Spring 2012 Facilitated Online Courses

This spring CALPRO is offering several professional development courses which eligible adult educators can take via the Internet any time, any place, free of charge. All participants need to get started is an e-mail account, Internet access, and an average of three hours per week for study, scheduled at their own convenience.

Two courses beginning in March include:

  • Designing Programs for Adults with Learning Disabilities, Session 2: Effective Instructional Strategies
  • Optimizing ESL Instructional Planning: Management, Monitoring, and Reflection

Educators who act quickly may still be able to register for one of the February courses:

  • Integrated and Contextualized Workforce Skills in the ABE/ASE Classroom
  • Enhancing Learner Persistence

All adult literacy providers currently working in programs funded through the California Department of Education, Adult Education Office are eligible to register for CALPRO online courses.

Each course lasts four weeks, and participants can log in when convenient to complete the weekly assignments and exchange ideas with a subject-expert facilitator and colleagues from across California. Upon successful completion, participants earn certificates of course completion (14 hours) and have the option to register for Continuing Education Units (1.5 CEUs).
For more details, visit http://www.calpro-online.org/facilasynchcourses.asp.

Enrollment is limited and on a first-registered, first-enrolled basis, so register now!
Register for spring 2012 courses through CALPRO’s schedule of online courses

Spring 2012 Online Workshops in Real Time

The California Adult Literacy Professional Development Project (CALPRO) is pleased to offer six online workshops in real time, beginning in February 2012. These highly interactive professional learning events are open all eligible adult educators, i.e., those who currently work in programs that receive funding through the California Department of Education, Adult Education Office.

Spring 2012 workshops in real time include:

  • Teaching Critical Thinking (a series of three workshops offered on Feb. 3, 10, and 17)
  • Integrated and Contextualized Workforce Skills in the Adult Education Classroom Session 1: Transferable Skills for the Workplace (April 17 and 19)
  • Integrated and Contextualized Workforce Skills in the ESL Classroom, Session 2. Contextualized Instructional Strategies (May 8 and 10)
  • Integrated and Contextualized Workforce Skills in the ABE/ASE Classroom, Session 2. Contextualized Instructional Strategies (May 15 and 17)

Subject experts facilitate these online workshops in 90-minute segments; enrollment is limited and on a first-registered, first–enrolled basis.
For additional information, click on the following link.
http://calpro-online.org/onlinerealtimeworkshops.asp.

Register today through the CALPRO Event Calendar!

Helping ABE Students Become Better Readers

The California Adult Literacy Professional Development Project (CALPRO) is pleased to announce a new pair of online professional development resources: the Virtual Workroom on Best Practices in ABE Reading Instruction and the CALPRO electronic Community of Practice (e-CoP).

Located within the CALPRO Web site, the Virtual Workroom provides numerous professional learning resources for ABE reading instructors. Anchoring these is a series of short videos capturing best practices in action, and each video is accompanied by a set of pre- and post-viewing application activities. Additionally, the Virtual Workroom provides recommendations for more in-depth study and offers supports for ABE teachers of other subjects.

CALPRO's all new electronic Community of Practice (e-CoP) complements and expands the new Virtual Workroom and also supports CALPRO's other two Virtual Workrooms on Multilevel ESL Instruction and Workforce Readiness. The mission of the e-CoP is to expand the professional knowledge of adult educators through an exchange of practitioner wisdom that ultimately results in increased student learning. All adult educators working in programs funded by the California Department of Education are eligible to join the e-CoP and membership is free.

For more information, click on the following link.
Virtual Workroom log–in page

Fall 2011 Issue of CALPROgress Available

CALPROgress is the periodical of the California Adult Literacy Professional Development Project. In this periodical you will find articles that are theme based and focus on useful information about research and best practices in professional development. In addition, each issue contains links to important national, state, and local Web sites, and useful resources.

CALPROgress is published twice a year, both in hard copy and on our Web site (PDF format). The available issues are listed below:

Current Issues

Past Issues

Adult Learning and Development: New Self–Directed Online Course

The California Adult Literacy Professional Development Project (CALPRO) is pleased to announce a new self–directed online course on Adult Learning and Development. This course examines

  • how adults learn and the implications for adult literacy programs
  • the unique characteristics of adult learners
  • adult motivation, needs, and self-concept and their effects on learning
  • adult development and the implications for effective teaching

Rich in multimedia and interactive applications, this course fosters independent learning. Working without a facilitator, individuals may choose to study on their own or team up with colleagues from their agency.

Adult Learning and Development is the third in a suite of self–directed courses, which also includes Learner Persistence and Learner Goal Setting in Adult Education Programs. Together, these three courses shed light on core principles of successful adult education programs and can help adult educators make their teaching relevant to their learners' needs and also assist adult learners to stay in school, focus on their goals, and thereby achieve greater learning gains. Participants can choose to take one, two or all three of these self-directed courses, in any order.

To register for Adult Learning and Development and other self–directed courses,
visit http://www.calpro-online.org/onlinecourseschedule.asp#self.

For general information about CALPRO self–directed online courses,
visit http://www.calpro-online.org/selfdirectedcourses.asp.

Update to Management Competencies Self–Assessment

New ImageCALPRO has updated its Management Competencies Self–Assessment and added an individual Professional Development Plan. When adult education administrators take the self-assessment, they can now access their results instantly, view recommended professional development resources, and print and save these resources as their annual professional development plan. For more information about this updated online tool, click here.

Video Library

The California Adult Literacy Professional Development Project (CALPRO) is pleased to announce a new online resource for adult educators, the Video Library. The goal of this video library is to increase individual adult educators' access to professional development on emerging priority topics. Current topics include college transition and orientation for new adult education administrators. Additionally, the library features videos of best practices in action such as classroom approaches to teaching English to adult learners. The library also serves as a repository of three series of CALPRO Webinars from Fall 2010 to the present, including the Instructors Forum, the Administrators Forum, and the Adult Education Research series.

Visit the Video Library here:
http://www.calpro-online.org/onlinevideolibrary.asp

New Online PD Resource: Instructor Competencies Self–Assessment

The California Adult Literacy Professional Development Project (CALPRO) is pleased to announce a new online tool for adult education instructors, the Instructor Competencies Self–Assessment and Individual Professional Development Plan.

Based on a nationally validated instrument, the updated self–assessment contains 31 competencies spanning six categories significant to adult education instruction. An individual teacher rates each competency in three areas: 1) its relevance to their teaching, 2) its priority level, and 3) his/her ability in that competency. Instructors may complete one or more sections of the self–assessment and may complete the self–assessment multiple times, as their professional development needs change.

The new interface enables an instructor to view his/her own results instantly and zero in on the top five priority areas for professional development. For each of these top–ranking competencies, the instructor may view targeted recommendations for research–based professional development resources that form the basis of an annual, individual professional development plan. Instructors may also print and save their professional development plans.

For more information, visit
http://calpro-online.org/competencies/instructorselfassessment.asp

To log in to the instructor competencies self-assessment, visit
http://www.calpro-online.org/Assessmenttest/

Sponsor Workshops for Your Staff

Since 2001, CALPRO has trained California adult educators to deliver workshops on various topics. These facilitators are available to help ensure that an agency's teaching staff continues to grow professionally.

The California Department of Education and CALPRO encourage local adult education agencies to use these workshops for site-based professional development opportunities for their staff members.

Click on the links below.

Download the PDFDownload Sponsor Professional Development for Your Staff [PDF]

Download the PDFDownload Host CALPRO Workshops for Your Region [PDF]

Back to Top