Directory of Online
Professional Development
for Adult Educators


Accountability (3)

Adult Education Orientation (1)

The Adult Learner (1)

Distance Learning (3)

English as a Second Language (5)

Family Literacy (4)

GED Administration (1)

GED Instruction (2)

Learning Disabilities (2)

Mixed Topics (3)

Reading (1)

Student Retention (1)

Technology (1)

Volunteer Literacy (2)

Workforce-Related (2)

Writing (1)

Accountability

Title: NRS Online

Provider:  Operated by American Institutes for Research, funded by U.S. Department of Education

Cost:  free

Access:  anytime


Description:  NRS Online is the training site for the National Reporting System for adult education (NRS). This site includes online training courses designed for adult education program administrators that explain NRS requirements and courses designed to improve the quality of NRS data collection. You can also use this site as a reference source for the NRS.

Courses include:  What is the NRS, Using NRS Data, Introduction and Overview of Data Quality, Quality Data:  What Good Data Matter, The Data Collection Process, Assessment:  Measuring Educational Gain, Intake and Goal Setting, Follow-Up Measures:  Employment, GED, and Post-Secondary Education, Local Staff Training, The State Role in Data Quality, Introduction:  A Model for Using Data for Program Management and Improvement, Identifying Issues and Problems, Developing Measurable Questions, Developing an Analysis Plan, Analyzing and Interpreting Data, Developing a Plan for Change, Implementing Change, and Evaluating the Change.

URL: http://www.oei-tech.com/nrs

Title: Making Evaluation Work for your Program

Provider:  National Center for Family Literacy and ProLiteracy Worldwide

Cost:  free

Access: Anytime

Description:  This course is primarily directed at those program directors and staff who are new to program evaluation in adult and family literacy. You will learn the basics of program evaluation and take away an evaluation framework to use in your adult or family literacy program. The importance of program evaluation to a variety of different audiences, including program staff, will be explained throughout the course.

URL: http://216.26.175.237/index.cfm?cRef=VLU116&cLoc=data

Title: Evaluating GED Programs

Provider:  FloridaTechNet, funded by Florida Adult Education

Cost:  free

Access:  anytime


Description:  This web-based training component has been designed to provide you with some basic information on the evaluation of GED programs.  Although you may not be ready to be a part of the Auditor General's staff when you are finished, you will know the basics about:

  • How to use program data to determine student achievement levels
  • How to evaluate teacher performance
  • How to review program data before a state audit to minimize any areas of concern
  • How to review your facility to ensure it meets codes and standards
  • How to use the data and information to make changes

URL: http://www.floridatechnet.org/inservice/wbt4/

Adult Education Orientation

Title: A Roadmap to Implementing Adult Basic Education Programs

Provider:  FloridaTechNet, funded by Florida Adult Education

Cost:  free

Access:  anytime

 

 

Description:  This training will take you through the steps necessary to more effectively implement Adult Basic Education (ABE) and Workplace Readiness Programs and will provide you with information on:

  • The history of Adult Basic Education
  • The adult learner
  • Teaching and learning styles
  • Student eligibility, assessment, and accountability
  • Student services including recruitment, intake, orientation, retention, and follow-up
  • Curriculum frameworks and course progression
  • Staff development

URL: http://www.floridatechnet.org/inservice/abe/

The Adult Learner

Title: Understanding the Adult Basic Education Student

Provider:  FloridaTechNet, funded by Florida Adult Education

Cost:  free

Access:  anytime


Description:  This web-based training will provide you with information and resources that will help you better understand the ABE (Adult Basic Education) student. If you want to be effective in helping your students achieve their goals, it is important that you know about a variety of aspects regarding the adult student.

Everything that you say, do, or write can impact whether or not the ABE student is comfortable and productive in your classroom. Every student is different. Every student comes to you with unique needs and abilities. It is up to you to recognize these needs and abilities and assist your students in achieving their goals.

URL: http://www.floridatechnet.org/inservice/abe/abestudent/

Distance Learning

Title: Distance 101:  Planning for Distance Education

Provider:  Project IDEAL

Cost:  free to member states of Project Ideal, including North Carolina

Access:  Contact Katie Waters (919-807-7136) or watersk@nccs.cc.nc.us for North Carolina access and schedule information.

Description:  8 weeks duration, 2-3 hours per week

This online course is intended for teachers and administrators who are already skilled at delivering classroom-based adult education.  It contains a variety of exercises to help educators through the reinvention process. Each exercise provides a structured opportunity to reflect on four aspects of distance delivery - recruitment, orientation, teaching, and assessment - and develop strategies to handle each one.  Pursued over a 6-8 week period, the course can help educators prepare for their new roles.  The course is designed with several instructional products in mind: Crossroads Café, GED Connection, PLATO, Skills Tutor, and Workplace Essential Skills.  These are the products that the Project IDEAL consortium is using in its current experiments with distance education.  But the principles apply to teaching almost any product at a distance. Teachers who complete D101 are eligible for 2.4 C.E.U.s from the University of Michigan.

The Support Center provides each member state with everything they need to offer online professional development to their teachers: a special website, a "textbook", a curriculum, a study guide for participants, and a guide for those who will facilitate the course.  The Center provides ongoing support to each state's facilitator, ranging from training in the use of the website to mentoring each trainer during the time they facilitate the course.  Every summer the Center provides a workshop for trainers from every member state.  Here they can refine their techniques for building a virtual community of distance teachers.

Contact Katie Waters for information at 919-807-7136 or watersk@nccs.cc.nc.us.

Title:  Distance 102:  Study Groups

Provider:  Project IDEAL

Cost:  free to member states of Project Ideal, including North Carolina

Access:  Contact Katie Waters (919-807-7136) or watersk@nccs.cc.nc.us for North Carolina access and schedule information

Description: 4 weeks duration, 2-3 hours per week

This second PD course is for teachers with one year experience teaching at a distance.  Having mastered the mechanics of distance education, teachers are ready to think in a more focused way about pedagogy.  Each participant develops a case study of a difficult pedagogical problem.  The essence of the study group is having participants examine the cases one at a time, practicing the art of asking questions that probe the nature of the problem and identifying strategies to deal with the learner's difficulties.  Teachers who complete D102 are eligible for 1.8 C.E.U.s from the University of Michigan.

Contact Katie Waters for information at 919-807-7136 or watersk@nccs.cc.nc.us.

Title: TV411 for ESL Instructors

Provider:  National Center on Adult Literacy

Cost:  free

Access:  anytime

 

 

Description:  This training module is a resource for professional developers who want to help adult education programs implement TV411 effectively. The module, meant to be a one-day training for ESL instructors of intermediate and advanced students, contains:

  • Information about TV411
  • Information about training goals and necessary material
  • A listing of the principles that guided the development of the module
  • An annotated agenda
  • Workshop activities and implementation models
  • Possible roadblocks
  • Reflection and evaluation activities

URL: http://www.literacy.org/tm_tv411/index.html

English as a Second Language

Title: ESL/CivicsLink

Provider:   Developed jointly by PBS Adult Learning Service;  The National Center on Adult Literacy (NCAL) at the University of Pennsylvania; Jefferson County Public Schools Adult and Continuing Education, Louisville, Kentucky; and
KLRN-TV, San Antonio, Texas.

Cost: 

Individual license: $89.95
Full access for one teacher for six months.

Organization license: $800
Full access for up to 10 teachers at one site for one year.
 
Please call KET at (800) 354-9067 to ask about multiple-site discounts.

Statewide license: prices vary
Please call KET at (800) 354-9067 for more information.

Access:   anytime

Description:  ESL/CivicsLink is an online professional development system for adult education ESL teachers. Developed by adult educators for adult educators and tested in the field, this web-based product is managed by Kentucky Educational Television and prepares teachers to do the following:

  • teach English to speakers of other languages,
  • enhance cross-cultural awareness, and
  • integrate English literacy instruction and civics education.

The ESL/CivicsLink online professional development system...

  • covers core issues in teaching ESL and civics.
  • encourages active engagement through project-based learning.
  • works for small group study with peer mentoring, and with both facilitated and non-facilitated models.
  • provides customized portfolios in which teachers save journal entries, lesson plans, project work and resources.
  • provides teachers with a collaboration tool via threaded discussions.
  • includes relevant online and offline resources.

URL: http://eslcivicslink.literacy.upenn.edu/about/main.xml

Title: Principles and Practices of Online Teaching Certificate Program

Provider:  Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL)

Cost: Certificate Preparation Package: This package includes registration for PP 100, two content and two general online teaching courses. Note: To earn the certificate participants will have to also complete PP 200. Package is $775 for TESOL members and $1,325 for nonmembers.

Individual courses: The registration fee for individual courses is $175 per course for TESOL members and $285 per course for nonmembers.

Access:   scheduled, check website

 

Description:   TESOL's "Principles and Practices of Online Teaching" certificate program is designed for the experienced and the inexperienced online English Language Teacher and course designer. Whether you design and deliver courses that are fully or partially run online, the "Principles and Practices of Online Teaching" program will help develop the skills you need to effectively teach English Language courses online or blend online segments with your traditional face-to-face courses. "Principles and Practices of Online Teaching" consists of certificate foundation and completion courses, and ten courses in general and content-specific topics.

To earn the certificate of completion of the program, participants must successfully pass the certificate foundation and completion courses (PP 100 and PP 200), two of the content courses, and two of the general online teaching courses.

Teaching professionals who are primarily interested in improving their online teaching skills and not in attaining the certificate can enroll in the courses they want. With the exception of PP 200, which has prerequisites (PP 100, two content and two general online teaching courses), there are no prerequisites for other courses.

URL: http://www.tesol.org/edprg/olw/ppcp/index.html

Title: TESOL's Online Academies

Provider:  Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL)

Cost:  $239 for TESOL members and $319 for nonmembers

Access:  scheduled, check website

Description:  TESOL offers a variety of online workshops throughout the year.  Past topics have included Using Internet Tools to Effectively Work with Beginning ESL/EFL, Teaching Writing Online, and Enhancing Online Communities with Voice and Webcams. CEU's are available through the University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire.

URL: http://www.tesol.org/edprg/olw/academies.html#w1

Title: Culture and English Language Learners

Provider:  National Center for Family Literacy and ProLiteracy Worldwide

Cost:  free

Access:  anytime

Description:  This course examines different dimensions of culture relevant to the learning context, including both the personal cultures of learners and educators and the culture of the larger social political environment. It explores how cultural values influence instruction and looks at several teaching approaches that take culture into account.

URL: http://216.26.175.237/index.cfm?cRef=VLU108&cLoc=data

Title: English for All

Provider:  National Center on Adult Literacy

Cost:  free

Access:  anytime

 

 

Description:  This training module is a resource for professional developers who want to help teachers implement English For All effectively. The module, intended as a six-hour training for ESL instructors, contains:

  • Information about about English For All
  • Information about training goals and necessary material
  • A listing of the principles that guided the development of the module
  • An annotated agenda
  • Workshop activities, including a lesson demonstration and website tour
  • Sample lesson plans
  • Discussion of potential roadblocks to implementation
  • Reflection and evaluation activities

URL: http://www.literacy.org/tm_efa/index.html

Family Literacy

Title: Introducing Family Literacy to Adult Learners

Provider:  California Department of Education, Adult Education Office

Cost:   free

Access:  anytime

 

Description:  Introducing Family Literacy to Adult Learners offers a variety of interactive features that includes audios of instructors and learners participating in an actual family literacy lesson.  The following content areas are covered in this course:

  • defining family literacy   with four components
  • integrating family literacy into adult education using children's books
  • using a seven stage plan for lessons
  • modeling ESL and ABE seven stage family literacy plans using a children's book
  • writing your own seven stage family literacy plan
  • setting the stage to implement your own family literacy plan with adult learners at your site.

URL: http://www.calpro-online.org/tto/default.asp

Title: Parents and Children: Natural Learning Partners

Provider:  National Center for Family Literacy and ProLiteracy Worldwide

Cost:  free

Access:  anytime

 

 

Description:  Parent and Child Together (PACT) Time is perhaps the most complex and unique component of the four-component family literacy model. This course introduces the basic concepts of PACT Time and covers ways for volunteers to support parents and children as natural learning partners.

Various strategies will be introduced for PACT Time activities with young children (birth to age 8) and in the elementary school setting. The course includes information describing the roles of the parents, volunteers and staff in the PACT Time classroom.

The course is primarily directed at those who are curious about the notion of parents and children as natural learning partners and who are considering volunteering their time in support of it. However, new family literacy volunteers and recently hired family literacy program staff will benefit as well from the material presented.

URL: http://216.26.175.237/index.cfm?cRef=VLU114&cLoc=data

Title: Volunteers in Parent Education

Provider:  National Center for Family Literacy and ProLiteracy Worldwide

Cost:  free

Access:  anytime

Description: This course will define Parent Education and will give you a better picture of how you might become involved in helping parents strengthen their knowledge and skills in order to support their children's literacy development and education.

URL: http://216.26.175.237/index.cfm?cRef=VLU102&cLoc=courses


Title: Connecting Families and Computers

Provider:  National Center for Family Literacy and ProLiteracy Worldwide

Cost:  free

Access:  anytime

 

Description:  Family literacy program directors and staff are in the unique position of ensuring that all parents have access to the opportunities and benefits computer technology brings. In this first of two courses, you will learn how to incorporate basic computer applications for parents during the Parent Time and Adult Education components of family literacy. The second course in this two-part series will be released in Spring, 2004.

URL: http://216.26.175.237/index.cfm?cRef=VLU112&cLoc=data

GED Administration

Title: Administering the GED Tests

Provider:  FloridaTechNet, funded by Florida Adult Education

Cost:  free

Access:  anytime

 

 

Description:  As the Chief or Alternate Chief Examiner of the GED Tests, you know what the word "pressure" means.  Having responsibility for the GED Test means constant concerns about:

  • Maintaining security 
  • Ensuring a smooth operation of the test center.

This web-based training has been designed to provide you with some strategies that you can use to ensure smooth operation of the GED Tests.  This training will not provide you with everything you need to know, but it can give you some ideas about:

  • Security measures that may take some of the worry out of testing
  • Examples of procedures to use, whether you are testing at a large or small center

URL: http://www.floridatechnet.org/inservice/wbt2/

GED Instruction

Title: GED 2002 Online Professional Development

Provider:  Kentucky Educational Television sponsors the program; Kentucky Department for Adult Education and Literacy funds it.

Cost:  free

Access:  anytime

 

 

 

Description:  GED 2002 Online provides information on the GED 2002 Series Tests, as well as strategies that you can implement in your classroom.  The content is divided into four categories:

GED Tests Overview

Math

  • Problem Solving
  • Calculator
  • Grid Formats

Writing

  • Multiple Choice
  • Essay

Critical Thinking

  • Thinking Skills
  • Graphic Literacy

Within each module you will find these basic sections:

  • What Do I Know?
  • Overview
  • Module Content and Activities
  • What Did I Learn?
  • Training Evaluation

URL: http://www.ket.org/ged2002/

Title: Using the Internet in Support of GED Math Instruction

Provider:  National Center on Adult Literacy

Cost: free

Access:  anytime

 

 

Description:  Designed for professional developers, the purpose of this course is to explore technology-based resources and tools that can be used to bolster the math concepts tested by the GED. While identifying resources and tools is one part of this process, the more important parts are the teacher's ability:

  • to evaluate resources for their usefulness; and
  • to consider how the resources could be used most effectively.

This course consists of 5 sessions. The first session provides a general overview of some of the larger issues related to teaching math to adults; the next 4 sessions focus on the topics of:

  • Problem Solving;
  • Geometry, Spatial Sense, and Measurement;
  • Data Analysis, Probability, and Statistics; and
  • Algebra.

URL: http://www.literacy.org/tm_math/index.html

Learning Disabilities

Title: Bridges to Practice - An Introduction

Provider:  FloridaTechNet, funded by Florida Adult Education

Cost:  free

Access:  anytime

 

 

Description:  This first web-based training of Florida's Bridges to Practice will provide you with information on:

  • The wide range of disorders that are called learning disabilities
  • The screening and diagnosis process
  • Instructional modifications, strategies and accommodations
  • Legal issues related to adults with learning disabilities
  • The need for systemic change - programmatic and services
  • State and national resources

URL: http://www.floridatechnet.org/inservice/bridges/page2.html

Title: Serving Adults with Disabilities - Project Success

Provider:  FloridaTechNet, funded by Florida Adult Education

Cost:  free

Access:  anytime


Description: When you have completed this eight-hour training, you will be able to:

  1. Identify a wide range of disorders that are classified as learning disabilities.
  2. Discuss the difference between an accommodation and a modification.
  3. Explain the development and application of an Adult Individual Education Plan (AIEP) and a 504 Plan.
  4. Discuss different types of assistive technology.
  5. Develop strategies for serving learning disabled adults in a mainstream setting.
  6. Develop and implement systematic change, both programmatic and systematic.
  7. Research the availability of services available for adults with disabilities - local, state and national - using the Internet.
  8. Assist self-identified learning disabled adults access available services within your community.
  9. Develop and implement a plan to provide services to learning disabled adults.

URL:
Registration required (free): http://adulted.successfast.net/courses/introduction.cfm?classid=119

Mixed Topics

Title: Education Topics

Provider:  Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development

Cost:  free

Access:  anytime


Description:  Education Topics are short multimedia lessons on topics that interest all levels of educators. Each lesson includes a definition, short articles on the topic, audio and video files of experts and practitioners, and a listing of resources that you can use to continue your professional development.  While some of the topics are K-12 specific, others have information relevant to adult education.  Such topics include Brain and Learning, Differentiating Instruction, Multiple Intelligences, and Problem-Based Learning.

URL: http://www.ascd.org/cms/index.cfm?TheViewID=350&flag=350

Title: PBS TeacherLine

Provider:  PBS

Cost:  Most courses are approximately $150.  Graduate credit is available for many of them for an additional fee.

Access:   scheduled, check website


Description:  PBS TeacherLine, funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Education, is committed to helping teachers acquire the skills they need to prepare students for a successful future.  TeacherLine provides online professional development through facilitated courses that meet national and local standards, supportive and collaborative learning communities and a wide variety of Internet-based resources. 

Courses cover a variety of topics, many of which are relevant to adult education.  Subject areas include Curriculum Mapping, Instructional Strategies, Interdisciplinary, Mathematics, Reading/Language Arts, Science, and Technology Integration.  Courses are conducted at scheduled times and vary depending on your location.  Check the website for details.

URL: http://teacherline.pbs.org/teacherline/welcome.cfm

Title: Professional Development Kit (PDK)

Provider:  National Center on Adult Literacy, University of Pennsylvania

Cost:  free

Access:  anytime

 

 

Description:  PDK consists of a variety of resources including:

  • over eight hours of video investigations containing interviews of learners, teachers, researchers, and administrators; classroom practice; and in-depth exploration of specific topic areas such as ESL, ABE, GED, math, writing, assessment, and technology.
  • An internet site that contains online tools such as discussion boards, teacher portfolios with needs assessment activities, data collection suggestions, action plan infrastructures, and reporting frameworks; and four knowledge databases to search related resources.
  • A participant's guide that describes the system and identifies possible applications in various contexts.

For additional information, contact Lynda Ginsburg ginsburg@literacy.upenn.edu 215-898-2100.

URL: http://www.literacy.org/pdk 

Reading

Title: Comprehensive Reading and Strategies Help!

Provider:  FloridaTechNet, funded by Florida Adult Education

Cost:  free

Access:  anytime

 

Description:  This web-based training will provide you with information and resources that will help you help your students become better readers.  Topics within this training include:

  • The Adult Learner and Brain Compatible Classrooms
  • Essentials of Reading
  • Adult Learners and Comprehension Strategies
  • Helping ESOL Students and Students with Learning Disabilities
  • Helping the Adult to Help the Child

URL: http://www.floridatechnet.org/inservice/abe/reading/

Student Retention

Title: Improving Student Retention in Adult Education Programs

Provider:  FloridaTechNet, funded by Florida Adult Education

Cost:  free

Access:  anytime

 

Description:  Upon completion of this training, you will be able to:

  • Conduct a retention study
  • Discuss the characteristics of a reluctant learner
  • Identify barriers and motivational factors that interfere with learner success
  • Identify and implement practical strategies to retain students in your program
  • Analyze student data to develop a retention plan for your program

URLs:
Registration required (free): http://adulted.successfast.net/

Course: http://adulted.successfast.net/courses/introduction.cfm?classid=137

Technology

Title: Captured Wisdom

Provider:  National Center on Adult Literacy, University of Pennsylvania

Cost:  free

Access:  anytime

 

 

Description:  Captured Wisdom documents the ways educators and learners actually use technology in their classrooms as a tool to support instruction and learning in a variety of content areas.  The entire program has been uploaded to the Internet.  The program is also available in a two CD-ROM set that contains seven different short videos of authentic adult education classrooms.  Included with each video clip are sections with the featured teacher answering questions posed to her/him by other adult education teachers who first watched the video clips in focus groups.  The questions are divided into the following categories:  Learners, Instructional Activities, Project Management, Technology Issues, and Products and Assessments.  Also included with the set is a short instruction booklet that tells you how to get the most out of Captured Wisdom. 

For additional information, contact Lynda Ginsburg ginsburg@literacy.upenn.edu 215-898-2100.

URL: http://www.ncrtec.org/pd/cw/adultlit.htm

Volunteer Literacy

Title: Orientation to Volunteering in Literacy

Provider:  National Center for Family Literacy and ProLiteracy Worldwide

Cost:  free

Access:  anytime

Description:  This course is designed for people who are asking themselves, "What can I do to make my community a better place to live?" Orientation to Volunteering in Literacy will help you make that decision. You will find information about the impact of low-literacy in America, how volunteers play a vital role in helping to meet the need, and how to contact a local program to explore how YOU might become involved.

URL: http://216.26.175.237/index.cfm?cRef=VLU100&cLoc=courses

Title: Working with Adult Literacy Learners

Provider:  National Center for Family Literacy and ProLiteracy Worldwide

Cost:  free

Access:  anytime

 

Description:  This course is designed for people who are interested in learning more about what it will be like as a volunteer in an adult basic literacy program. Literacy programs are like buildings in a community: they come in many shapes and sizes and have many things in common, but depending on which door you go in, it looks very different inside. Volunteering is a valuable and rewarding experience! This course will help you learn more about adults who attend basic literacy programs, the services provided to help meet their educational needs, and how you can use your knowledge and experience to make an important difference in people's lives.

URL: http://216.26.175.237/index.cfm?cRef=VLU115&cLoc=data

Workforce-Related

Title: Managing a SCANS-based Classroom

Provider:  California Department of Education, Office of Adult Education

Cost:  free

Access:  anytime

 

Description:  SCANS stands for the Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills.  Managing a SCANS-based Classroom will assist instructors in maximizing student classroom involvement by applying a SCANS approach to instruction.  The course offers a variety of interactive features that includes audios and videos of an instructor and students participating in an actual SCANS-based lesson.  The following content areas are covered in this course:

  • Background and overview of the report from the Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills
  • Identification of the SCANS skills and competencies
  • Establishing effective teams for classroom activities and instruction
  • Integrating SCANS into your lesson plans
  • Utilizing assessments for teachers and students
  • Creating and implementing your own SCANS-based lesson plan with your students.

URL: http://www.calpro-online.org/tto/default.asp

Title: Setting up a Career Center

Provider:  FloridaTechNet, funded by Florida Adult Education

Cost:  free

Access:  anytime

 

 

 

Description:  This web-based training will provide information on development and implementation of a career center in your program.

By the end of this training, you will be able to:

  • Identify the goals of a career center
  • Identify and assess the process required to set up a career center
  • Explain the process individuals use to define their career goals
  • Define the different types of career assessment tools
  • Identify and access resources to assist students with defining career goals
  • Discuss the process by which individuals define their career goals and develop a career plan

URL: http://www.floridatechnet.org/webbased.htm#career

Writing

Title: Writing without Fear

Provider:  National Center for Family Literacy and ProLiteracy Worldwide

Cost:  free

Access:  anytime


Description:  Tutors and teachers often have a difficult time getting students to write. Trying to put one's thoughts down in a way that makes sense and at the same time trying to remember all the rules of grammar and spelling can be daunting to anyone, especially to a new writer. In this workshop, participants learn a writing process that can help students (and themselves) overcome their fear of writing. Participants will learn this process by reflecting on their own experiences as teachers and writers, as well as by doing some writing themselves.

URL: http://216.26.175.237/index.cfm?cRef=VLU110&cLoc=courses

Source: North Carolina Basic Skills Office, NC Community College System, http://www.ncccs.cc.nc.us/Basic_Skills/