Tondreau,Cheryl

Deliverable #2 Cheryl Tondreau **Background:** I am currently working for the Community College of RI (CCRI) as a counselor / advisor to the Skills Tutor Program at NetworkRI in Providence. This program is a remedial program. Clients are referred when their assessment scores for reading and / or math are not high enough to qualify for the job training program in which they wish to enroll. Since Skills Tutor is a web-based skill building program, participants can study from any computer with internet access – from home, the public library or at our computer lab at Network RI. Most of my clients use the program at a distance. As teachers, we are aware that there are many factors which contribute to student success. One factor that is of particular interest for Adult Literacy practitioners is persistence. The New England Learner Persistence Project (http://www.nelrc.org/persist/overview.html) has been instrumental in studying this issue. Two components that contribute to helping learners persist are a comprehensive orientation and connection and support of the adult learner. In order to make my program better, this program year I am focusing on improving the orientation process and I am looking for ways to connect more with my “distance learners. I see the blog that I’ve created for my program as a vehicle to enhance what I am already doing in the computer lab (my classroom.) You will find the blog at [|http://Cheryl-skillstutor.blogspot.com] **Objective:** To utilize a blog to increase communication with my clients at Network RI in Providence and to expand the orientation to make it more meaningful for clients. Here are the features I have added to the blog to help meet the objectives: To improve communication with and support of clients....   ·   Google chat - I have added this chat feature so my clients can communicate with me in real time. I plan to set "office hours" during which time I will be available to answer any questions my clients have or to just chat. ·  I have set up a blogroll with blogs about unemployment, Unemployment Blogs, to help build a sense of community. Oftentimes, we feel that we are all alone with our struggles when we are faced with a challenge such as being unemployed. I believe it helps to know that we have a community that is there to help and that understands. This is one of the factors that helps my clients - Network RI is a center which houses different programs to help the unemployed and the underemployed find the resources they need to succeed. When my clients use the computer lab for their studies, they meet others in similar situations and form a community. I would like my "distance learners" to have more of a sense of community. Eventually, it is my hope that my clients will expand our face to face community (the computer lab)to this blog. ·  I have added a list, What's Happening at Network RI - this week!. which announces the current events at Network RI in Providence. I will update this section each Monday so our clients know what is happening each day here at Network RI. ·  In the main area of the blog, I am now writing about topics of interest to my clients, sharing interesting articles that I hope they enjoy and will respond to. I need to keep practicing so I become better at choosing topics and articles that will keep my readers (clients) coming back for more. To expand and enhance the Network RI Orientation and my Skills Tutor Orientation: ·  I have added a Pages of Interest section. This section will be for documents that will help my students. Already I have posted a document with Skills Tutor Tips. I intend to add documents for Reading Strategies, Math strategies, and general learning strategies. ·  During the upcoming orientation sessions, I will give an overview of blogs and introduce the blog for the Skills tutor program. We will discuss its features. 1. I would like to add a powerpoint presentation of the Skills Tutor Orientation. I will use the Authorstream.com site on which our class sessions are accessed. 2. I will attend a Network RI Orientation and post the notes I take from this session so clients can refer to it whenever they have questions about the process. 3. I will work with the career counselors who refer the clients into my program to create a Handbook for Skills Tutor clients, which will delineate the process - from enrolling in Skills Tutor, through assessment, the proposal process, and finally what to expect once enrolled in training. This handbook, when completed, will be in the Pages of Interest section of this blog. (Note: this may be a project that is started in person and worked on through the use of a wiki.) 4. I would like to add another blogroll to the site with Blogs for success, or about motivation, or some other positive topic. ** Assessment: ** As I work with adult learners who are not in a traditional classroom where ongoing assessments, both informal and formal, are necessary, I have chosen not to view student contribution to the blog as the assessment. Instead, I would like my clients to assess the blog itself. To do this, I have created a survey on Survey Monkey. I will ask each client to take the survey here at the computer lab when they take the formal test needed to get the funds for training. The survey is very short right now, only 4 questions. I anticipate that I will expand this survey to suit my needs in order to see how beneficial this blog is for my clients as I add new features. ** Adaptations for Differentiated Learning ** : In order to help my learners for whom English is their second language or for learners who have some difficulty with reading comprehension, I have added answers.com. This is to help clients with any vocabulary that is unfamiliar to them. I would also like to add something like readplease.com to the site, so each article can be read aloud for any client who needs it. I'm not certain how this will work, but I know that I have recommended readplease.com to a number of reading students I've tutored. ·  In order to use the chat feature that I have added to the blog, clients will need to register for google chat. ·  To keep readers interested, I will need to be sure to keep site updated with current events at the site, with interesting information and articles of interest to the clients as they are unemployed. previously enrolled clients to let them know about the blog and get them interested in what it can offer them. RI Adult Education Content Standards: Read with Understanding, Use Math, Listen Actively, Speak so Others Understand [] The Rhode Island Content Standards were based on Equipped for the Future (the National standards-based educational improvement initiative for adult basic education and English language learning) [] There are 4 Strands and 16 EFF Content Standards. RI: Read with Understanding · A.4.5 and A.5.5 –Analysis and Interpretation - Determine the relevance of the ideas/ information presented to the reading purpose. · F.4.2 and F.5.2 – Fluency and Life long learning - Read regularly for own purposes, inside and outside of class EFF Communication Skills EFF Decision Making Skills EFF Interpersonal Skills EFF Lifelong Learning Skills
 * Future Plans for this blog:  **
 * Potential Issues / Challenges:  **
 * I need to spend the time necessary during my orientation to ensure that clients understand what the blog is and how to access it. Most of my clients do not want to hear about anything that is not directly related to their "passing" the test at the time of intake and orientation. I find that the more contact I have with them, the more they see the relevance of working on their skills, exploring other things that may help them during their time at Network RI, etc.
 * With most of my clients being "distance learners", I need to reach out to those
 * Standards Used: **
 * Standards Addressed in this project: **
 * Read with Understanding
 * Convey Ideas in Writing
 * Solve problems and make decisions
 * Plan
 * Guide Others
 * Use Information and Communications Technology
 * Reflect and Evaluate
 * Take responsibility for learning