LIT2T Leadership Guide

11 TO: TABLE OF CONTENTS 3. THE LEARNIT2TEACH PROJECT New Language Solutions Inc. (NLS) has been operating the LearnIT2teach Project since January of 2010. NLS is contracted to create content and deliver training to IRCC-funded instructors and administrators. Details of the training and development team are available at the website. ( http://learnit2teach.ca/wpnew/ about-2 ) 3.1 Web Technologies The LearnIT2teach Project uses open source web technologies for language learning, instructor training and support of a settlement language training Community of Practice (CoP). [footnote definition on Wikipedia Language learning is the most important aspect of this project, and all of our teammembers are language training professionals. We follow a social constructivist approach both in our instructor training and our learner courses. Social constructivism promotes social exchange amongst peers in order to build knowledge and competencies amongst individuals in a learning environment. In this case, technology-enhanced language learning is integrated with settlement topics. Peers use social constructivist tools, such as blogs, forums, and wikis, to attain outcomes. The LearnIT2teach instructor training and the courses use the Moodle learning management system. This LMS offers a myriad of features for structuring content while encouraging social constructivist methods. Moodle also provides language training instructors with a great deal of flexibility in their teaching delivery. These tools are described in the LINC courseware section. New Language Solutions has been active in the field of immigrant settlement, language training and technology since its inception in 1983. NLS Inc. is a registered charitable organization and operates under an eight-person volunteer Board of Directors, all of whom are professionals in the adult immigrant language training and settlement field. The objective of the organization is to improve opportunities for integrating technology into education. The interactive LINC learning objects are at the core of this project. They are in the international e-learning standard SCORM (Sharable Content Object Reference Model) format. These were developed by Algonquin College (LINC 3-4) and the Toronto Catholic District School Board (LINC 5-7) when they produced the Classroom Activities books for CIC Ontario Region. The LearnIT2teach team has developed LINC 1 and 2 and additional LINC 5-7 learning objects in the same SCORM format, also based on these books. The books and these learning objects are aligned to the LINC 1-5 Curriculum Guidelines (2002) and LINC 5-7 Curriculum Guidelines (2007) and the Canadian Language Benchmarks (2000). These SCORMmodules are embedded throughout the LINC courseware. To ensure they are easily accessible, all of the learning objects are hosted in IRCC’s national instructor repository, Tutela.ca. 3.1 Web Technologies 3.1.1 Learning Approach – Blended Learning 3.1.2 Key Components of the LearnIT2teach Project 3.1.3 Training (learnit2teach.org) 3.1.4 LINC Courseware Courses (edulinc.org) 3.1.5 LearnIT2teach Community 3.1.6 Portal 3.1.7 Project Evaluation