Adult Learning|Adultes

Knowledge Exchange Action Projects

The Knowledge Exchange projects are aimed at groups, organizations, and institutes across Canada involved in adult learning activities.

The October 2008 Call (PDF, 56.3 KB) was intended to foster projects related to literacy, seniors learning, arts and culture, prior learning assessment and recognition, late-entry learning, and International Adult Learners Week.

Approved Knowledge Exchange Projects:
October 2008 Call

The following 25 projects were approved in December 2008:

Project: Learner's Voice: Writings by Literacy Learners to
Celebrate Adult Learners Week in Nova Scotia
Contact: Jayne Hunter
Literacy Nova Scotia
Location: Truro, Nova Scotia
Date: March 2-6, 2009
To celebrate Adult Learners' Week, Literacy Nova Scotia will host a series of creative writing workshops and an essay contest. The workshops are free to learners in the Nova Scotia School for Adult Learning (NSSAL). This year the essay contest will include a short video category, and contest winners will present their writing to an audience, including the Premier, in Halifax. The contest theme for both written and video submissions is "Living and Learning for a Viable Future - The Power of Adult Learning". Entries will be included in an electronic booklet on the Literacy Nova Scotia website (www.ns.literacy.ca) as well as submitted to the National Adult Literacy Database for inclusion in their on-line learners' stories (www.nald.ca). The video submission will be available on You-Tube
Project: Celebrating Adult Learners
Contact: Jinny Greaves
PEI Literacy Alliance
Location: Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island
Date: December 2008 to March 15, 2009
The PEI Literary Alliance will publish a special edition newsletter profiling eight adult learners. It will be launched at a reception at the Charlottetown Holland College campus, during which five bursaries will be awarded with money raised from the PGI Golf Tournament for Literacy. Three hundred copies of the newsletter will be distributed, and it will be available online. On Saturday, February 28th, the Guardian newspaper will print a feature article profiling one adult learner. The following week, The Guardian and Journal Pioneer (PEI's two largest papers) will print articles profiling a different learner each day of the week.
Project: Creative Resistance: Women Write From Their Lives
Contact: Dr. Roewan Crowe
University of Winnipeg, The Institute for Women's and Gender Studies
Location: Winnipeg, Manitoba
Date: March 2 – 6, 2009
This project is a four-day, intensive writing and publishing workshop for adult women in marginalized communities. The women will write, edit, collaborate and publish a literary of poetry, vignettes, drawings and black and white photographs of their experiences on the margins. The workshop will end with the publication of the zine and a public reading of the women's work. The zine will have a one-time print run of 100, and will be distributed to other adult learning centres, libraries, and resource centres that specialize in adult learning. The publication and reading of the women's work will coincide with International Adult Learners' Week and International Women's Day.
Project: Tapihtitat animuna - Relier les mots (Connect the words)
Contact: Josée Goulet
Regroupement des centres d'amitié autochtones du Québec (RCAAQ)
Location: Wendake, Québec
Date: January 5 to March 31, 2009
The goal of this initiative is to share knowledge and literacy initiatives within the Mouvement des centres d'amitié autochtones (Native Friendship Centre Movement) in Québec aimed at those Natives who wish to benefit from them. The goal is to disseminate the results of the research Portait de la littératie dans le Mouvement des centres d'amitié autochtones du Québec and promote the initiatives undertaken in the Centres through a promotional campaign in the Centres d'amitié autochtones du Québec network. A poster will be produced and unveiled during International Adult Learners Week.
Project: Génies en apprentissage (Geniuses in learning)
Contact: Audrey Faubert Berthiaume
Apprentissage pour adultes Chaleur Inc.
Location: Bathurst, New Brunswick
Date: March 2 to 6, 2009
The project, set for International Adult Learners Week, will increase the visibility of Apprentissage pour adultes Chaleur and promote adult learning. The local newspapers will promote its services and many activities. Scholarships will be awarded to the winning team of a quiz game, Génies en apprentissage, for learners. Various initiatives will be used to raise funds to buy learning tools. By creating new partnership networks, the organization will be better able to meet the learning needs of the public in the Chaleur area.
Project: Telling our Literacy Story -
A Forum for Literacy Providers in Kamloops, BC
Contact: Maureen Hove
Literacy In Kamloops
Location: Kamloops, British Columbia
Date: March 2009
This project involves a morning-long Literacy Forum for all literacy providers in Kamloops, as well as adult learners, members of the various Kamloops Indian Bands, and members of the business community and community at large. The forum will begin with an opening presentation by three key speakers (Telling Our Literacy Story), followed by a panel discussion of literacy providers and learners responding to two key questions regarding the programming available to adults and the challenges faced with regards to the accessibility and outreach of such programs. It will finish with small group discussions on ways in which literacy providers can collaborate to improve the delivery of literacy programs in our community.
Project: C'est le temps d'agir…pour un futur viable!
(It's time to act for a viable future)
Contact: Normand Lévesque
Fédération canadienne pour l'alphabétisation en français (FCAF)
Location: Ottawa, Ontario
Date: January 5 to March 31, 2009
This project includes planning and coordinating activities promoting literacy in French during International Adult Learners Week. Stakeholders from Francophones literacy groups across Canada will organize awareness and promotional activities on the importance of lifelong learning. The activities will be published on the FCAF's website. A national promotion campaign will support these initiatives. Over 8,000 posters will be distributed through 3,743 distribution points and a radio message will be broadcast by all member stations of the Association of Community Radio Broadcasters.
Project: The Significance of Lifelong Learning for Everyone -
MCCE International Adult Learners' Week Conference
Contact: Adrianne Chapman
Metro Council on Continuing Education
Location: Dartmouth, Nova Scotia
Date: March 4, 2009
Metro Council on Continuing Education (MCCE) will host a free, one day knowledge exchange conference. The objectives are to discuss current issues related to lifelong learning, to promote lifelong learning in all its forms, and to encourage networking and lasting partnerships among individuals, organizations, and professional groups. Visual and audio aids and an ASL interpreter will be incorporated into presentations to ensure accessibility. MCCE will also initiate a promotion campaign to inspire individuals and organizations to host their own events during International Adult Learners' Week.
Project: Adult Learners Week -
Focus on Literacy Awareness in the Deaf Community
Contact: Peggy Anne Moore
Deaf Literacy Initiative
Location: Mississauga, Ontario
Date: March 3 to 9, 2009
To celebrate Adult Learners' Week in Canada, Deaf Literacy Initiative (DLI) will set up an arts competition. One piece of artwork will be selected and used as a postcard or small poster to promote the IALW event. DLI will give $250 to thirteen deaf literacy programs to host a workshop or event in their literacy communities, and to support the needs of deaf adult learners. The size of local areas will dictate these events. Activity in small rural areas will be 'hands on', while programs in larger urban areas will be a workshop or an event.
Project: Traditional Skin Preparation and Sewing Project
Contact: Renee Krucas
Kitikmeot Heritage Society
Location: Cambridge Bay, Nunavut
Date: January 5, 2009 to March 31, 2009
In keeping with traditional Inuit principles and practices, the Kitikmeot Heritage Society will design, develop, and implement a traditional skin preparation and sewing project for elders and adults. Two local elders will be hired and trained to work part time. They will teach adults how to prepare animal skins (caribou, rabbit, seal, and wolf), use traditional tools such as ulus and scrapers, and make patterns. Using traditional sewing techniques, they will create kamiks and mittens. In exchange, the adults will share their knowledge and experiences with the elders.
Project: Labrador Innu Community Archive:
Learning New Uses for Cultural Materials
Contact: Simone Hanchet
Quebec-Labrador Foundation
Location: Montréal, Québec
Date: January to March 2009
As part of the development of an Innu community cultural archive, photographer-writers from QLF Canada will teach the use of internet technology to create books and large exhibit banners using stories collected in the community and photographs made by the students. This exercise will demonstrate possible uses for the community's cultural materials and the accessibility of book publishing for Innu artists and storytellers. In addition, several workshops will be held to begin the development process for a professional archive and cultural centre in Sheshatshiu, Labrador. A preliminary report will be produced that describes community attitudes about a cultural centre and the initial steps necessary to develop one.
Project: Citizenship education and the building of local / global solidarity: Taking a documentary film festival on the road
Contact: Dr. Carole Roy
Department of Adult Education, St. Francis Xavier University
Location: Antigonish, Nova Scotia
Date: March 2009
This project is an extension of five documentary film festivals that have taken place over the past four years. Documentary film festivals create public space for alternative media and a place to share films by international and local documentary filmmakers. The programming of this film festival reflects the diversity of a community. Most films selected offer a balance between exposing problems and documenting actions taken to improve situations. Taking the film festival on the road will allow two communities in Cape Breton to experience the power of a documentary film festival in a community setting.
Project: Collaborative development with the Nicola Valley Museum and Archives First Nations gallery
Contact: Bernadette Manuel
Nicola Tribal Association
Location: Merritt, BC
Date: January 5 2009 to February 20 2009
The Nicola Tribal Association (NTA) Research Department will partner with the Nicola Valley Museum and Archives (NVMA) to develop six educational display panels for the museum's newly renovated First Nations gallery. A team of knowledgeable professionals, including a cultural historian, an anthropologist and archaeologist, a First Nations Traditional Land Use and Occupancy specialist and a linguist, will all contribute their knowledge of the cultures, traditions and history of the First Nations communities in the Merritt area in the development of these panels.
Project: Creating an Annotated Bibliography on Best Practices for Late Entry Learners into College Academic Upgrading Programs
Contact: Charles Pankratz
Bow Valley College
Location: Calgary, Alberta
Date: January 5 to March 31, 2009
This project will identify what is currently known about best practices in academic upgrading by producing an annotated bibliography of related literature. In addition, Bow College will solicit internal or unpublished documents related to best practices in upgrading from public colleges across the country. Material in the annotated bibliography will be categorized by practitioners and decision-makers, who will identify key themes. These will be used to develop recommendations to support decision-making and policy development by post-secondary colleges relating to programs for adult learners.
Project: Developing Effective Methods for Welcoming Late-entry
Learners to Colleges and Universities
Contact: Julian Hermida
Algoma University
Location: Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario
Date: February 1 to March 31, 2009
This two-day roundtable brings together researchers, educators, college administrators, and mature adult learners across Canada to look at the experiences of late-entry learners in colleges and universities. They will examine the resources and strategies needed to develop effective methods for welcoming late-entry learners into formal post-secondary institutions. The researchers will produce a video and a booklet which will focus on ways to help these learners adapt to post-secondary institutions. The project will highlight the unique needs of late-entry learners, and will emphasize these needs to higher education administrators.
Project: Read with Me: Family Literacy Program
Contact: Angela Hutton
Ken Jenkins Community School
Location: Regina, Saskatchewan
Date: January 20 to March 4, 2009
This project takes place in a community school with a high number of unemployed parents. The focus will be on increasing the reading levels of students through increasing adult awareness of literacy. Parents/guardians will be taught how to help their children learn to read and how to bring literacy into their homes. For the first three weeks, the focus will be on Grades Pre-K to Four. The second three weeks will focus on parents of Grades Five to Eight. Twenty families in total will have the opportunity to participate in the program.
Project: Dr. Tom Sticht Seminar Tour of Ontario
Regional Literacy Networks
Contact: Gay Douglas Broerse
Literacy Link Niagara
Location: Thorold, Ontario
Date: January 1 to March 31, 2009
Dr. Tom Sticht has focused his research on the application of cognitive science to the literacy, education and training needs of under-served youth and adults. He provides seminars around the world, charging only the cost of his travel and accommodations. He will be in Toronto in January and eight regional literacy networks in Ontario have indicated interest in having him conduct seminars – Thunder Bay, Timmins, Oshawa, Niagara, Toronto, Kitchener/Waterloo, London and Walkerton. These seminars will be scheduled during UNESCO's International Adult Learners' Week, March 3-9, or during Adult Learners' Week.
Project: Petites histories de grandes réussites
(Little stories of big successes)
Contact: Ginette Poirier)
Adult Training Centre, Commission scolaire des Îles,
Location: L'Étang-du-Nord, Îles-de-la-Madeleine, Québec
Date: January 5 to March 27, 2009
The project consists of creating a DVD to tell the stories of adults who have had a significant and inspiring journey in the field of learning. Participants will present a positive, realistic portrait of their training journeys, showing how learning activities have allowed them to meet their objectives and attain their goals.

The thread linking their stories will bring out the importance of believing in one's dreams, the motivation underlying action, the personal empowerment, the difficulties faced and the creative problem-solving. The DVD will be launched during the Québec Adult Learners' Week at the end of March 2009 and a distribution plan will ensure wide distribution.
Project: Building Resilient Communities in Atlantic Canada: Integrating Emerging Knowledge of Literacy as a Determinant of Health
Contact: Patsy Beattie-Huggan
Atlantic Summer Institute on Healthy and Safe Communities Inc
Location: Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island
Date: January to March 2009
This project proposes to advance knowledge of literacy that was shared and developed during the 2008 Atlantic Summer Institute on Healthy and Safe Communities (ASI). One of the objectives recently identified in the post-Institute evaluation was the need for the ASI Board to incorporate the lessons learned about literacy into future programming of the ASI. This project would support the collaboration of a multi-sectoral group to exchange lessons learned and ensure that literacy is embedded in the program being developed by the Atlantic Summer Institute.
Project: Teacher's Manual to be used in conjunction with the new textbook for learning braille entitles "Celebrating Braille, a Canadian Approach"
Contact: Myra Rodrigues
CNIB
Location: Toronto, Ontario
Date: December 1, 2008 to March 27, 2009
This project involves the development, printing, distribution and information exchange of a Teachers' Manual to accompany a new textbook, Celebrating Braille: A Canadian Approach. This braille literacy textbook is a resource for people who lose their vision in adulthood. It is scheduled for launch in January, 2009. The Teachers' Manual will follow in March, 2009, and will give rehabilitation teachers working with newly blinded adults the tools to assist their students in developing fluent braille skills.
Project: Développement de la contribution des conseillers d'orientation dans le domaine de la reconnaissance des acquis et des compétences (Developing the contribution of guidance counselors to the field of recognition of prior learning and skills)
Contact: Madame Martine Lacharité
Ordre des conseillers et conseillères d'orientation et des psychoéducaterus et psychoéducatrices du Québec (OCCOPPQ)
Location: Montréal, Québec
Date: January 5 to March 27, 2009
A one-day forum will allow professional counselors, researchers and university students an opportunity to share their knowledge, expertise and practices. This project will promote understanding of how the specific and complementary contribution of guidance counselors can encourage adult learning and specify their role in the various stages of recognizing prior learning and skills. A report will be published and it should be possible to establish an action plan.
Project: Caring for your ill spouse at home:
A workshop for senior caregivers
Contact: Dr. Margaret Edwards
Athabasca University
Location: Athabasca, Alberta
Date: January 1 to March 31, 2009
The goal of this project is to provide seniors who are caring for a chronically or acutely ill spouse with the knowledge and skills they need to be proficient as care givers. These seniors are often faced with isolation as the health of their spouse deteriorates. This trial project includes a workshop on “Seniors Caring for Ill Spouses at Home”. Beyond the initial workshop, the project will begin to develop a network of workshop leaders and make the workshop material available online.
Project: Programme psycho-éducatif pour aidants naturels francophones à domicile (Psycho-educational program for Francophone caregivers in the home)
Contact: Jocelyn Nadeau
Continuing Education, Université de Moncton, Edmundston Campus
Location: Edmundston, New Brunswick
Date: January 14 to March 25, 2009
This project includes a series of eleven workshops supporting those caring for persons with various diseases in the home. The themes presented by various healthcare professionals will include different stressors, the needs of the caregiver, evaluation of the caregiver's internal and external resources, adaptation strategies and some legal questions. The program will include demonstrations and lab work. Caregivers, who are an average of 57 years old, will increase their knowledge and hard and soft skills related to the person being cared for at home.
Project: As the Elders Guide Us: An Indigenous Knowledge Symposium
Contact: Diane Steinhauer
Blue Quills First Nations College
Location: St. Paul, Alberta
Date: March 25, 2009
March 2009 is identified as the UN International month in celebration of indigenous languages. A symposium has been designed to bring together Indigenous Elders, academics, language educators, and policy makers, to disseminate a research study of ‘How Indigenous Knowledge informs Indigenous language certification in Alberta'. A key priority of this symposium will be to facilitate regional language planning based on the findings of the research study, as well as highlighting the role of Elders as vital to the continuity of indigenous language transmission.
Project: Seniors Learning and Knowledge Exchange -
A National Senior Abuse Response / Prevention Project
Contact: Alison Leaney
BC Association of Community Response Networks (BCACRN)
Location: Vancouver, British Columbia
Date: December 10, 2008 to March 31, 2009
The goal of this project is to directly exchange knowledge about promising approaches in seniors learning, the experience of senior abuse, barriers to reporting to police, and effective interventions for response and prevention. The project will launch a new police network and an interdisciplinary network, and will include five teleconferences. Results of the teleconferences will be posted on various websites and shared with project collaborators, to be used for further network development, policy development and the development of education and training.

 

Approved Knowledge Exchange Projects:
July 2008 Call for Projects

The following 19 projects were approved in August 2008.

Project: Reaching Across Our Land
Contact: Doug Dolan
Location: Mawi tan etj, Miramichi, New Brunswick
Date: October 6 to December 19, 2008
The goal of this project is to identify and catalogue First Nations community based initiatives across Canada which target late-entry learners. The focus is on recruitment strategies targeting First Nations persons and identifying post-secondary institutions that will assist them make the transition to student life. It will also determine the most effective retention strategies for the First Nations clients. Information collected will be used to design a sustainable educational plan for First Nations communities in the Miramichi region of New Brunswick.
Project: Apprendre pour s'épanouir (Fulfillment in learning)
Contact: Suzanne Dupuis-Blanchard
Location: Centre d'études du vieillissement, Université de Moncton, Moncton, New Brunswick
Date: September 1, 2008, to February 28, 2009
Thanks to a partnership among three New Brunswick organizations and the community, five workshops will be delivered to adults 55 years of age and older in rural southeastern New Brunswick communities by promoting personal growth through learning. The workshops will present real-life themes from the regional, national and global community. The project will create a database of retired teachers interested in this initiative. The project results will be presented at the Canadian Association on Gerontology's national conference and at the annual meeting of the Third Age University in New Brunswick.
Project: Seniors' Learning Project
Contact: Harvey Goldie
Location: St Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, Nova Scotia
Date: September 2008 to November 26, 2008
This project will facilitate the formation of a seniors' learning group in Antigonish, Nova Scotia. Interested individuals and representatives of relevant organizations will be invited to an information session, where speakers from the Senior's College of Prince Edward Island will describe active learning projects in their community. Volunteers from the initial meeting will be asked to join an advisory group to further develop the senior's college organizational model.
Project: Main sur l'alpha (Action in literacy)
Contact: Françoise Boucher
Location: Centre Alpha-Sourd, Montréal, Québec
Date: October 1, 2008, to February 28, 2009
The project provides Centre Alpha-Sourd the opportunity to offer 17 literacy workshops in langue des signes québécoise (LSQ) to deaf or hearing impaired seniors. The workshop sessions will improve the participants' integration and autonomy in society by increasing their communication skills through reading and writing. Teaching material will be created and adapted as needed.  At the end of the project, a partnership will be established with other centres by offering services based on the manual, CD, and the video with explanations in LSQ created during the workshops.
Project: Plain and Clear Language Training: A Traveling Roadshow
Contact: Helen Domshy
Location: Community Literacy Coordinators, Prince George, British Columbia
Date: October 26 to 28, 2008
This 'traveling road show' is designed to take a Plain and Clear language workshop into five Northern British Columbia communities. Workshop locations were selected to reach the maximum number of participants.  The workshop is intended teach Plain Language principles, such as clear design, layout methods, simple writing techniques, and the use of concise words and phrases to participants.  It will demonstrate how the use of plain and clear language promotes greater understanding and avoids confusion of the intended message. A goal of the project is to teach plain language techniques to a significant number of professionals, who will then be able to take their knowledge back into their communities.
Project: Saskatchewan Literacy Café: A Provincial Literacy Forum
Contact: Lisa Erickson
Location: Saskatchewan Literacy Network, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Date: November 19, 2008
Following on the success of three Literacy Cafés held in the spring of 2008, several participants expressed desire to share information through a province-wide network. Three partners, the Saskatchewan Aboriginal Literacy Network Inc., the Literacy Office within the Saskatchewan Ministry of Education, and the Saskatchewan Literacy Network intend to hold a provincial Literacy Café in November 2008. The café model provides an excellent opportunity for networking, sharing research findings, understanding challenges and successes, and ultimately provides a forum for knowledge exchange.  The goal is to draw on the collective intelligence of literacy practitioners and learners, and share their knowledge, in order to build the foundation for enhanced collaboration in the field of literacy in Saskatchewan.
Project: Giving Back in Retirement:
Informal Learning through Volunteering
Contact: Pat Spadafora
Location: Sheridan Elder Research Centre (SERC), Sheridan College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning, Oakville, Ontario
Date: January 10, 2009
The focus of this project is to generate a heightened interest in, and awareness of, the ‘learning' benefits inherent in civic engagement. This project will bring together active volunteers and those interested in volunteering, aged sixty-two and over, with researchers, service providers and educators in a ‘think tank' environment. The project will allow for retired men and women to use their knowledge and skills, while continuing to learn and connect with social networks often left behind at retirement.
Project: Completing the Circle:
Teaching Our First Teachers - Enabling Best Practice
Contact: Ellen Paterson
Location: Ontario Native Literacy Coalition, Owen Sound, Ontario
Date: October 1, 2008, to February 28, 2009
This project will enable a broader distribution of ‘Completing the Circle: Teaching Our First Teachers - Literacy and Learning for Aboriginal Families (LLAF)', a federally funded family literacy project specifically designed to support the cultural needs, traditions and values of the Aboriginal community. This resource is designed to help parents and other caregivers learn positive parenting skills in a culturally appropriate, interactive and supportive environment.
Project: Base de données bibliographiques (Bibliographical Database)
Contact: Léo-Paul Provencher
Location: Fédération Franco-ténoise (Alpha TNO), Yellowknife, Northwest Territories
Date: September 1, 2008, to February 28, 2009
The intent of this project is to create a computer database that will serve as a bibliography of all Francophone literacy resources available in the Northwest Territories. The project development will include designing the database, graphics work, and launching it online for communities to easily access and share resources.
Project: Arts, Culture et Mieux-être pour les gens du 3e âge
(Arts, culture and well-being for seniors)
Contact: Liette Roussel
Location: L'Association des anciens, anciennes et ami-e-s du Collège Communautaire du N.-B.- Campus de la Péninsule acadienne (AAACCNB-PA), Caraquet, New Brunswick
Date: September 15, 2008, to November 28, 2008
The project is to plan, organize and set up a forum involving all seniors interested in the arts, culture and wellness sectors in the Acadian Peninsula. This initiative will define the role of a learning centre through a partnership with CCNB-PA, and the Third Age University in the Caraquet region.
Project: E-Folios for Immigrant Clients
Contact: Kara Loy
Location: Carlton Trail Regional College, Wynyard, Saskatchewan
Date: September 13 to October 25, 2008
The intent of this project is to create workshops that will facilitate participant access to Prior Learning and Recognition (PLAR).  New immigrants are often confronted barriers to entering the work force, including career mobility and the continuation of their post-secondary studies. Through the participation in a three-day e-folio workshop, sixteen participants will be able to assemble, select and organize their foreign documents by illustrating their prior learning and experience. Following the workshop, participant e-folios will be made available to targeted career and academic counselors and potential employers
Project: Community arts, Museums, and Adult literacy:
Consolidating knowledge, collaborating in new contexts
Contact: Linda Shohet
Location: The Centre for Literacy of Québec, Montréal, Québec
Date: September 2008 to February 2009
The intent of this project is to consolidate knowledge about diverse literacy and museums initiatives over the past 15 years from the national Reading the Museums project and community writing projects, and to engage new partnerships with groups from urban and outlying regions. Through a knowledge exchange event in Montreal linked to three remote Community Learning Centre sites across Quebec, it will share information and stimulate engagement through the creation of an updated and expanded Community Arts and Adult Literacy online portal on The Centre for Literacy web site.
Project: PLAR: Building Capacity and Support for Employment Services
Contact: Bob Cottrell
Location: United Way of Quinte, Belleville, Ontario
Date: September 1 to October 31, 2008
This three-stage project aims to create a community of practitioners who have the specific skills in PLAR needed to assist adult learners in their community agencies. The project will start with information sessions introducing the Prior Learning Assessment and Recognition (PLAR) Project and its goals to United Way of Quinte member agencies, and other employment focused agencies. The project will seek a commitment from interested parties to move forward into stage two using a train-the-trainer type program. Interested agencies will participate in PLAR training so that each agency has a trained PLAR practitioner on staff.
Project: Ébauche d'un modèle de support réciproque intergénérationnel dans un processus d'apprentissage (Building a Reciprocal Inter-generational Learning Process Support Model)
Contact: Manon Leclerc
Location: L'ABC des Hauts Plateaux Montmagny-L'Islet, St-Pamphile, Québec
Date: October 6, 2008, to February 27, 2009
This community-based literacy group's project consists of analyzing the effects of forming intergenerational teams to carry out local cultural and artistic initiatives aimed at encouraging the acquisition of new skills and knowledge. The project will develop a model of alternative teaching strategies that can be shared with community literacy and social integration organizations. The target groups include seniors with little education or basic education, and young adults who have dropped out of school or are at risk of doing so.
Project: Laubach Literacy New Brunswick Provincial
Workshops Literacy Project
Contact: Deanna Allen
Location: Laubach Literacy New Brunswick, Moncton, New Brunswick
Date: October 18-19, 2008
This project will provide workshops as a collaborative partnership among: adult learners, volunteer tutors, workshop leaders, individual donors, and corporate sponsors, to increase knowledge of effective methods/resources to improve adult literacy skills. This initiative will facilitate the exchange of information regarding literacy needs and effective ways to address these needs, quality standards for assessing/teaching literacy skills, and how to confront everyday literacy challenges. Adult learners will meet to discuss particular needs and possible solutions, share experiences, and engage in special interest workshops. Tutors will exchange information regarding issues they encounter and problem solving ideas as related to training and tutoring methods, and resources for adult literacy.
Project: Seniors' Aboriginal Literacy Project
Contact: Dr. Eileen Antone
Location: Ontario Institute for Studies in Education / University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario
Date: September 2, 2008, to February 28, 2009
Building on the Aboriginal Health Literacy research findings, the Seniors' Aboriginal Literacy project will review resources newly available to seniors from the Native Community of Toronto. Selected resources will be used by seniors to promote literacy in their community by sharing them with children from the First Nations School in Toronto and by creating an annotated bibliography of specific recommended learning resources. A theme running through the project data was participants' interest in reclaiming Native traditions, language and culture, and the need to pass this knowledge to their grandchildren. The bibliography will be disseminated to literacy practitioners across the country by mail, email, and through a proposed website.
Project: PLAR - A Unique way of Helping Ourselves and Others
Contact: Caroline Vaughan
Location: Literacy Newfoundland and Labrador, St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador
Date: October 1, 2008, to February 1, 2009
The intent of this project is to develop the human capital of literacy practitioners. Through the introduction of the principles of Prior Learning Assessment and Recognition (PLAR), the project will use national frameworks such as the National Occupational Code (NOC) system and Essential Skills and Employability Skills profiles to assist practitioners explore their knowledge, skills and abilities from the perspective of helping professions. The focus of this project is to clarify and simplify PLAR for these practitioners, bring to life their ‘learning from experience', and offer them strategies to assist learners.
Project: La littératie en santé : Réflexions sur les compétences essentielles chez les professionnels francophones de la santé et des services sociaux en Ontario (Health literacy: Reflections on essential skills for Francophone healthcare and social services professionals in Ontario)
Contact: Christiane Fontaine
Location: Le Regroupement des intervenants francophones en santé et en services sociaux de l'Ontario, Toronto, Ontario
Date: September 1, 2008, to February 28, 2009
The objective of this project is to create an opportunity for key Francophone players in the fields of healthcare and social services to exchange knowledge. During an interactive workshop, researchers and stakeholders will identify best practices for health literacy in a linguistic minority milieu. The project will allow the development of a Francophone network to exchange knowledge and resources and will explore possible collaboration with partners from various sectors, such as education, health and the community. The workshops will take place in the Toronto, Sudbury and Ottawa areas. A maximum of 20 persons will participate in each session to maximize interaction among participants.
Project: Measurement of Learners Progress to Deliver Real Results:
A comparison of different approaches in action
Contact: Margaret Eaton
Location: ABC Canada Literacy Foundation, Toronto, Ontario
Date: September 1, 2008, to February 28, 2009
This project will assess the expectations and measurements of learner achievement in British Columbia, Ontario and Scotland. It will examine the impact of measurement policy on literacy outcomes and disseminate that information to Canadian literacy practitioners and policy makers. It will also make recommendations on preferred measurement and reporting of learner progress in workplace and community programs. The recommendations will be communicated through publications, the ABC Canada website, and a Toronto roundtable in 2009.

 

Approved Knowledge Exchange Projects:
January 2008 Call for Projects

The following 23 projects were approved in January 2008.

Project: Building on Success:
Sharing the secrets of a successful seniors college
Contact: Heather Patterson
Location: Mount Allison University, Sackville, New Brunswick
The Department of Continuous Learning, Mount Allison University has invited a representative from the Prince Edward Island Seniors College to help initiate the formation of the Sackville Seniors College. Seniors from the community will be invited to a luncheon to learn more about the concept of peer teaching and learning within a senior's college framework. This event will be held during Adult Learner's Week in Canada on March 6, 2008.
Project: Literacy NL Learner Network Launch:
for International Adult Learners Week
Contact: Caroline Vaughan
Location: Literacy Newfoundland and Labrador, St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador
To celebrate Adult Learner's Week in Canada, Literacy Newfoundland and Labrador will promote a newly established learner support network and bursary program. Activities to support these initiatives will include a launch of the learner network and announcement of bursary recipients at four regional media conferences. The primary focus of these activities will be to raise awareness around late-entry learning issues and adult learner needs.
Project: Literacy Sensitivity in the Community
Contact: Linda Collier
Location: Bay St. George Literacy Council Inc., Stephenville, Newfoundland and Labrador
A two-day workshop will offer training on how to deal with the sensitivities and feelings of adult low-skilled readers. These hands-on participant focussed sessions will bring together 30 individuals from communities across Newfoundland and Labrador. Topics will include causes and effects of illiteracy, the impact of not be able to read or write, recognizing speech disabilities barriers to adult learning, and partnering in the community.
Project: Creative Compositions by Literacy Learners to Celebrate
Adult Learners Week in Nova Scotia
Contact: Jayne Hunter
Location: Literacy Nova Scotia, Truro, Nova Scotia
In celebration of UNESCO's 60th anniversary of the Declaration of Human Rights, Literacy Nova Scotia will support adult learners in celebrating their right to learn and their freedom of expression by putting words to paper. Six writing workshops for adult learners in literacy programs will be coordinated throughout the province. The participants will submit their written work to a selection committee for publication in the Literacy Nova Scotia's The Learning Beacon. Three selected authors will be invited to Halifax to present their writing to Premier MacDonald at Province House on March 6th and will be guests of honour at the ALW Reception where they will have a chance to read from their story.
Project: Promoting Mi'kmaq Arts and Culture (PMAC):
Engaging Adult Learners in Storytelling Through Visual Media
Contact: Dr. Mary Jane Harkins
Location: Mount Saint Vincent University, Halifax, Nova Scotia
This project will involve adult learners in the community of Paq'tnkek First Nation in workshops designed to facilitate the creation of a visual community history through photographs, written narratives and digital stories. The use of narrative and digital media can be seen as a natural, modern day expression of traditional storytelling. Adult members of Paq'tnkek First Nation will be invited to use family photographs and stories to create narratives and digital stories in workshops provided during Adult Learners' Week. At the end of the week, there will be a celebratory event to share the historical artifacts created during Adult Learners' Week.
Project: Adult Learners Week: A Focus on Literacy
Contact: Annemarie Wesolowski
Location: Northwestern Ontario Literacy Network, Thunder Bay, Ontario
The purpose of this project is to enhance public awareness, throughout Adult Learners Week, about literacy issues and available service providers in Northwestern Ontario. A series of seven articles will be developed, one for each day of the week beginning on March 3, 2008, and submitted to the region's daily newspaper. Each article will focus on a different literacy topic and will include a fun activity/clue to encourage readers to read the full series of articles, which will culminate on March 9, 2008.
Project: Increasing Awareness of Essential Skills at the Community Level
Contact: Andrea Leis
Location: School of Career and Academic Access, Conestoga College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning, Kitchener, Ontario
This project will promote public interest and encourage participation in learning about and increasing Essential Skills levels. The target audience includes employed and unemployed individuals, employers and service providers (career counsellors, educators, job developers). This promotion and awareness campaign will target the predominantly rural communities of the college's Stratford campus. Additional opportunities to heighten this message will include newspaper and radio advertising, and web site links.
Project: The Apprentissage et communication chez les personnes aînées de Rimouski-Neigette (Learning and communication among seniors in Rimouski-Neigette)
Contact: Gaëtan Ross
Location: Centre Polyvalent des Aînés, (Seniors' Multi-purpose Centre) Rimouski, Quebec
This project deals with seniors' learning needs in the field of learning and communications technologies (ICT) in collaboration with the Le Centre de Ressources en intervention Populaires de l'est (CRIPE) (Eastern region popular intervention resource centre). A new interactive website allows seniors in the entire lower St. Lawrence River Valley region to share among themselves and to support each other; a permanent learning project is established; and seven senior learners are becoming learning catalysts among their peers. The beta site will be launched as part of the activities for International Adult Learners' Week in Canada from March 3 to 9, 2008.
Project: Sharing Knowledge and Experiences through Art:
A Communal Art Project among Adult Literacy and English as a Second Language Learners
Contact: Sandy Middleton
Location: Capilano College – Sunshine Coast, Sechelt, British Columbia
This project brings together adult literacy and English as a second language (ESL) learners to share their experiences and express their ideas about literacy, learning and the other social issues that affect their lives through a collective arts-based project. Learners from several diverse geographic areas including the Sunshine Coast, Whistler corridor and Vancouver's eastside will create a communal piece of art to celebrate Adult Learners' Week and showcase it at the Wild at Art Festival in Squamish, March 14 – 23, 2008.
Project: Mapping the Pathways: Creation of an On-line and Hard Copy Directory for Anglophone Adult Learning Resources
in the City of Moncton
Location: Moncton Partners in Adult Learning, Moncton, New Brunswick
The City of Moncton has become the largest municipality in New Brunswick. Its rapid growth has meant an influx of workers of varying literacy and educational levels. There are services available to learners but they are not organized under any guiding principle or organization. To address this issue, a group has been formed to make available to learners and providers a comprehensive directory of Anglophone learning services in Moncton.
Project: Adult Learning Friendly Institutions Canada (ALFICan) -
Next Steps in Implementation
Contact: Paul Zakos
Location: First Nations Technical Institute, Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory, Ontario
This project will to bring together the 15 study partners including government, labour, colleges, universities and community-based providers that participated in a recently completed national ALFICan project for a two-day strategic planning session. The purpose of this meeting is to identify next steps and resources needed to implement six recommendations from the ALFICan study. The study confirmed the applicability of several principles including outreach, life and career planning, assessment of learning outcomes, teaching-learning process, student support, technology, and strategic partnerships. At the conclusion of the project, study partners expressed keen interest in expanding the reach of the ALFICan tool and building a “grassroots” community of practice across Canada
Project: Apprentissage interactif efficace dans le cadre d'ateliers contre la fraude destinés aux 50 ans et plus (Effective interactive learning in the form of anti-fraud workshops for seniors 50+)
Contact: Michèle Guay
Location: Fédération des aînés et des retraités francophones de l'Ontario (FAFO) (Ontario Federation of Francophone Seniors and Retired Persons), Ottawa, Ontario
The primary aim of the Apprentissage interactif efficace dans le cadre d'ateliers contre la fraude destinés aux 50 ans et plus project is to perform an in-depth review of the L'ABC de la Fraude (The ABC of Fraud) workshops to make sure that the interactive learning methodology is properly adapted to senior learners. Training the trainers, mentorship, developing practical, easy-to-administer measurement tools and analyzing the transferability of the methodology are also part of the project.
Project: Advancing Adult Education on Prince Edward Island:
A Meeting of Minds Location
Contact: Audrey Penner
Location: Holland College, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island
The purpose of this project is to bring together educational practitioners and related stakeholders who share an interest in promoting student success and positive educational outcomes for lateentry learners. The meeting will explore several topics including the exchange of current ideas and initiatives related to research, highlight promising practices of late-entry learners in relation to issues of recruitment, transition, instruction and retention. This workshop will also act as a forum to develop strategies for engagement and retention of late-entry learners in adult education programs.
Project: Literacy, Senior's Learning and Prior Learning Assessment
Contact: Tracey Peterson
Location: Regina Open Door Society Inc, Regina, Saskatchewan
This project will invite stakeholders to a workshop on the development of a learning and resource centre. These stakeholders will include current and former Regina Open Door clients, the centre's management, board of directors and instructors, government representatives, funders, and community representatives. The purpose of the meeting is discuss and review the requirements, timelines, costs and resources needed to develop a learning and resource centre.
Project: Essential Skills: What They Are? How to Incorporate Them into Training Plans and Programs?
Contact: Kenneth Kavanagh
Location: Community Centre Alliance, St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador
This project will involve a three-day interactive and hands-on practitioner workshop by a trained facilitator with expertise in the area of Essential Skills for approximately 15 staff and volunteers with the Community Centre Alliance.
Project: Forum atlantique sur l'alphabétisation francophone
(Atlantic Forum on Francophone Literacy)
Contact: Lucie LeBouthillier
Location: Société Nationale de l'Acadie (Acadian National Society, Dieppe, New Brunswick
The Forum atlantique sur l'alphabétisation francophone project is an opportunity to bring together stakeholders (organizations, provincial departments, practitioners, researchers) in the field of literacy from the Atlantic Provinces to exchange knowledge and news, facilitate networking and develop a five-year action plan. The goal of the May forum, scheduled over two days and bringing together around forty persons, is to increase awareness among government agencies and influence public policies.
Project: Experiential Art Exchanges
Contact: Elayne Greeley
Location: Eastern Edge Gallery, St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador
This project will involve four experiential art exchanges in connection with visiting artists to the gallery in the spring of 2008. Each workshop will link the expertise of the visiting artist to the galleries members and the larger cultural community through a series of technical and group exchanges. These exchanges will create a cross-pollination and appreciation of art between contemporary Canadian and Newfoundland and Labrador artists.
Project: Speaking Out by Utilizing Learners (SOUL)
Contact: Anne Leslie
Location: Literacy Coalition of New Brunswick, Fredericton, New Brunswick
The SOUL project is a three and half month initiative (Feb.15-May 30, 2008) that will provide opportunities for six to 10 New Brunswick adult literacy students to receive training in public speaking and leadership. This project will provide students a forum for their voices to be heard, to tell their stories and to make the case for literacy.
Project: Needs Assessment of Health Professionals
When Communicating Health Information
Contact: Norman Finlayson
Location: PEI Literacy Alliance, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island
This project is a needs assessment of health professionals in communicating health information to their patients. A researcher will gather information from health professionals, to help the PEI Literacy Alliance make informed policy recommendations to the provincial government.
Project: Learning from our History: Building a Better Literacy Future by Discovering our Literacy Past
Contact: Lesley Brown
Location: The Ontario Literacy Coalition, Toronto, Ontario
This project seeks to document and, thus, to develop a history of adult literacy education in Ontario. It will bring new teaching content and an awareness of past literacy successes to practitioners and learners by sketching literacy through the ages to present day programming. The overall goal is to provide a history of literacy program founders and early learners; articling the foundation of literacy, for Canada and beyond.
Project: PLAR and Portfolio Development, Practitioners Certificate Program - Building Capacity and Support for Adult Learners
Contact: Amy Percy
Location: Community Centre Alliance, St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador
This project will provide training to 12 Career and Employment Counsellors within the Avalon Region of Newfoundland and Labrador as PLAR practitioners. The Prior Learning Assessment (PLA) Centre in Halifax will provide the training.
Project: Le théâtre pour dévoiler les préjugés sur l'analphabétisme (Theatre to unveil prejudices against illiteracy)
Contact: Amélie Bouchard
Location: La Jarnigoine, Centre d'alphabétisation de Villeray (Villeray Literacy Centre), Montréal, Québec.
The objective of the Le théâtre pour dévoiler les préjugés sur l'analphabétisme project is to hightlight the prejudices, causes and consequences of illiteracy through the use of theatre as a tool for social expression and intervention. The project includes workshops in oral and theatrical expression for learners, two improv performances in public places and a conventional play or forum to which the public, elected officials, the media and community organizations will be invited. This innovative approach is designed to emphasize the importance of tackling social questions through artistic activities.
Project: A Meeting of Minds II: Quality Assurance and Academic Integrity Issues in PLAR for Adult Learners in Canadian Universities
Contact: Christine Wihak
Location: Thompson Rivers University - Open Learning, Kamloops, British Columbia
The proposed project is a sequel to the AKLC-funded Meeting of Minds (MoM) held in 2007. That project brought together representatives from 10 universities across Canada to exchange knowledge and develop strategies to address the challenges associated with PLAR implementation. MoM II will again convene a cross-Canada meeting of university representatives to focus on the Quality Assurance issue.

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   The Adult Learning Knowledge Centre, Knowledge exchange action projects, literacy, seniors learning, arts, culture, prior learning assessment and recognition, late-entry learning, International Adult Learners Week. Le Centre du savoir sur l’apprentissage chez les adultes, Projets d’action suivants pour l’échange de connaissances, l'appel d'octobre 2008, la littératie, à l'apprentissage chez les aînés, aux arts, à la culture, à l'évaluation, à la reconnaissance des acquis, à l’apprentissage tardif , à la Semaine internationale des apprenants adultes  The Adult Learning Knowledge Centre is pleased to announce its seventh national Call for Knowledge Exchange Projects, aimed at groups, organizations, and institutes across Canada involved in adult learning activities. Le Centre du savoir sur l’apprentissage chez les adultes a le plaisir d’annoncer son septième appel national de projets d’échange de connaissances