literacy Awareness section or help them conduct an audit.

Opening Doors: A Literacy Audit Tool Kit is a revised and updated version of Opening Doors: A Literacy Audit Tool Kit for Customer Service Excellence. (You might even have this former version sitting on your shelf.)

 You can find the new version Opening Doors: A Literacy Audit Tool Kit here on the Portal.

This Month's Spotlight

Family Literacy Day

"Family Literacy Day takes place every January 27^th to raise awareness about the importance of reading and engaging in other literacy-related activities as a family. Since 1999, thousands of schools, libraries, literacy organizations and other community groups have taken part in the initiative. ABC Life Literacy ( https://abclifeliteracy.ca/all-programs/family-literacy-day/ ) creates free learning and promotional resources for anyone that wants to get involved. 

The 2023 Family Literacy Day Theme is Celebrate your Heritage. 

"Canada is a great diverse country full of different cultures. Take time to explore and learn about your heritage. Celebrate what you’ve found and share your culture with others. There’s no better way to learn about your family, than together as a family."

ABC Life Literacy Canada has activities for families to complete together and strengthen their literacy skills. Find Family Literacy Day 2023 Resources here.

On January 26th, ABC Life Literacy Canada is hosting a virtual demonstration and Q&A with Barbara Reid, who will lead through the process of using clay to create a picture. But the fun doesn't end there; send a picture of your creation and you may win a Family Literacy Day prize pack from Scholastic Canada! This event is suitable for parents and their children in grades 1 through 6.  Register here!

How will your CALP celebrate and highlight learning as families this coming Family Literacy Day?

For more information on CALP-funded Family Literacy Programs, stay tuned for January's upcoming blog which will include valuable family literacy statistics along with resources available to support CALP organizations who offer family literacy programming.