LIT2T Leadership Guide

44 TO: TABLE OF CONTENTS 9. GETTING STARTED 1. Where Do I Begin? View the LearnIT2teach portal, with your instructors if possible. It is a good idea to contact the LearnIT2teach team through email ( admin@learnit2teach.ca ) to arrange a Stage One training session. If face-to-face is challenging, an online Stage 1 option is available on request. Appoint a technical contact from your centre so that our training team can be certain that your computers are suitable for the LearnIT2teach training session. This contact could be a technically savvy instructor who is familiar with your computer room. 2. What Are the Minimum Resources to Get Started? A standard language centre computer lab is normally acceptable. Training for Stage One requires a computer room, ideally with at least tenworking learner computers and one instructor workstation. It is essential that the computers be connected to the Internet. Our teamwill assist your designated technical person to fine-tune your computer settings so that theymeet our standards. The language instructors attending our session should have basic Internet and computer skills. These skills include basic keyboarding, navigating on the desktop and using a web browser. They should also have a valid email address. 3. How Much Would It Cost My Program? There are no costs for IRCC-funded programs. Our trainers will deliver training at your centre. The same trainers provide freementoring services to instructors who go on to the subsequent stages of training. Instructors can even earn a Post-TESL Certificate Training accreditation from TESL Ontario without having to pay for Stage 3 or 4 training. These services are free, subject to government funding. 4. What Are Some Realistic Timelines That I Should Be Considering? Timelines are flexible with this program. It may take a few months between the first contact and the actual delivery of Stage One; however, sometimes we can accommodate requests for Stage 1 events on short notice. All of the succeeding stages are voluntary and are dependent on the motivation of individual instructors. After attending a Stage 1 workshop, teachers have immediate online access to a Pre-Stage 2 training. Teachers can finish this in about three hours. After successfully completing Pre-Stage 2, they can request their own LINC courseware at the appropriate CLB level(s) (with accounts for their students) and they will be enrolled in Stage 2. This Stage takes a minimum of one month and maximum of four months to complete. These same time frames also apply to Stages 3 and 4. 5. Should All of the Instructors Complete All of the Stages? Not all instructors will need or want to complete the four stages, as by the end of Pre-stage 2 they are already able to use the courseware with their learners. It is recommended that a centre using the edulinc courses ensure that all instructors participate in Stage One so they can understand the basics of the system. A centre will increase their success using this resource if a few instructors complete Stage 3 and can help other instructors customize courses and act as experts at the centre.