Louis Riel Institute: Mobile Literacy and Essential Skills Classroom
The Louis Riel Institute (LRI) in partnership with the Manitoba Metis Federation (MMF) will be launching the Mobile Literacy and ES Mobile Classroom in early summer of 2019. The project will provide mobile on-site literacy and essential skills training to rural and remote communities. The project will be targeting communities without these services with the goal of increasing employment opportunities for Manitoba’s Métis citizens living in rural and remote areas of the province.
The 56 foot mobile classroom is fitted with a state of the art classroom, equipped with a computer lad, staffed by two LRI adult education instructors and remotely linked to the Institute’s Winnipeg Adult Learning Centre.
The LRI mobile classroom project is working collaboratively to support occupation specific training/employment projects being delivered on-site in rural and remote communities by MMF’s Education and Training (ASETS agreement holder) and Metis N4 Construction Corporation, a diversified for profit Project Management Construction corporation owned by Metis Economic Development Trust.
The Mobile LES Classroom will accompany and locate in the same communities as the on-site MMF’s occupational training programs and Metis N4 employment projects. Literacy and ES training will be integrated within these occupational training/employment projects, allowing trainees and employees to access the mobile classroom and work to upgrade their literacy and ES, 40-52 hrs. per length of project while at the same time gaining occupational specific skills and experience. Upon completion of the training/employment project participants will be better prepared to move on to further employment or advance training .
Each learner will be assessed for their Literacy and ES training needs and have an individualized learning plan. Learners will access needed courses and curriculum through on-line and classroom delivery and will receive both individualized and group learning.
In addition a portion of mobile classroom spaces will be offered to members of the host communities, providing much needed upgrading services to these rural and remote to these communities.
The LRI Mobile Literacy and ES Mobile Classroom is an inclusive project and will be available to FN communities based on request and availability of resources.
Sharon Paranteau; General Manager, Lois Riel Institute
sharon.parenteau@mmf.mb.ca
103-150 Henry Avenue Winnipeg Manitoba R3B 0J7
Initiative Impact
The project is still in development. It will be piloted starting in early summer of 2019. Key outcomes for the pilot phase include:
• Successful deliver of three Mobile LES Classroom programs
• Delivery of services to 3 cohorts of 40 participants each – total of 120 participants
• Evaluation and modifications as need after each delivery to improve programming
• Development of culturally appropriate Literacy and ES assessment tools
• Finding assessment tools that were appropriate to Indigenous learners. We are designing our own
• That during development phase your learn as you go along. We needed to adjust the design of our mobile classroom to ensure it accommodated wheel chairs.
Incorporation of Essential Skills
All Essential Skills will be addressed in the upgrading curriculum.
Upgrading and ES training will be individualized based on the needs of the learners. For example there will be a focus on those Essential Skills linked to the special skills training/employment project for trainees and workers involved in these projects. Community members attending the mobile classroom will receive literacy and ES training based on their assessed needs.
Dependent on client need, we offer the Thought Pattern for Successful Careers Program, which addresses learners negative internal self-talk. It addresses issues such as returning to school as an adult, fear of success, managing personal challenges while attending school/work, and making a transition into a successful lifestyle. The focus is on increasing the student’s self-discipline and self-esteem.
MMF provides a number of strong wrap around supports to participants in their training programs including retention and support workers. MN4 project employees earn wages and are accommodated in work camps when on-site in rural or remote communities .
Learners in the training projects will be initially assessed to determine if they
• Require Literacy training
• Require upgrading of academic and Essential Skills
• Are ready for application to training programs
In addition there will be a pre-post assessment of each learner’s essentials skills. It is a goal of the Mobile Literacy and ES Classroom project to develop our own culturally appropriate ES assessment tools.
Project Components
Programming includes Metis Awareness training and Metis ES curriculum. LRI is an indigenous educational institution. Indigenous culture and history is addressed and course material is culturally relevant and specific.
Instructors need to be smart and experienced adult educators versed in literacy and ES. They need to be able to work with students with a range of skill levels, assess student’s literacy and ES needs and develop individualize learning plans. They need a clear understanding of Métis culture. They need to be personable, flexible, think on their feet, creative and build rapport with not only learners but community members and partner staff and personal.
• Manitoba Metis Federation
• Metis N4 Construction Corporation,
• Hosting Communities