Helping Your Students Identify, Develop, and Utilize Their (not so) Soft Skills
    Author: Cynthia Peters and Jen Denton
    Subject Area: Career Pathways, Soft Skills
    Program Level: Adult Basic Education
    Language: English
    License: (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) For license summary click here

    Abstract:

    Adult education students have strong transferable skills (aka, soft skills). They just don’t know it yet! Leadership, communication, and critical thinking skills are being cultivated daily by hard-working adult learners. Employers value and seek these crucial competencies. In this webinar, we’ll share powerful student-written stories and classroom activities that demonstrate simple ways to teach basic skills in a way that enables students to identify and amplify the transferable skills essential for employability. Original webinar date: December 6, 2023 Webinar recording link: https://youtu.be/S9aEyOjkfAI
    Inmates Teaching Inmates’ Developing and Enhancing Soft Skills in a Prison Setting
    Author: Susan McKee and Edwin McMillan
    Subject Area: Other, Soft Skills
    Material Type: Presentations/Slideshows
    Language: English
    License: (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) For license summary click here

    Abstract:

    Offenders who develop strong soft skills in prison have a better chance at reducing their sentence, having a successful re-entry, and gaining meaningful employment. An effective soft skills program requires careful selection and focus on the needed skills, adaptable resources, different teaching methods, consistent assessment, and specific individualized feedback and encouragement. In a correctional setting, inmate facilitators can help extend soft skills programs outside the classroom. Inmate facilitators can also help correctional educators relate lessons in soft skills to other inmate learners. This webinar will present the evolution of a Pace Life Skills Program at Folsom State Prison (Represa, CA)—a leisure-time activity that has boasted a waiting list of over 200 inmates! Join us to learn about teaching and evaluating soft skills in a correctional setting, including thoughts from Edwin McMillan, a recently-released former Pace Life Skills Facilitator.​
    The Future Is Here: Rising to Higher Expectations for ESOL Instruction and Student Outcomes
    Author: Sarah Lynn & Federico Salas-Isnardi
    Language: English
    License: (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) For license summary click here

    Abstract:

    In order for English language learners to take full advantage of today’s career and educational opportunities, they need to rise to the higher expectations for academic rigor as outlined in the College and Career Readiness Standards, and achieve measurable outcomes as defined by the Workforce Investment Opportunity Act. How can we meet these rising expectations in our general English language classes? By enriching the content we teach, broadening the contexts of English to include workplace and academic communication, scaffolding rigorous tasks, and increasing the range and frequency of higher order thinking skills. Join this webinar to see how the new edition of Future has risen to today’s higher expectations. We will highlight how the new edition’s reading and writing strands scaffold challenging tasks from the start, and how the Future’s new workplace soft-skill strand engages students’ culture skills in collaborative problem-solving tasks.
    Mathematical Freedom: Remove Rules and Conformity to Achieve Engagement and Freedom for Your Students
    Author: Brooke Istas
    Language: English
    License: (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) For license summary click here

    Abstract:

    Did you know that there are mathematicians that spend their entire life trying to solve one math problem? These are highly educated men and women who see mathematics as creative and open. They are not confined by rules – they MAKE their own rules! But isn’t it unfortunate that in the adult education classrooms mathematics is thought to be a subject of rules and procedures? That it isn’t something that is creative. This webinar will explore the powerful idea of mathematical freedom and change mathematics for learners so that mathematics becomes about learning instead of performing. Participants should expect to be engaged in thinking about problems in an open and creative manner, to begin to see the world deeper, but not necessarily faster.
    Author: Melissa Sadler-Nitu
    Program Level: Webinar Materials
    Material Type: Webinar Materials
    Language: English
    License: (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) For license summary click here

    Abstract:

    Did you know...in 2019, there will be 6 million job openings for information security professionals—but only 4.5 million security professionals to fill those roles? It is time to bridge the confidence gap. Alamo Colleges has developed the Cyber Core-4 Pathway to help adult education students bridge the confidence gap and complete a suite of 4 CompTIA Certificates in less than a year. Alamo I-BEST started the journey by posing as CompTIA instructors and attending the national conference. Over 50 completed students later, it is time to share the surprising things they learned. Let’s bridge the cyber confidence gap together. Alamo Colleges will share the truths, myths, and best practices.
    Google’s Applied Digital Skills: Support Resources, Certification and Next Steps

    Abstract:

    Google and COABE are co-hosting a webinar series around Google's free digital literacy curriculum. In this webinar, Google's Applied Digital Skills team will walk us through its website's support resources, how to get your students G Suite certified, and the next steps you should take to start teaching the free curriculum. To sign up for free and start using Applied Digital Skills with your learners, go to g.co/applieddigitalskills/coabe and click Sign Up to create a teacher account.
    Helping Adult Learners Understand What Drives Their Financial Decisions
    Author: Katherine Sauer
    Program Level: Conference 2019 Materials
    Material Type: Presentations/Slideshows
    Language: English
    License: (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) For license summary click here

    Abstract:

    The financial decisions we make every day are only partially based on facts and logic. Our financial decisions are also influenced by inner drivers that we are often not even aware of–unconscious needs,wants, and “shoulds.” These inner drivers become the values that affect all of our financial decisions. The free LifeValues Quiz is a research-based tool that can be used with adult learners to help them understand the unconscious drivers that influence their everyday money habits. Session participants will take the LifeValues Quiz, learn about the 4 inner values that drive financial behaviors, and learn how to utilize the resource with adult learners. The LifeValues Quiz is a fun activity to include in programming that covers topics like spending, saving, and household financial decision-making.
    The Future Is Here: Rising to Higher Expectations for ESOL Instruction and Student Outcomes
    Author: Sarah Lynn; Federico Salas-Isnardi
    Material Type: Presentations/Slideshows
    Language: English
    License: (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) For license summary click here

    Abstract:

    In the last few years, the landscape of adult education has changed dramatically, and the popular Future series has changed too. The new edition upholds Future’s signature integration of English communication skills with robust content and meaningful contexts, as it also embraces the increased rigor of the College and Career Readiness Standards (CCRS) and higher expectations for Workplace Investment Opportunity Act (WIOA) outcomes. In this session the presenter will introduce you to new features of Future 2nd edition including a new content-based reading strand designed to challenge students’ higher order thinking skills and build their general knowledge through multiple readings on the same topic, and a new workplace soft-skill strand which engages students’ communication and culture skills in a collaborative problem-solving task. Come see how Future 2nd Edition has changed with the times. The overview presentation will be followed by a Q & A with Sarah Lynn.