[AUDIO LOGO] SPEAKER: OTAN, Outreach and Technical Assistance Network. CHRISTINA HYATT: Thank you so much for being here on a Saturday morning, 9:00 AM. We're so excited to be able to present today on the Digital Learning Guidance. This is a panel discussion, but I'll start with the objectives for this. And we will come around to explaining more about the Digital Learning Guidance as we dive into the panel questions. So Ann, if you could share the screen. Prefect. I'm Christina Hyatt, and we'll introduce ourselves more later. And these are the four panelists, Renee Collins on one end, Francisco on the other, and then Rebecca and John. OK, the next slide. So our objectives, we want to demonstrate the relevance of the Digital Learning Guidance in adult education agencies, what does it mean for you guys? How is it going to help you? We want to share the resources that have been created around the Digital Learning Guidance to help your agency better dive in and utilize the tool. And then we want to teach you how to sign up for the Digital Learning Guidance course, which starts next week for those that are interested. All right, so I'll start. My name is Christina Hyatt. I work for OTAN as a subject matter expert. In my other job, I work with Corona-Norco Adult School. I'm the high school program coordinator currently working in the diploma programs. Super fun. And I was an early adopter of technology on our campus and love looking for ways to bring technology in to help my students meet their objectives. Francisco, FRANCISCO PINEDO: OK, good morning, everyone. Good morning. My name is Francisco Pinedo. I am the lead instructor/director of Soledad Adult School in Monterey County. It's a small school where we use a lot of technology integrated with our students to give them the tools that they need so that they can become lifelong learners as well, and then transmit that learning with their children, which is something that we like to do. I've been in adult Ed for 20 years, and I want to say that probably those 20 years I've adopted technology one way or another as it has been evolving, and then just transmitting that passion I have of technology to my students, my staff. So that's kind of my goal and that's why I like the Digital Learning Guidance, because it gives a lot of those tools to educators and administrators to do the same. CHRISTINA HYATT: Rebecca. REBECCA NOWLEN: I'm Rebecca Nowlen. I'm the outreach coordinator and data analyst in the Marin Consortium. And I also teach adult basic and reading and language arts. And I was a high school English teacher for a long time, and then I took some time off to have children. And back when I taught, there was no digital anything going on in the classroom when I was teaching. And I was considered cutting-edge because my agendas were available online for parents to look at. So when I came back into adult Ed, I just had so much learning to do around digital education. I've been very grateful for all the OTAN offers to really bring me up to speed on what's going on. CHRISTINA HYATT: John. JOHN WHITE: Hi. I'm John White. I'm the assistant principal at Stockton School for Adults. This is my first year there. Previously, I taught [MUFFLED VOICE]. And since 2010, I've been involved as an adjunct instructor in various colleges [MUFFLED VOICE] San Joaquin. I didn't have much experience with teaching online until it looked like everybody else COVID all for a loop and was also sitting in my basement in front of workout equipment. [LAUGHTER] Not many people were listening to me. So it's like, we need to do a little better with this. So that's what brought me. CHRISTINA HYATT: And Renee. RENEE COLLINS: Good morning, everyone. I'm Renee Collins, director of OTAN with this hat on. I also am the director of the California Adult Education Program Technical Assistance project. And some may know me from that side of my job as well. But I have been in adult education for, I don't know, since 97, I want to say, and I have taught English as a second language, I've taught ABD. I've taught AFB. I've been an administrator at site level, at the county level. So a lot of experience and really excited to have been a part of OTAN and the development of the Digital Learning Guidance over the last three years. CHRISTINA HYATT: Awesome. Thank you. So, Renee, you mentioned that you were part of the development. Can you tell us a little bit about the development of the Digital Learning Guidance, how it came to be and what it looks like now? RENEE COLLINS: Sure. So the concept came around in about 2021, we had been in COVID and in that survival mode. And I know OTAN did a lot to really compile resources to support teachers in the field to be able to continue providing a high level of service to our adult learners at that time. But then we started thinking, what's next? How do we continue to really guide our administrators and our teachers in the best practices around digital learning, and how do we keep it practical so that people will use and implement the guidance? And so we work together with multiple partners. The key partners were ISTE, which is a national technology partner, as well as California Department of Education and the Chancellor's Office. And then we also teamed with all of our state leadership projects as far as CASAS and CALPRO. And then we had about 40 advisory members from around teachers, and state personnel, and adult education practitioners from around the state. So we had about 40 advisory members all providing input to the guidance and how they're using technology at their sites, how they're helping to support their teachers and their support personnel at their sites. And then we captured that in this document that we ultimately called the Digital Learning Guidance. So that's how it came around. And we've made several iterations as we're trying to provide supports so that people can really engage with the guidance. And we'll talk more about that as we continue. CHRISTINA HYATT: Awesome. Thank you, Renee. So one of the resources associated with the Digital Learning Guidance is a Canvas course. And John and Rebecca were two of our participants in the pilot course last semester. Can you both share why you decided to take this course? REBECCA NOWLEN: All right. As I said before, I feel like I have so much learning to do in terms of digital education. And I'm very excited by the potential of it to really equalize access to education. It's not going to be dependent on where you are geographically, what school district you happen to be next to, these things are accessible to anyone, anywhere, as long as they have a internet access and the devices. So for me, it's an area of education I'm really excited about. And I knew that I still do have a lot of learning to go. So this course really goes into a lot of basics and gets really deep as well. JOHN WHITE: For me, walking into a new school as an administrator and seeing what's going on, is like, OK, take some inventory and see where we're at, and decide where do we need to go? Because everybody is doing something different, this is all going on. A few years ago at our site, we got some online learning platforms, like Aztec, Edgenuity, but those are done in the classroom with teacher support. So now, we have people doing this outside the classroom. And our ESL program looks different, where they do an in-person session and then they do an online session. So what does that need to look like for those teachers? So just the idea for me is to get involved with this to see what best practices are. I think the junior college system was ahead of this curve, because when I was teaching, MGAC, a few years ago and they were shifting to doing online classes, they had a certification program you had to go through and take certain classes to be eligible to teach online. And I started taking some of those, but then I had a baby and stuff, and so I didn't finish. It was online learning, I was like, I couldn't do this. So as a learner myself, I know there's certain things that need to be set in place. So I have that experience of teaching and learning online that I know that we just need to see what's going on and what works best for our students. CHRISTINA HYATT: Congratulations on the baby. [LAUGHTER] All right, along with the Digital Learning Guidance, there's also the Canvas course, there's a facilitator's guide, there's reader's guides, and there's videos, and a website. From all of these resources that surrounded the Digital Learning Guidance, which ones did you find most helpful? Rebecca and John, if you want to talk about that? REBECCA NOWLEN: One of the things I really enjoyed about this course was that, we're all really very busy, and this course is designed in a way that you can go as shallow or as deep as you have time for at any point. So every chapter of the guidance comes with a one-page synopsis of the chapter. So if you don't have much time, you can just check that out. It also comes with a short introductory video, so you can just look at the video, read the one-page and see like, is this something I want to delve into? And then if you're into it, you can read the chapter. And then if you look in the chapter, in every chapter there are resources you can go even more deeply into. So it's designed to let you delve into it with as much as you want to at any point. And it's really organized that way to make it accessible to as many as you want to go. JOHN WHITE: I really appreciated that the guidance is all online on OTAN's website available to access pretty much at any time. So if I want to share something with my staff, I don't need to reinvent the wheel, the slideshows are there, the documents are there that I could use and interpret staff with professional development with them. And then also, if I had questions about something like, hey, what's the basis of HyFlex Because that's new to me in that section. Just seems like, oh, here's some edtech, right away, instantaneously. She didn't have to [MUFFLED VOICE] anything. She just shared the books with me and here we go. And then so I knew when I came here yesterday, it's like, I'm going to go listen to them, and they're really great. So lots of resources, not just in that guidance, but the two of them have a wealth of knowledge that they love to share. CHRISTINA HYATT: That's so sweet. Thank you, John. JOHN WHITE: Thank you. CHRISTINA HYATT: So we're going to turn this one over to Francisco a minute and then Rebecca. Can you tell us how you're using the Digital Learning Guidance at your site? FRANCISCO PINEDO: So for my site, we use it for our PD, our professional development. From the seven chapters, we focus usually on one for our PD, like the one we had for the spring, which was in January. And then I've also done trainings with a chapter or two for other agencies, in our consortium as well. We were doing it even before the Digital Learning Guidance came about. So we had in our consortium established a PD on how to use technology, how to incorporate technology. But now that we have an actual document in our consortium, actually next month, we're going to be having an evening PD, where I will be presenting on a chapter, I believe it's chapter 7, that has to do a lot with social emotional, meaning the needs of our students, and also on one of the chapters where, how can we provide resources for the students who need access to technology and whatnot, some of the barriers, and also identify some of the solutions for our area. So we use it within my school, but also in our consortium. I know some consortiums are also using it in their annual plan. Also some of them, one of the partnering agencies of mine, is using it also in their continuous improvement plan, where they're identifying it as a goal. So this can be used more than just as PD, but it could be used in different plans that we have to do at the consortium level, at the local level. One agency that I have been working with is also using it for their WASC. So a lot of the information that you find here is for the classroom, for your school, but also for other bigger things as well, like WASC, the one-year plan in your consortium. We just did the three-year plan last year. So the information can be used a lot. REBECCA NOWLEN: I hadn't thought of that. Thank you. I was just thinking, because all of us out here that are administrators are working on the [MUFFLED VOICE] and we're like, what is a really decent technology goal that's real, not just something we're making up? This would be very, very useful right now because everybody is [MUFFLED VOICE]. CHRISTINA HYATT: Absolutely. REBECCA NOWLEN: As outreach coordinator, I was able to bring this to one of the agencies in our consortium and just present about it so that they could see if they were interested in taking the class. I also took the complete guidance and all of the one-page synopsis and put them into a shared Google file that's shared with my entire consortium so they can access it easily. And one of the things I really liked about this course that I hadn't really been aware of before the course is all the OERs, open educational resources, that are out there. And I've found some that were relevant subject matter to teachers in my consortium and was disabled to, hey, check this out. Here's a curriculum just for you, you don't have to do any of the work. It was really a fantastic little treasure trove of OERs. CHRISTINA HYATT: I love that. I'm going to speak as a subject matter expert at OTAN. Every year, we have a training day in Sacramento. And I was super excited this year that when we sat down and talked about some of the trainings that we could do, they asked us all to align our trainings to one of the six topics that are covered in the Digital Learning Guidance. And so they're already thinking like, everything we do in OTAN is about the technology and digital learning. And so being able to identify, hey, yes, this thing that I've been doing for years already fits within the scope of what we're trying to enforce for all the adult education agencies, that we have the technology skills or we can build those skills to provide a better experience for our learners, and here's the research that backs it up, and here's the why and the how. So it's been awesome. FRANCISCO PINEDO: And if I may also, when I present at my school or my consortium, I don't have to reinvent anything, it's all on the website, on the OTAN website. And when you go on the upper right-hand corner, Digital Learning Guidance, it has all the chapters, it has the PowerPoint, it has the notes. So I just go in, pull it, save it on my computer, and present. So I don't have to be spending, investing a lot of time, it's already there and it's all made accessible and everything. So that's why when you learn about it, and like Rebecca says, you could go out and teach it within your school or your consortium and don't think like, oh, I'm going to have to invest X amount of time. It's already there with the one-page summary of it and then the PowerPoint. So it's all there for you to-- and then the chapter. Usually I would read the chapter, even though I've been well-informed about, I know about it, but I still go in and read the chapter, do the PowerPoint, look at the notes. That way it's just more fresh for me in my mind when I present. So it's all there, I don't have to reinvent anything, I don't have to go out and copy here or do this. It's all right there on the website. CHRISTINA HYATT: Thank you. Anyone else? OK. This question is very similar, but a little bit different. We want to know, how did you integrate the Digital Learning Guidance into your professional development or your existing training programs? Things that you already had in place within your agency, how have you taken the Digital Learning Guidance and moved it up a level? And I think we're going to start with John on that one. JOHN WHITE: There are assignments that are embedded in this practice over, what is it? Six, seven weeks. And I had flashbacks to that one where I was doing the certification for the junior college training. It's like, am I going to get it done? I don't know. And our numbers in the class dwindled down. But they are very flexible with the work that you do. And for me, in this case, it's like, I need to spend a lot of time thinking about some of these assignments because the assignments were for teachers, and other staff, and administrators. So it was very flexible what you were able to produce, but it was also in place where it needed to be meaningful for you and work for you, not just some assignment that they wanted you to just get practicing. So for me it's like, I want to try to do these types of things, but I know this is a bigger picture and I need to spend more time on it than the few days I have to get this done. So it really gave me some ideas to bring back and talk with my principal about like, let's set up some action plans for online learning and develop something for the school in our school plan, which we're putting in our WASC report because that wasn't in place. So what does that need to look like for our school, how are we going to develop that, how are we going to revisit that? So this set up a lot of those ideas with me to take back to share with my principal and our staff. CHRISTINA HYATT: That's so awesome. Rebecca. I don't know. Did you have anything to add? REBECCA NOWLEN: I don't know if I have much to add to that. CHRISTINA HYATT: Yeah, because I feel like you said-- REBECCA NOWLEN: But John did make me think of the assignment portion. And I really liked that, that you do have to do a little one hour assignment each week. And there were a couple of nights when I was like, oh, I got to get this done before the end of class, by the end of tomorrow. But I'm the kind of student that needs that in order to stay focused. Like I said, we're all so busy. And if don't have to produce something-- I know this about myself, if I don't have to produce something, it's very easy for me to let other things get in front of it. So I like that about this course. It was short. It didn't take a lot of time, the assignment, but it did make me have to really go in and think about what we had read and think about what we had talked about and just produce a little something showing that I had an understanding of it. CHRISTINA HYATT: I love that. Thank you. Francisco. FRANCISCO PINEDO: What kind of the same, I don't have much more to add to what I said previously. But just adding it more, making it more, also we're tapping in with my neighboring consortiums be like, hey, this is available. I could do you a training if you want, just so we can get them on board. I mean, we're a small consortium, so we always do the Tri consortium, our consortium, the Monterey Consortium, and the Gavilan Consortium. And we're very similar in demographics in school size. So even with this PD, we've invited them and hopefully in my presentation they'll at least get some information and spark their interest to maybe what is the Digital Learning Guidance. So it's just promoting it, letting educators know it's out there. For the K-12, something was produced. I asked my K-12 colleagues, they were like, I don't know what you're talking about. But then I asked my adult Ed colleagues, they were like, oh, yeah, it's on the website. I used a little bit from chapter 2 or a little bit from chapter 3. They might not use it as a whole, but at least they're looking at it and using certain parts of it because it did take a lot of time to produce, and it's a great document. And it's not just going to be sitting in a shelf somewhere, it's online living, it's a living document. It will be updated. Now, we're hearing a lot more about AI. So I'm thinking in the future that will be integrated as well. So it's a document. It's something that we could use as practitioners in the classroom and not just have it as a book just sitting there or as a door. I've seen some things that are produced as doorstops in the K-12 world. So not this one. This one is being used, it's being utilized and just sharing that information to other colleagues as well. CHRISTINA HYATT: Before we go to the next question, I was going to-- because you brought up the assignments, I was just going to say, I was an observer in the process of the Canvas course being created. And I was so impressed by how much deliberation and thought went into creating the assignments. And the assignments are not specific, they're not do this with this document, they're, hey, look at something that's not working at your site the way this should and consider fixing it. And I was just really impressed that, like John had also mentioned, that there are assignments in there that are for staff, and there are assignments that are in there for educators, and there's so much flexibility in how much time you want to spend in those assignments and where the need us, because everybody is Different, Every agency is different. The first chapter talks about accessibility and, yeah, we know we have to be accessible because we could get sued, but are we just doing the bare minimum so we don't get sued or are we looking at how can we make sure that we are providing something that all of our students have access to? And so putting some intentionality into everything now that I created my classroom, I really appreciate that reminder that it's not just so I don't get sued, it's because I love my students and I want them to have access to everything that I'm creating. OK, all right, so, Renee, what would you tell people who are interested in taking this Digital Learning Guidance and collaborating maybe on a broader scale? RENEE COLLINS: Well, first of all, I have to say it just really warms my heart to hear all of the different ways that the guidance is being utilized. And it used to be that we'd come into some of these sessions and we'd be like, have you ever heard of the Digital Learning Guidance? And people are like, what's that? And so to be able to hear how it's being integrated into the three-year plans and the annual plans and taking it back to staff and utilizing it in a way that's meaningful for your staff, I think that's heartwarming. We really wanted it to be a practical application for our audience. And I think what we're seeing is that it is, you can take the different components and you can really put them into practice easily. So if I were an administrator and I wanted to collaborate, I think I'd really go along with what Adele was saying. If you have a technology leadership team at your site or you have a team of folks at your site that are looking at your data and you've identified some needs around technology at your site, maybe you're in the process of identifying what your continuous improvement plan goals are going to be, and this year, one of them must be related to technology, so I guess that's where I would head. I'd be like, OK, so we have this technology goal, how can we use the Digital Learning Guidance to support that goal? And then once you did, that looking at maybe what chapter within the guidance really speaks to that goal that you want to hit, and then build some PD around that. Determining if you have more time or less time, you might use one source over another. I really like the fact that we have our Canvas course, which is facilitated by Francisco and Christina. But if you don't have time for the course, there's also the reader's guide. Rebecca was making reference to them, where it's just a one-page guide, you can talk about it with your staff, you can talk about it in an ESL team meeting or an ABD or AFB team meeting and really introduce at your site in a way that doesn't have to take a lot of time, but it really just jumps into it. And then you can also determine whether it's something that you want OTAN staff to lead or you want to lead it yourself. So we've created all of the materials to be able to completely facilitate an introduction to the Digital Learning Guidance 100% on your own, or I would say, you could email support at otan.us, talk with one of our staff and say, hey, we've got this goal. I really want to tie it into the Digital Learning Guidance. Can you help me build something that will be meaningful for my staff? And we're happy to do that. We're happy to customize to meet your needs. So that's what I would do if I were an administrator, if I were a teacher or a support personnel. You may want to dig in on your own or you may want to create a small group of you at your site that could really just support one another in working through the guidance. I would say, definitely sign up for the Canvas course. Eventually at some point, it will become a self-guided course. At this time, it's a facilitated course because we're wanting to work out all the kinks before we make it self-guided. But also there are sections within the guidance that are called "Voices from the Field," and it's practitioners from around the state. Some of them are those 40 plus advisors that helped pull together the guidance, but some of them are our teachers, our transition specialists, there are counselors, there are data support and testing personnel. Umm -- I forgot what I was going to say -- [LAUGHTER] But I'm glad. Oh, yeah, please. Thank you so much. The testimonials, they really help to put that practical spin on things. You're like, OK, so that's what that means. And as you're reading them, you can think about how you might apply it in your own setting. So that's how I would go about it if I were a teacher or support person. CHRISTINA HYATT: And I love the "Voices from the Field" too, because when I started reading the guidance, I'm like, oh, I know Francisco. I went to one of his presentations my first year at TDLS. Oh, wait, my principles in here. I guess she's really smart. She is really smart. I'm teasing. She knows I absolutely adore her. Anyway, it was-- and I learned by watching, so these "Voices from the Field" were just really validating for me. I know, because I felt like, oh, this is someone that does what I do and they're saying how this is helpful to them. So just a little plug for that little piece. All right. So we'd love to hear, I know, Francisco, you have a couple of anecdotal experiences related to the Digital Learning Guidance. And then if any of you have additional, you're welcome to add on. But I think we're going to start with Francisco. FRANCISCO PINEDO: Well, one of us for-- we talked about accessibility in chapter 1, really made us think for us what we produce, making sure it's accessible to students to come to find out we have a student who has visual impairments. So we have to make sure that what we present and share is accessible to this student. And this just came about because a student self-disclosed it. So we were thinking, how many other students haven't done that and have sat in our classroom and have had problems understanding, seeing, reading. So that really made all of us think about what we produce, making sure that it's accessible, not using those beautiful colors, and images, and all those, but making it in a way that if we post it into our own Canvas that we use in the classroom, that it's accessible, adding closed captioning. So a lot of little things like that. And we started before our district started. Now, this year, the district is saying, hey, whenever you produce something accessible, but very on the surface where we are allowing like, OK, let's run it through a screen reader, let's run it through this, let's let the actual student read it and see, can you read it here, can you read it here, can you read it there? So we're taking it a lot more because we are realizing that there are a lot of students with different types of disabilities. And we thought like, how many years have we not been able to help them? So that chapter right there really resonated with us. So we're starting to implement that more and more as well. So for me, that's the area in the guidance that really stood out and we're still working with it because there's a lot of disabilities and so forth. OK. REBECCA NOWLEN: This sounds specific anecdote per se, but this is my third year in adult Ed. Before that, I was directing a parent co-op preschool for 12 years, and before then I was a stay at home mom. That's what I've done since high school teaching. And the level of camaraderie and support that Christina and Francisco made in the classroom, it just made me really feel like I was just fine where I was-- I mean, I was accepted where I was, and we're just going to push me to the next level. It was it's really this atmosphere of support in this. So I just wanted to thank you both for that. I really enjoyed my time. And even when I felt ignorant, you made me feel like that was OK and we're just here to get you to the next level. CHRISTINA HYATT: Yeah, it's like I tell my students, nobody knows everything. FRANCISCO PINEDO: Exactly. CHRISTINA HYATT: It's impossible. And it was such a pleasure working with both of them. FRANCISCO PINEDO: And we all learn from each other. CHRISTINA HYATT: Yeah, absolutely. FRANCISCO PINEDO: I learned a lot from them, and the others in the course, and Christina. And it's one of those things where you present, but you also learn. CHRISTINA HYATT: All right. John, yeah. JOHN WHITE: Renee had mentioned something about the "Voices from the Field" being through [MUFFLED VOICE], which at face value seems odd because it's about digital learning. But one of the things that stuck out to me in moving forward is the accessibility part and it was the bullet point piece in taking a script that you may have on your website or on publications you're putting out for your students that they might be authoring or might be in charge up. It's like, it needs to be just whittle down to a few key points and not these big paragraphs that people are going to struggle with and not know what the information is about. So it relates to all aspects of what your school produces for important population. CHRISTINA HYATT: Awesome. Thank you. OK. So I'm going to have Marian take us over to the website here. And Renee, if you'll just walk people through, they want to know more. If you've been inspired by the words today and you're ready for action, how do we get started? RENEE COLLINS: Well, go to the website. Does everybody know it? OTAN.US And then if you look on the right side of the page, you have Digital Learning Guidance, and click on that. And then this is everything that we have. If you scroll down just a little bit, you can see an opening video from Dr. Zachry. And so she speaks to how the purpose of the Digital Learning Guidance and how this came about. Dr. Zachary actually was on a team that they were producing the Digital Learning Guidance in California for K-12, and she's like, hey, why don't we have Digital Learning Guidance for adult Ed? And so she approached me and said, Renee, is this something that OTAN could potentially take on? And we said, sure enough. And then a couple of years later, we're at where we're at with everything that's here. We're very proud of it because I think we've worked very hard to make sure that the Digital Learning Guidance is something that's going to be used, that it's relevant for our field, and that we created materials that are going to support being able to dig into the best practices and research around digital learning. But if you look down the left-hand side of the-- if you look at that navigation, you can see the about section, it just talks about who was involved with pulling together the Digital Learning Guidance. Right below that there's a lit review, which I think is-- sorry, I'm going to just go really quick through them. But Mary Ann, you can keep-- CHRISTINA HYATT: Do you want me to click or no? RENEE COLLINS: The lit review I thought was excellent. There's not a lot of research out there related directly to adult Ed and digital learning, but there's some. And what they found was interesting. Some of it's K-12-related, some of it's higher Ed-related, but I thought it was worth a read if you want to find out what the literature and the research was behind it. The guidance chapter. So we have 100-- I can't remember exactly how many pages there are, but PDF itself is 150 pages and it's very overwhelming. So we created a page for each chapter and there are seven total chapters, with the first chapter just being an introduction and then the second through seventh chapter getting into the various aspects of ensuring equity and access. Chapter 3, foundations of adult education and digital learning, flexible learning experiences, how to do some digital assessments. AUDIENCE: I have a question. What do they use for visual assessments in chapter 6? What kinds of things? RENEE COLLINS: Like CASAS, they talked about the remote testing that they put into place. Yeah, that's some of what's there. And so anyhow, that was a nice way to access each of the chapters without it not feeling too overwhelming. But if you want the PDF, the PDF is there too. Then right below that there's some videos. So the video vignettes are practitioners from around the state and they're asked about assessment, they're asked about their learning practices, how they incorporate digital learning into their classroom. We also created some additional videos recently, which I think Rebecca made reference to. They're like one minute, one and a half minute videos that just give you a really quick introduction to what the chapter is. And then maybe you pair that together with the reading guides, and then that can be the way that you introduce the Digital Learning Guidance to your staff. Then the training materials are next. I know somebody mentioned, I think it was Christina mentioned that everything's there and available to you, or maybe it was John. Yeah, there's just, as far as the facilitators guides, they have all of the PowerPoint slides, all the links to any resources that they reference, they're all there for you, step by step, how to go through the facilitator's guide. So there's really more. It's kind of like, what am I going to leave out versus what am I going to include? Because it's really, really full of activities. CHRISTINA HYATT: Before you dive in, let's look at one of the facilitator guides maybe under training materials again. Yeah. And then just go down and maybe-- so the first one you'll notice, it's like, OK, you're the facilitator, here's the things that you're going to say, here's the notes that are in the PowerPoint, and here's the relevant links, here's the activities and what you need to do to get ready for it. So it lays it all out, gives you an overview, and then lays out exactly what you're going to do. So if you want to bring a one-hour PD to your staff next time you're together, you can choose one of the chapters that you think should be the focus at your agency and you're good to go. So if you'll go back and click on maybe one of the PowerPoint links-- I don't know if we can do that, but let's try. Yeah, it immediately downloads it to your computer. Did you see that? So I bet we can click on it. I have faith that it's going to open because I signed in 400 times. REBECCA NOWLEN: There it is. CHRISTINA HYATT: Yeah. I love these because as you go through them, you're going to see pictures perhaps of people at an agency or friends from other agencies. They went in both in the Canvas course and the PowerPoints. These are real students in California. So that makes me happy always. So you can see, the PowerPoints are ready to go, you don't have to do anything except decide what to include in the PowerPoint or what not to include. REBECCA NOWLEN: And the notes are within the PowerPoint as well. So anything you kinda-- CHRISTINA HYATT: Click on the notes down at the bottom, Marion. FRANCISCO PINEDO: And some of the activities as well within-- CHRISTINA HYATT: And then just click on one of the-- FRANCISCO PINEDO: --the presentation are also linked there. CHRISTINA HYATT: They were so well-done. I was really impressed. And then go back to the website one more time. You're good. And then go back into the training materials and the Canvas course. So then here, I think it just talks about the Canvas course. And then if you scroll down-- I can't remember. Yeah. So you can click right here to register. So if you wanted to tell someone about that, you all got flyers today. There is a QR code that will get you to sign up for the course if you're interested, if you felt like this was be good for you, or if you're thinking, oh, I would love for somebody else at my site or facility, that's available, but it's also right here on the website. And it's the second link. The first one was the Learn About session, which has already happened. So it's the second link to register for the course. OK, I think we're going to open it up for questions, comments. AUDIENCE: Well, I'll comment. I'm an office staff, so do like what he mentioned there, because, I mean, I'm sitting here and I usually come to workshops like this just thinking on the teachers that could come, so what can I take back to them. But it was nice to feel like, well, maybe this was for me. All this writing was like, identifying it, how it could achieve my goal. And I could sidestep and put personal maybe. Because like you said, I deal a lot with the website, so I do have to think like, OK, am I putting too much info? Am I not putting in enough info? Are they going to understand this word? Should I use a different one? Little but yet very important little things that I have to make sure I think about. So it was reassuring, I think is the word, to see like, OK, yeah, this is not just for this little group. It is very much when you guys say site, you could really use it in many. And like you said, I mean, if you're-- in chapter 7, I was like, oh, I think I will probably start there to see how that could be used with the office crew and expand from there. And I like it. I mean, it's really attracting me. FRANCISCO PINEDO: And then just to piggy-- oh, I'm sorry, Martha, just to piggy back on you. When doing the course and the assignments, there's assignments for teachers, assignments for support staff, assignments for everybody. So if you are a support staff, you could do assignment, and it's not tailored to where I feel I have to be a teacher to do this, but it's going to be more for, like you said, for support staff. So even the assignments are differentiated a little bit so that it's targeting to your need and not the teacher aspect of it. The teacher, of course, we could do all of them, but for support staff, I always recommend do the support stuff, because like you said, people in the office, they are the first face that the students see. And sometimes if the teacher's not there, they'll rely on the support staff. OK, Martha. AUDIENCE: Oh, I was just thinking also along the same lines, that it includes a history of adult education. We've have a lot of changes in adult education. And I think programs are expanding, hiring new faculty, new staff. And this becomes important because it gives you a quick little summary, and you can jump around the way that it's organized. It's nice that you can jump around. So I like the format of it. But I have a new staff member on board that I want to share this with so that he could see the history and everything that's transpired. He's part of TDLS too-- I mean, DLAC, so it's helpful, but I can think of a number of ways to do this. I was just messaging Adele, going, oh, we can share this at our PD day that's coming up on the eighth. You guys are doing that for us on the eighth. We were like, how do we get Melinda to present this? [LAUGHTER] It's a weird thing. We have a lot of new ESL faculty on the college side, and so they don't know the history of adult education. But adult educators in the community college side are also adult education faculty, they teach in different places and they don't usually get the training. And so we're trying to provide a lot of resources that would help them in the classroom. But also we get the questions in the office, and how do I do this? Where do I go for that? For anybody else in the field too, I feel like it's important to say this, when we decided to have OTAN come to our small little desert hub, we had 15 people sign up to come and we had 34 show up. So I think that that speaks to how hungry the teachers and staff are for development. I think adult Ed staff tend to be left out of the training and development. And these tools are wonderful resources because almost everybody-- I don't care what you do for adult Ed, you're in it for the students and they're in it to try and make things better and more accessible. And this really helps everybody to do that. FRANCISCO PINEDO: And then just a little side-- go ahead. AUDIENCE: Yeah, I was just going to say, yeah, teachers are hungry for Resources. AUDIENCE: They are. AUDIENCE: So if I go back, can you give me one point-- I teach ABE and GED. How will this help me? There's a lot of information here, there's tons of-- I could spend the whole day looking at all the information that you have. What can I go back and tell my colleagues that will help me and them in ABE and GED-- CHRISTINA HYATT: Francisco, you want to-- AUDIENCE: --specifically? Because you mentioned, ABE. FRANCISCO PINEDO: Yeah. CHRISTINA HYATT: Because maybe you can address my concern, which is I have a total of 35 students in GED. And I've been teaching this class for about four years. And I have five students who are on their last test. They have to pass four tests, and two of them are ESL students and they're having a hard time with the English test. So how can I help them? And three of them are having trouble with math and they've taken it once or twice and not passed. I just don't want them to give up. I will take the test for them because they've come so far, they've worked so hard. So give me something. REBECCA NOWLEN: Well, I would go into it and I would look at the OERs. AUDIENCE: Just the OERs. Yeah, I made a note of that. REBECCA NOWLEN: Yeah, absolutely. Because there's a lot of stuff that you don't have to reinvent in there. And you can just pull these lessons out and use them with your students. And the other aspect that I really think is so valuable is the equity aspect, and it's, is it possible that your students who have come so far have some learning issues that aren't being addressed? AUDIENCE: Most of them, I think. When I see them, they-- REBECCA NOWLEN: So the whole chapter devoted to equity and access can really make you, and did me, that was one of our assignments is to look at one of your lesson plans that you already have and think about how you can make this more accessible to anyone who might be taking your class. So those are the two places I'd start, the OER and-- AUDIENCE: Yeah, I did make a note. REBECCA NOWLEN: --equity and access. AUDIENCE: And we're using an online program, Essential Ed. I don't know if you've heard of it. So there are tons of resources. I can always go back and pull this out, pull that out. So I just want them to pass it. Point me to this, just do this, this and this, and you're done. REBECCA NOWLEN: If you get that, you tell me, OK. AUDIENCE: I'm sorry. RENEE COLLINS: Christina mentioned that we're really trying to tie the Digital Learning Guidance into everything that we do at OTAN. So I would say, when you're designing experiences that work for students to take a look at what else is on our website, so under curriculum offers, I believe, at ready courses in math and language arts. And I think if you're not using those, you can look at those. We have web-based class activities that are aligned with digital-- they've got digital learning built into those. So certainly our students, it's become essential for them to have those digital literacy skills in addition to the basic English, the basic math, and so on. You can't survive these days without all of the digital skill just to register your child or yourself in our school to make an appointment at the doctor. So I think check out the website for additional resources if you haven't done it recently. AUDIENCE: Thank you. FRANCISCO PINEDO: And think for us, one of the things is we learn-- or my staff learn not just local. Go look on the website or go look on the internet, but making them understand that there's reliable sources, unreliable-- help them know what sources or what websites are going to be really useful and which ones are not. Like for HiSET, I know one of my colleagues, she uses a lot-- oh, my goodness. They use YouTube, but they have to be very specific. We do the HiSET, like HiSET examples on this. And they get pretty good results. There's also Khan Academy. They use Khan Academy. But lately, also now with CK12.org, it has the artificial intelligence, Flexi, she is using that a lot with her students, where if they're not understanding the concept, they type in, for example, the prompt, and it gives them example. And if that's too difficult, the student will put this is too difficult, and in multiple languages. Most of them are Spanish speakers. So it does give very good examples. So that's what we are currently using for math from CK12.org, the Flexi, the artificial intelligence portion of it. And the students are learning about that and they're using it even with their children. So yeah, looking into that for-- because we're having the same issues. Students are on the last HiSET test and it's math. And my teacher, she's an amazing math teacher, but we know these students have-- we know they have some type of learning disability that has never been identified. So now we're able to say, OK, this is not working, maybe this is working. And you could repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat. And they're passing. We actually got yesterday-- while I was here at TDLS, I got a-- yeah, it was two more that passed. And it was their last one, and it was amazing. So we're very happy. And it's incorporating technology as well. It's empowering them to be in charge of their education and not just leave it up to the teacher. CHRISTINA HYATT: One of the chapters in the guidance goes over learning theories. Anybody who was trained in lower grades knows pedagogy. But I open the book, and all of a sudden, I'm seeing words like andragogy and heutagogy. Did I say it right? Heutagogy. It was a new word to me the first time I looked at the guide. Anyway, talking about specific adult learning theories not for children, for adults, how adults learn the best, how adults succeed. And there's an entire chapter dedicated to that. JOHN WHITE: May I add something real quick? CHRISTINA HYATT: Yes. JOHN WHITE: Actually, I don't know what your classes looks like. So this is not just speaking to you, but just in general. But our doors are open from 8:00 till 3:00, but not all of the students are involved with their learning. It could be 24 hours a day, we don't know when they are. Our teachers are not always accessible so giving them this information is very nice. And one part of the guide is we all are interested in how we organize this information so they can find it themselves and what we can support them with when we are not around for them to ask questions. So putting them in those right directions in how we organize this information so it's not overwhelming for them, that's the big part of this too. AUDIENCE: Just to-- my class, I'm an hourly, so I'm here from 9:00 to 12:00 and the course is online, but they're welcome to come in Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday from 9:00 to 12:00 because they know I'm here in my classroom for extra help for math or for anything. ABE is in-person, 9:00 to 12:00, and GED is online. So that's how it is. So I am available. They do have access to in-person, but that's just me, I'm hourly. The other teachers are, I guess, full-time, 30 hours or whatever. I don't know. But that's my schedule. That's how it is, yeah. So thank you. CHRISTINA HYATT: Absolutely. Any other final thoughts or questions before we wrap up? AUDIENCE: I have a question. CHRISTINA HYATT: Yes. AUDIENCE: Francisco, how does it look for you with GED? Because we heard how it looks when you're teaching. But how does the GED preparation look at your side? FRANCISCO PINEDO: Ours is this in-person. The teacher uses a lot of technology different. We've tried the vendors, but sometimes the vendors are not very specific to the needs of the students. So a lot of the teacher creates their own, pulls in different resources, but it's all in-person. Our English HiSET, because it's so small, we only have eight students. That one is virtual, so they do connect virtual. And last year was the other way around. We had 20 for English, so we had two days a week in the evening, English HiSET, three days a week, Spanish HiSET. So we customized it to how we see the need is going on a semester basis. But it's all in-person. AUDIENCE: Do you do it by subject area, then? FRANCISCO PINEDO: So what we do is we do groups. And then, let's say-- well, they do all the appraisals, and then at the beginning of the semester, it's easier to form those groups. So the teacher would meet for one group, let's say, math, in the morning from 8:00 till 9:15, and then the second group comes in that maybe needs social studies. So it's not a whole class. I mean, and we're a small school, so we're able to do that. So we might have in each group maybe 10, 12 students. And then in the evening, the same. But for larger schools, I don't know how that might work. I mean, for example, Salenas is our largest school in our consortium, there is actually one teacher per subject. So in that, it would be easier. I'll put you in this class, I'll put you in that class. But for a smaller ones, I think doing a small group and they meet every day from 8:00 to 9:15, they're only working on math. And then the second group is only working on social studies. So when my math student passes, then they would go into the other subject-- AUDIENCE: So you're more focused on one. FRANCISCO PINEDO: Exactly, yeah. We just focus on one on one, yeah. AUDIENCE: Thank you for sharing. FRANCISCO PINEDO: You're welcome. CHRISTINA HYATT: All right. I want to thank my panelists for being here and for putting up with me. I want to thank Rebecca and John for not only completing the course, but then coming here and presenting today on a Saturday. It's been so much fun to be a part of this project, and we hope that we've inspired you to take this back and consider being more involved with the Digital Learning Guidance and figuring out how it can up your game. And we'll stop there.