SESSION 1:
Fighting the Zoombie fatigue: making online learning more “human” for teachers & learners 

Delivered on Tuesday, June 22, 2021

RECORDING AND SLIDES

AP Virtual Showcase: session 1

RESOURCES AND LINKS SHARED BY PRESENTERS

SCDSB Activity - Lets get to know each other prompts.docx

SCDSB Activity 1: Ice breaker Questions

Mentioned by Sue-Ellen

SCDSB Activity 2 - Snowflake cutting commuication .docx

SCDSB Activity 2: Snowflake cutting

Mentioned by Sue-Ellen

Showcase 1 - Tips and Questions (public access).docx

Showcase 1 - Tips and questions shared in the chat

Humber College AU-Alpha Plus Presentation.pdf

Humber College slides

GUEST PRESENTERS 

Three organizations, from various sectors, will be represented during the discussion component of the event (listed alphabetically):

Humber College

Therese Gormley Hirmer 

Manager 

Academic Upgrading Program

 Humber College 

Margherita Leva

Learning Services Assistant

 Academic Upgrading Program

Humber College

Marlyn Ramjeet-Samad

Student Support Advisor

Academic Upgrading Program 

Humber College

Therese holds a Master of Education degree in Teaching, Learning, and Development, a Bachelor of Education degree in Adult Education, and a Bachelor of Business Administration degree. She is TESL certified and has spent over ten years teaching a variety of language, communications, and academic upgrading courses at several postsecondary institutions. For the past eight years, she has been the manager of the Humber College Academic Upgrading department. Therese is co-author of two postsecondary communications texts: Going Places: Paragraph to Essay (2013) and On The Go: Sentence to Paragraph (2014). In her spare time, she takes her dog for long walks.

Margherita has been a Humber employee since 2011 in various Support Staff roles and has specifically worked in the Academic Upgrading department for 3 years. As the first point of contact for AU potential clients, her role is an important one in ensuring that the AU department remains an inviting goal path to postsecondary programs for mature learners. She enjoy interacting with clients/students and treat them all with courtesy, fairness and respect. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her family, reading, going for walks and bike riding. 

Marlyn takes pride in saying that she is an accomplished post-secondary educator for 18+ years in the areas of teaching, student support, academic and career advising and learning strategist. Her philosophy is to offer meaningful and engaging support to students in a safe and inclusive environment and promoting a sense of belonging for those in which she interacts. In her spare time, she loves to compose poems which is often reflective of the journeys that she has taken and the accomplishments that she has made. Marlyn's goal in life is to help to bring out the best in those that she interacts with and to encourage all to pay it forward. 

Parkdale Project Read 

Mary Brehaut

Community Literacy Worker

Parkdale Project Read

Ida Smith

Learner 

Parkdale Project Read

Mary is a Community Literacy Worker and member of the Staff Collective Management Team at Parkdale Project Read for over two decades. Her greatest joy is holding space for collective creativity, self-expression, and learning, within a culture of care and mutual support. For over a decade, Mary has been facilitating a creative writing group supporting learners to express their unique voices as storytellers and poets. As a Toronto Writer’s Collective volunteer, Mary has co-facilitated writing groups at Progress Place Clubhouse, a mental health community centre, as well as various Metro Toronto Movement for Literacy workshops and trainings. Her deep belief in the power of expressive writing and storytelling to support personal and community growth and healing, whether in-person or on Zoom, continues to drive her work. 


Ida is an active learner at Parkdale Project Read. For the past five years, she has been a member of the Parkdale Women's Leadership Group which facilitates a monthly community-led drop-in space for peer-to-peer training, support, and resources. Ida is a mother and grandmother.



 


Simcoe County District School Board 

Charlotte Parliament

Program Coordinator

Literacy and Essential Skills

Simcoe County District School Board

SuEllen Laurin

Instructor 

Literacy and Essential Skills

Simcoe County District School Board

Charlotte has been involved in the adult literacy field for over 15 years in a variety of roles. Currently, she is the Literacy and Essential Skills Coordinator for the Simcoe County District School Board Continuing Education Department. Charlotte is also Chair of the Simcoe Muskoka Workforce Development Board and is past-chair and member of CESBA (Ontario Association of Continuing Education School Board Administrators) Literacy and Basic Skills (LBS) Committee. She considers herself to be a life long learner and embraces opportunities for learning for herself and promotes professional development for staff whenever it is available. This past 16 months has been a constant learning curve, especially in the realm of remote and online facilitation, but Charlotte realizes this is the beginning of something new and exciting for LBS and adult learners. And just for fun, in her spare time she stays young at heart these days spending time on video calls with her 9 year old granddaughter. Her favourite past-time is listening to and collecting vinyl records. 


SuEllen is a Literacy and Essential Skills Instructor with the Simcoe County District School Board and has facilitated several online Soft Skills Solutions© and Self Care Mental Workshops to Ontario Works clients for the past 7 months. She has over 15 years experience working for various social service agencies, such as The Ministry of Health Psychiatric Patient Advocate Office, CMHA Simcoe County (Mental Health and Addictions counsellor), and Simcoe Muskoka Family Connexions. In her spare time, she loves to travel and look after her rescue dogs.