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Alternative Delivery

Investigate different education delivery methods to accommodate your employees' learning styles or work schedules.

Education Extension, of Oklahoma State University, provides outreach services to students, teachers, administrators, and service organizations on a local, state, and national basis.
URL: http://www.okstate.edu/education/extension/

Access a free Internet-based Classroom Assistant with conferencing, personal messaging, document sharing, scheduling and link/resource sharing. Customized at individual or class levels, anyone can set up a class in minutes and allow others to join.
URL: http://www.nicenet.org

eGroups is a free email group service that allows you to create and join email groups. You can archive messages and schedule meetings or groups chats:
URL: http://egroups.com

Access training and activities in reading, writing, math, science, history, vocational education, and more through the Blue Web'n - a gateway to online training, lesson plans and Hot Links.
URL: http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/bluewebn/

The Employee Training Institute has over five years experience in multimedia training development. ETI has created Web-based Training and CD-ROMs for small and large companies, and for educational institutions. Its expertise is in adapting instruction to low level literacy and basic skills.
URL: http://www.workplace-eti.com/cbt/

Search the Workforce Development in New York State website for thousands of educational programs, classroom courses, distance learning opportunities, web-and computer-based training and apprenticeship programs to find training opportunities and providers that best suit your needs.
URL: http://www.wdsny.org/provider/

Computer Curriculum Corporation's Destinations Internet is a comprehensive, online learning program that addresses national, state and local standards in reading, writing, math and life/learning skills. The online courses are designed to stimulate interest in literacy and learning among adult learners seeking to attain high school diplomas, pass GED exams, or prepare for the workforce.
URL: http://www.investlearning.com

LiteracyLink offers professional development resources and training to literacy educators of adult students. LitTeacher is a technology-based continuing education resource center, offering peer evaluation tools, practice guides and staff development videoconferences.
URL: http://litlink5.pbs.org/litteacher.html

Crossroads Cafe is an English language instruction program for speakers of other languages created by an award-winning television producer, INTELECOM Intelligent Telecommunications, a specialized language producer, leading ESL educators and government.
URL: http://www.floridahumanresources.org/crossrds/index.html

A quick self-quiz to help your employees assess if distance learning is right for them.
URL: http://www.pbs.org/als/college/index.html

Use the Small Business Classroom for Small Business Administration online training resources.
URL: http://classroom.sba.gov/courses.html

The Learning for Life Program develops and produces live, interactive basic education / adult literacy courses disseminated nationwide via satellite and cable. The Program is uniquely designed to serve adult learners, and due to the medium of instruction, is offered in all 50 states
URL: http://stepstar.esd101.net/adulted/default.htm

The Learning Resources Network provides information and consultation to programs offering lifelong learning activities such as courses, classes, seminars, conferences, meetings, and training.
URL: http://www.lern.org/

The Adult Literacy Media Alliance helps adults gain basic reading, writing, and math skills through entertaining television-based teaching materials that support learning at home, at work, in the community.
URL: http://www.tv411.org/

The Community Technology Centers program assists with the creation or expansion of community technology centers that will provide disadvantaged residents of economically distressed urban and rural communities with access to information technology and related training.
URL: http://www.ed.gov/offices/OVAE/AdultEd/CTC/index.html

This article discusses why it is important to connect e-learning initiatives with defined business needs. E-learning can be a flexible and cost-effective alternative to classroom training, but it can also be a colossal waste of time and money if not implemented correctly.
URL: http://www.workforce.com/section/11/feature/23/41/49/index.html

This article discusses how to set up a training function inside a small company that has never had one before. Included are steps to establish a network; align it with the business strategy; create early wins; invest in it; and assess the impact.
URL: http://www.workforce.com/archive/article/23/37/96.php

Deciding how much to allocate per person for training is a difficult but important issue. This article suggests that a good approach is to assess areas where changing performance will yield the most value and then implement strategies to achieve that goal.
URL: http://www.workforce.com/archive/article/23/22/44.php

One company shares its training success story using e-learning. In addition to saving $1 million on training during the first year e-learning was implemented, the company says that the real value came from improved customer service.
URL: http://www.workforce.com/archive/feature/23/27/95/232798.php

"Disability Employment 101: Learn to Tap Your 'HIRE' Potential," is a new guide with programs and resources to assist business leaders with hiring people with disabilities. The guide was released jointly by the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
URL: http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/osers/products/employmentguide/index.html

Tapping the Talents of People with Disabilities is a resource guide developed to assist employers in hiring people with disabilities and integrating them into their workplace. Practical advice on everything from pre-employment considerations through recruitment and selection, appropriate modifications to accommodations, and workforce education is included.
URL: http://www.conferenceboard.ca/boardwiseii/LayoutRecentPublications.asp

In the past, companies often looked to e-learning as a cheap solution, without considering its effectiveness. This article discusses the pros and cons of e-learning as a training delivery method and how companies now turn to e-learning as a strategic solution to training.
URL: http://www.workforce.com/section/11/feature/23/62/89/index.html

A report from the Task Force on Workforce Development, Learning Partnerships: Strengthening American Jobs in the Global Economy, proposes "bottom-up partnerships" of government, educators, labor leaders, and employers to analyze job opportunities and workforce needs, and to develop effective training. The study offers recommendations on improving workforce preparation and retraining, including adjusting provisions in the Workforce Investment Act.
URL: http://www.ed.gov/news/newsletters/ovaereview/orev052804.html#aepaf

ToolsIndex.com is a free service for Internet visitors to help them find tools-related resources quickly and easily. The section on Skills Tools provides links to skill-building tools for employers and their learning partners.
URL: http://www.toolsindex.com/skilltool/

Informative guide and articles about the preparing for the GED exam and obtaining a high school diploma are available from this site. Learn how to earn a real high school diploma from home.
URL: http://diplomaguide.com

Senior Service America provides a guide for organizations that assist immigrant seniors entering or re-entering the workforce. Practical advice for working with seniors from culturally diverse backgrounds and on facilitating interactions between immigrant seniors and other staff are included.
URL: http://www.seniorserviceamerica.org/

STAR is a comprehensive toolkit and training package to help Adult Basic Education (ABE) instructors use evidence-based reading instruction in the classroom.
URL: http://www.startoolkit.org/

Basic Computer Skills Curriculum - a downloadable, comprehensive curriculum with Word, Excel and PowerPoint activities for beginning, intermediate and advanced ESL learners. Activities start from very basic skills such as turning on the computer to higher level word processing activities. http://www.nzliteracyportal.org.nz/imsdirector.php?resid=2677&ruid=2182

This marketing/outreach guide for GED programs provides advice on how to target groups and develop outreach strategies, create a communications strategy, establish relationships with the media, use promotional items, and gain publicity. Success stories are included.
URL: http://www.valrc.org/publications/outreach.html

TV411 provides free, interactive lessons for improving adult literacy skills. Video, print and online resources are used to teach reading, writing, vocabulary and math.
URL: http://www.tv411.org

Development tools by Learning Resources, Inc. provide employers and workforce developers with 'mini-simulations' that can be integrated into academic and career courses or work-experience to help people better understand the soft skills employers seek.
URL: http://www.learning-resources.com/

Counting the Hidden Assets: First Steps in Assessing the Impact of Community College Noncredit Education Programs on the Workforce and Local Economies is a report that makes the case for the training hour as the basic unit of measurement and proposes a taxonomy to classify and describe the range of noncredit activities delivered by community colleges.
URL: http://ccrc.tc.columbia.edu/Publication.asp?UID=744

Heartland Alliance for Human Needs and Human Rights offers transitional job services to a wide range of populations within its portfolio of housing, health care, economic security, and legal protections services.
URL: http://www.heartlandalliance.org/

Funding Career Pathways and Career Pathway Bridges: A Federal Policy Toolkit for States is designed to help interagency state teams identify and facilitate "braiding" of federal resources to design and develop career pathways and bridges for adults and out-of-school youth.
URL: http://www.clasp.org/resources_and_publications/publication?id=0762&list=publications

Making it Work is a practical guide to effective delivery of Skills for Life in workplace learning. This guide, organised into five sections, reflects the processes a training organisation has to work through to deliver learning in the workplace.
URL: http://www.excellencegateway.org.uk/media/Skills%20for%20Life
%20Support%20Programme/Makingitwork_FINAL.pdf

"Great Recession Transforms Workplace, Workforce": this article provides examples of how workers can retrain to stay employed.
URL: http://www.ccweek.com/news/templates/template.aspx?articleid=1437&zoneid=7

"Employer Guide to Adult Education for Work: Transforming Adult Education to Build a Skilled Workforce": this guide provides employers with a vision for new, more effective adult education programs. Employers can use these tools as a guide to advocate for programs that better meet their needs.
URL: http://www.jff.org/sites/default/files/Emp%20Guide%20Adult%20Ed%20Work.PDF

Engaging Employers to Benefit Low-Income Job Seekers: Lessons from the Jobs Initiative: this report looks at the extent to which employers support low-income workers. In addition it identifies the factors that promote employer practices and policies favorable to the hiring, retention, and advancement of low-income workers.
URL: http://www.jff.org/sites/default/files/EngagingEmployers_JI.pdf

From the Entry Level to Licensed Practical Nurse: Four Case Studies of Career Ladders in Health Care: this report identifies innovative Licensed Practical Nurse training programs that incorporate education and training into well-defined steps of employer-sponsored career ladder opportunities that offer financial support, classes at or near the worksite, and clear rewards in pay and promotion for successful completion of each step (case studies from Colorado, Florida, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania)
URL: http://www.jff.org/sites/default/files/FromEntryLeveltoLPN.pdf

Building Tomorrow's Workforce: Promoting the Education and Advancement of Hispanic Immigrant Workers in America: This report presents promising employer/community college partnerships that expand access to higher education and benefit low-skilled, immigrant Hispanic adults.
URL: http://www.edexcelencia.org/research/building-tomorrows-workforce-promoting-education-and-advancement-hispanic-immigrant-workers

Sectoral Strategies for Low-income Workers: Lessons from the Field: This publication speaks primarily to workforce professionals, telling stories of innovative sector programs that are among the most exciting and innovative workforce development initiatives.
URL: http://www.aspenwsi.org/publications/07-014.pdf

Sector Initiatives and Community Colleges: Working Together to Provide Education for Low-Wage Working Adults: this paper examines how some community colleges and sector initiatives are innovating and collaborating to benefit businesses seeking skilled workers, and low-income adults seeking education that leads to higher-wage employment.
URL: http://aspenwsi.org/Publications/07-009.pdf

Helping Public Housing Residents Find and Keep Jobs: A Guide for Practitioners Based on the Jobs-Plus Demonstration: this guide contains practical advice on implementing a program model aimed at helping public housing residents find and keep jobs.
URL: http://www.mdrc.org/publications/506/full.pdf

Advancing Health and Health Care Careers–Rung by Rung: Applying a Work-based Learning Model to Develop Missing Rungs on a Nursing Career Ladder: with workforce shortages in health and health care, employers are turning to “grow your own” strategies that help lower-skilled, frontline workers advance to higher-skilled, higher-paying jobs. This issue brief draws on the experience of the Baltimore Alliance for Careers in Healthcare, and illustrates how one such career ladder system could work and provides advice for designing and implementing such a system.
URL: http://www.jff.org/publications/workforce/advancing-health-and-health-care-careers/317

The Language of Opportunity: Expanding Employment Prospects for Adults with Limited English Skills: this resource summarizes the research on best practices for developing workplace programs for low-skilled immigrants. It lays out principles and steps required to develop educational programs that assist non-native speakers to improve language, cross-cultural, and job skills. It also includes an appendix of promising program models and practices delivered in various parts of the United States.
URL: http://lincs.ed.gov/lincs/resourcecollections/abstracts/workforce/RC_work_abs50.html

Workplace Health and Safety ESOL Curriculum: is a comprehensive lesson plan that focuses on safety and health issues that arise in the workplace. The lessons utilize authentic material and base the discussion in students’ lived experiences. While the curriculum is specifically designed for union classes in Massachusetts, it is valuable more generally to the field of adult education.
URL:
http://lincs.ed.gov/lincs/resourcecollections/abstracts/workforce/RC_work_abs53.html

Getting Ahead — Staying Ahead: Helping America’s Workforce Succeed in the 21st Century: is a valuable tool for adult and workforce education programs, exploring the knowledge and skills workers need to compete and succeed and makes recommendations that would encourage relevant skill development, create a culture of lifelong learning, and facilitate capacity to adapt to changing labor markets.
URL: http://businessroundtable.org/studies-and-reports/the-springboard-project-releases-final-recommendations-to-strengthen-a/

How to Build Bridge Programs that Fit into a Career Pathway: A Step-by-Step Guide Based on the “Carreras en Salud Program” in Chicago: this manual presents a how-to guide on bridge programs leading to specific careers; and relates specifically to a healthcare program developed for Latinos in Chicago. Can also be replicated with other ABE or ESL populations and adapted to various vocational and technical career paths.
URL: http://lincs.ed.gov/lincs/resourcecollections/abstracts/workforce/RC_work_abs105

Beyond Basic Skills: State Strategies to Connect Low-Skilled Students to an Employer-Valued Postsecondary Education: this report describes strategies that can be used to strengthen connections between basic skills education and postsecondary education to help lower-skilled adults and out-of-school youth attain the postsecondary credentials they need to advance in the labor market. It also includes examples of states and local institutions that are effectively implementing one or more of the state-level innovations.
URL: http://www.clasp.org/admin/site/publications/files/Beyond-Basic-Skills-March-2011.pdf

Skilling the Existing Workforce: Unlocking productivity in your business: This report identifies how businesses are drawing on the full range of skilling options and includes a diverse mix of activities such as mentoring, coaching, in-house training and information learning.
URL: http://www.aigroup.com.au/portal/binary/com.epicentric.contentmanagement.servlet.
ContentDeliveryServlet/LIVE_CONTENT/Publications/Reports/2008/skilling_existing_workforce.pdf

Meeting the Workforce Needs of the Milwaukee Construction Industry: this case study looks at the Center of Excellence, a model which demonstrates how consolidating employment and training services can effectively meet the workforce needs of a particular industry.
URL: http://www.jff.org/publications/workforce/meeting-workforce-needs-milwaukee-constr/366

The Skills and Productivity Action Plan provides practical advice and tools to help build workplace skills and boost productivity. The Action Plan offers new ideas and solutions to help organizations compete and grow. It also provides advice for employers, workers, and job seekers.

The Skills and Productivity Action Plan Worksheets are a companion to the Skills and Productivity Action Plan. Organizations can use the worksheets to set goals, identify action steps, and implement plans to maximize skills and boost productivity.

Supporting Skills for Life learners to Stick with it!: a guide for managers, practitioners and learners, offering tools for accessing personal and business strategies. It is based on persistence and motivation and provides steps for life learners to “stick with” learning until they achieve their goals.
URL: http://www.excellencegateway.org.uk/page.aspx?o=164918

English Language Learner University (ELL-U): a free learning portal for Adult ESOL Educators. ELL-U provides users with a variety of learning activities and social networking opportunities designed to create a community of professional practice focused on improving ELL instruction.
URL: http://www.ell-u.org/about_us/

Employer Engagement in the National Fund for Workforce Solutions:
this report identifies challenges and solutions to helping workers gain the skills required to be employable and for employers to access the skilled labor they need.
URL: http://www.jff.org/publications/workforce/employer-engagement-national-fund-workfo/1182

It’s Time to Talk Training – How to develop a dialogue on skills at the workplace: based on the experiences of ten case study organizations, this guide highlights how they established and sustained effective dialogue with their workforce on training.
URL: http://www.bis.gov.uk/files/file47079.pdf

Building Basics: ESOL Toolkit for General Construction, Landscaping, Painting and Plumbing: a multi-level curriculum for teaching students that have expressed a need to learn English within the context of the construction trades. It provides facilitator materials and learner handouts.
URL: http://www.valrc.org/publications/buildingbasics/index.html

Preparing for Work: is a skills-based course to prepare individuals for entry level work. The interactive learning activities provide opportunities for learners to explore the skill concepts and to build the knowledge and apply the skills needed to succeed in work.
URL: http://eff.cls.utk.edu/PDF/Preparing_for_Work_Overview.pdf

Breaking Through: Helping Low-Skilled Adults Enter and Succeed in College and Careers: is a guide to developing, sustaining, and expanding strategies that create pathways for low-skilled adults from multiple entry points to occupational/technical certificates and degrees. It can be used by community college leaders and by program leaders and practitioners in adult education, workforce development, developmental education, non-credit continuing education, and occupational and technical credit programs. |
URL: http://www.jff.org/sites/default/files/BreakingThrough.pdf

Breaking Through Practice Guide: is a compilation of practices developed and implemented by community colleges involved in the Breaking Through initiative from 2005 through 2008. The tools in this guide are designed for use by practitioners to connect adults who have low-level math and/or reading skills with postsecondary credentials leading to employment. The four components of the guide are based on key strategies identified as: accelerated learning, comprehensive support services, labor market payoffs, and aligning programs for low-skilled adults. Of interest is the inclusion of the contextualization toolkit.

URL: http://lincs.ed.gov/lincs/resourcecollections/abstracts/workforce/RC_work_abs101

Virtual Workroom on Workforce Readiness: provides resources on integrating and contextualizing workforce skills and includes guidelines for establishing successful career pathway programs.
URL: http://www.calpro-online.org/News.asp#workforcereadiness

electronic Community of Practice: a companion to the Virtual Workroom on Workforce Readiness, it offers a site where eligible educators can expand their professional knowledge and share resources about workforce readiness.

URL: http://www.calpro-online.org/News.asp#workforcereadiness
U

NC Transition Programs: a free on-line course that provides advice and effective strategies for starting a successful transitional program.
URL: http://www.abspd.appstate.edu/instruction/transition/index.html

Accommodations and Compliance Series: Employees with Learning Disabilities: this article discusses learning disabilities and includes several examples of job situations to help learning disabled employees succeed in the workforce.

URL: http://lincs.ed.gov/lincs/resourcecollections/abstracts/programplanning/RC_plan_abs14.html

Simulated Online/Kiosk Job Application: a simulation training program for offenders (and other groups that don’t have access to the internet) that provides basic information and tips for completing online job applications.

URL: http://nicic.gov/Library/022996

Cloud Computing: What is cloud computing and why is it important for Adult Literacy?: for educators and learners, this report details how cloud computing can help centralize and connect e-learning materials and literacy communities enabling them to share and collaborate on resources, tools, forums and more.
URL: http://alphaplus.ca/en/web-tools/online-publications-a-reportsgroup1/cloud-computing.html

Workplace Learning in Small and Medium-sized Enterprises: Effective Practices for Improving Productivity and Competitiveness: this report looks at the value of investing in workplace learning and training practices in Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, and the impacts and outcomes for improved workplace skills and organizational performance.

Strengthening One-Stop Career Centers: Helping More Unemployed Workers Find Jobs and Build Skills: this paper explores the role that One-Stop Career Centers play in helping the unemployed build new skills and find new jobs.
URL: http://www.brookings.edu/papers/2009/0402_jobs_skills_jacobson.aspx

It’s Our Right: A Showcase of Workplace Education Programs and Learner Stories: this Canadian publication highlights stories of different Canadian Union of Public Employees locals across Canada that have successfully taken on the challenge of setting up workplace education programs.
URL: http://library.nald.ca/learning/item/8117

Integrating Adult Basic and Occupational Training: A Review of Research and Practice: this report summarizes the impact of several different pathways for integrating basic skills instruction with occupational training. It includes extensive descriptions of employer based programs, community based organizations, workforce development professionals and community college collaborations.

URL: http://lincs.ed.gov/lincs/resourcecollections/abstracts/workforce/RC_work_abs118

Sound Investments: Building Immigrants’ Skills to Fuel Economic Growth: this report identifies strategies and recommends policy reforms to address the needs of immigrant workers. It also highlights a number of innovative initiatives that are investing in low-skilled immigrant workers to increase their opportunities for economic advancement.

URL: http://economicmobilitycorp.org/index.php?page=62

Effective models of employment-based training: this research explores a variety of current employment-based training models and proposes five enhancements for higher-level qualifications. These changes concentrate on maintaining a balance of learning experiences between educational institutions and the workplace.

URL: http://www.ncver.edu.au/publications/1990.html

The National Center for Learning Disabilities works to ensure that individuals with learning disabilities have every opportunity to succeed in school, work, and life. Its “In the Workplace” webpage provides guidelines on career exploration and tips for workplace success.

URL: http://www.ncld.org/college-aamp-work/in-the-workplace

Business Value Assessment of Work-Based Learning: Findings from Research into Temple University Hospital-Episcopal Campus’s Work-Based Learning Program for Mental Health Workers: this paper describes the training model and discusses the value of the training to the hospital and employees.
URL: http://www.aspenwsi.org/publicationdetailsdb.asp?pid=46

Help Wanted: Projections of Jobs and Education Requirements Through 2018: this report concludes that the ability of individuals to connect education, training, and careers has become key to employability and to attaining and maintaining middle class status.
URL: h ttp://www9.georgetown.edu/grad/gppi/hpi/cew/pdfs/FullReport.pdf

Student Success Stories from the Shifting Gears Initiative: Shifting Gears is an initiative to promote economic growth in the Midwest by improving the education and skills training of the workforce in five states ― Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin. These states are strengthening connections between education and training systems to make sure that low-skilled adults gain the education and skills they need to get a good job with the potential for career advancement.

URL: http://www.clasp.org/postsecondary/publication?id=0958&list=publications

Profitable: Flexible Workplace for ALL Workers: in this audio conference you will hear about employers who operate differently and help their employees perform well; you'll also learn what happens when low wage workers are not given that chance.
Read online: http://www.clasp.org/resources_and_publications/publication?id=0809&list=publications
Download audio: http://www.clasp.org/admin/site/publications/files/CLASP_090910_1230pmet.mp3

Workforce Development: New Opportunities for Creating Pathways to Good Jobs and Sustainability Employment: this audio conference highlights opportunities for addressing the needs of low-skill workers and linking training to job creation and retention efforts.
Download audio: http://www.clasp.org/admin/site/publications/files/0508.mp3
Additional pdf: http://www.clasp.org/admin/site/publications/files/Workforcedevelopnewopps_transcript_03042009.pdf

Making the Employment Connection: New Opportunities to Develop Transitional Jobs Programs: this audio conference highlights Transitional Jobs programs which help individuals (with barriers to employment) enter and succeed in the labor market.

Download audio: http://www.clasp.org/admin/site/publications/files/0500.mp3
Additional pdf:
http://www.clasp.org/admin/site/publications/files/Makingemploymentconnection_transcript_03182009.pdf

For problems or questions regarding this web site contact info@lincs.ed.gov
Last updated: September 9, 2011.