May 14th and 15th - Register in the PD Portal

Thursday, May 14, 2020 Virtual Sessions:

There are many free and editable resources for adult educators and their learners. By using Open Educational Resources (OER) in the classroom and online, teachers and agencies can save money, revise and refresh curriculum and give learners an opportunity to customize their learning. This session will introduce participants to the basics of Open Educational Resources; what they are, how can you find them, and considerations for determining their quality for use in your classroom. 

Covid 19 has put us all online. Most learners have no devices and are using their phones to get online to learn.Learn some tips and tricks for teaching beginner learners remotely. We will include activities and apps appropriate for the beginning ESL student.

Susan Gaer, Retired Educator, Author, Leader in the educational community integrating technology tools to engage students. Twitter: @sgaer

Digital literacy is a core skill for education, job advancement, and daily living, yet many people lack even the most basic of computer skills such as how to use a mouse, searching for reliable information on the internet, sending an email, and creating a word document. This webinar will introduce you to Northstar Digital Literacy’s classroom curricula and interactive online learning lessons to teach ABE and ELL adults these valuable skills, as well as assessments to ensure they have learned them. Northstar has many features suitable for distance learning during this time of school and program closures. Northstar Digital Literacy is a program of Literacy Minnesota (formerly Minnesota Literacy Council), an internationally recognized non-profit leader and driving force behind the latest developments in literacy learning.

Theresa Sladek, Northstar Partnerships, Marketing, and New Business Specialist Northstar @NorthstarDigLit - Theresa Sladek is the Northstar Partnerships, Marketing, and New Business Specialist at Literacy Minnesota (formerly Minnesota Literacy Council), an internationally recognized non-profit leader and driving force behind the latest developments in literacy learning. Currently she is involved in marketing, new business development, strategic planning, and project management of the Northstar digital literacy assessment products and projects. She also presents on Navigation related topics, and is a member of the Open Door Collective's new member committee. Prior to this work, she developed statewide training on Navigation related to helping adults stay in school, taught ESL and GED classes, and worked on career pathways. Theresa has a B.S. in Biology from Lewis and Clark College and a MA in Counseling Psychology from the University of St. Thomas. She has worked as a counselor, project manager, and corporate trainer before joining the field of education.

Friday, May 15, 2020 Virtual Sessions:

Having a nationally recognized certificate from Microsoft can open doors for English language learners.  Find out how to plan and run a Microsoft Office Specialist Certification course for ESL students in a blended learning or fully online environment.

Dr. Glenda Rose, Area Coordinator, Bastrop and Lee Counties Community Action Inc. of Central Texas. Glenda Rose coordinates adult education services in three rural counties for Community Action Inc. of Central Texas. She has worked in adult education at many levels, from volunteer to executive director. She provides workshops on many subjects including distance learning, technology integration, and adult learning.

SkillBlox is a free, first-of-its-kind learning plan generation tool that pulls together learning materials both from publisher resources and free and open education resources (OER) and organizes them by skill to provide an increased range of learning options for students. During this webinar, you'll learn the basics of how to create an account, manage resources within SkillBlox, and begin creating your own, easy-to-share, standards-aligned learning plans with your learners!

Jeff Goumas, Founder of CrowdED Learning

Our students face many challenges in today’s world, and one of those challenges is technology. This presentation will provide instructors with the necessary technological tools to help their students create a free online portfolio. We will use Google Sites to create the portfolio. This will prepare the student to be more competitive and a stronger asset to the workforce.

• Attendees will create an impactful site.
• They will learn some of the tools that Google offers (for example: google drive, google docs, and google spreadsheets).
• Collaboratively create an engaging, high-quality site for a portfolio, project, or event.
• The site will look great on every screen, from desktop to smartphone.
• All without learning programming

Mario Ortiz, Born and raised in Mexico. Came to the United States when I was 15 years old. I am the first of my family to go to college. I have a Master of Education in Educational Technology. I taught 2nd grade and 4th grade, at Brownsville I.S.D. and part-time Reading Instructor at Texas Southmost College. I also worked at Texas Southmost College, for 2 years, as the Director of Technology and Curriculum Innovation. I am currently working for Brownsville I.S.D. as the Microsoft Office Specialist Instructor.