Continuing Education + Job Training // Publishing since 1999

Have you ever wondered how you got to where you are in your life now? What are your personal or professional life accomplishments and how have you accumulated them all?

Municipal elections are the most complex because you vote for 3 representatives: a Mayor for your city, a Councillor for your ward, and a School Trustee for your ward.

Today the whole world knows what is happening in Ukraine. War came to my home in February of 2022 one morning at 5:30am with a deafening explosion from the airport about 15 kilometers from my street.

Robo-advisors which are online investment platforms, are also available to investors through various brokerage firms offering a variety of diversified ETF portfolios designed according to the investors appetite for risk

You’ve now reached a stage where you have completed your self- assessments, researched some work options and arrived at some conclusions. It’s time to set some goals. 

Do you know one of the most significant workplace changes since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic? It is the acceptance of remote work and the amount of business that is now conducted virtually.

Now that I think about it, teaching online was productive but long. In fact, I adjusted and managed very well. Two years later, I was back in the class and very happy to say how much I love teaching in person and that those online days are long gone; at least I hope they are.

At 22 and with two small children to care for, I didn’t have many options. Though bilingual and with some work experience in an office setting, I’d been too long out of the workforce – a mere two years! - to merit any serious consideration. 

In the first tech wave of COVID-19, we have seen a rise in fields like software, financial, digital media, information technology, big data, cloud computing, communications, e-commerce and adoption of artificial intelligence. This will continue to gain momentum.

I hope you remember me. It’s Josie Knight, Anna Bradley’s neighbor who asked you for a copy of Learning Curves in 2020. You encouraged me to submit a story, so here I am, sharing my travelogue.

Congratulations to Terri Preston, this year's winner of the National Literacy Award recognizing a member or group of members who have promoted workplace literacy and clear language.

What does it look like to find a best friend for life in a 70-year-old woman? Might sound boring to some of you but to me, it is anything but that.

A story that comes right from the heart with countless memories that do not depart, a story that puts a smile on my face every morning, a glimpse I would like to share, hope that doesn’t leave you in a maze.

Several years ago, Waheed (Wayne) Mufti sang for a party where I was a guest. The hosts appreciated his music so much that he stayed for dinner, and entertained us well into the evening. Recently, I found his business card and had a chat with him.

In our Fall 2021 issue in this story I will summarize the changes I could see from the priorities recommended by the Report found in a scan of course offerings for the Fall term.

Often as adult learners we are focused on finding a course at a time we can make it, that meets a specific learning need, the micro level. But there are activities going on at a macro level which shape what we are offered at the micro level. Canada- A Learning Nation report describes the work of the Future Skills Advisory Council, an advisory council to the federal Ministry of Employment Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion. This report came out in December 2020 but I just found it scanning the net for what I can’t remember now.

Life’s Catapult

Apr 19, 2021

Sometimes in life, it feels like we are in a catapult where we are pulled back before we can go forward. It is often adversity that creates the tension needed to release the energy that thrusts us forward and lets us reach higher. This is a metaphor that Shahina Suleman, Program Manager at PTP Adult Learning and Employment Programs, loves to use when talking about what the Elevate program does for its participants.

COVID has disrupted our continuing education plans as it has our economy-our job/career plans. We have been in the latest lock down since Christmas Day and when will it let up apparently mid February.

COVID has changed how education both full-time and continuing education are delivered mainly to online learning. But Covid has not led us to be more aware of what adult education contributes as it has to what international students contribute.

If you are reading this article, you might be interested in learning, or job searching, or just staying informed. Everyone around the world was informed in March of 2020 about COVID-19.

Do you know the new formula for job interviews? It is: Remote technology plus COVID-19 equals virtual hiring.

School Chart

Sep 22, 2020

The chart below is organized by geography and school board, by the type of education offered. Find the right contacts for your area and your interest.

Read With Me

Apr 8, 2020

Happy Spring! I hope you enjoyed the books in the previous reading list as much as I did. In this article, along with my picks for this season, I would like to introduce you to two notable reading resources and activities I recently stumbled upon.

Reynosa Sarmiento has taken multiple courses throughout her undergraduate degree. Having graduated in November 2015, she’s had years of experience with online courses and online summer courses.

As a Career/Life Skills and Executive Coach, I often meet clients in career transition who haven’t had to look for a job for the past 15 to 25 years. They are called ‘long tenured workers’ who all of a sudden face the crude reality of a lay off (with or without severance pay) and with it a fast awakening to the fact that their skills have been either outdated, or not on par to compete with on today’s labour market. Let’s face it, no one has to hire anyone…we compete for opportunities, as the labour market of the 21st century.

Since its inception nearly two years ago, Epilepsy Toronto’s unique Bridge the Gap ambassador program has reached thousands of participants while promoting epilepsy awareness and helping ambassadors develop skills deemed essential for workplace success.

Julie Jackson and I first met at a public library concert two summers ago when she sat next to me.

“Enthusiasm is a state of mind natural to the lover of art,” wrote Max J. Friedländer, “indeed, to him almost something natural.”

Do you remember Duoli’s story? Are you interested in what’s going on with me recently. Since September 2011, I have insisted on learning English step-by step.

I often chatted with Tim when he worked at a store near Toronto’s Main and Gerrard Streets.

When I first met Susan Shin in November 2017, she was a college student studying international business.

Most people are surprised to learn that the Canadian Mothercraft Society’s reputation of providing high quality early education

We know that climate change is happening. We also know that it’s the result of increased carbon emissions from human activities like land degradation and the burning of fossil fuels. And we know that it’s urgent.

According MHCC, the average age of a Canadian trucker is 47 years old. By the age of 40, more than half the population have,

I am the coordinator of a humanities-based, adult education outreach program called University in the Community (UitC).

Night Ride Home

Jan 17, 2019

Little by little the walls of stigma surrounding mental health are starting to crumble.

Often we put off calling a university or college as we didn’t finish high school or did poorly or did it in a different country in a different language.

Ah, the kids have been in their new classes for a week. You have caught up on the pile of work that greeted you on your return from holidays.

What’s New?

Sep 17, 2018

Educational institutions are constantly developing new courses to help their students stay up to date and often they work in partnership with a professional group or industry.

The years of retirement should be a golden period. It means, one will be dignified, having a decent lifestyle, enjoying the fruits of their labour, families and friends.

When I first met Mugi last year, she was working at a Chinese supermarket. As we got to know each other, Mugi told me she would soon start evening English classes.

As a person who firmly believes that one should always be striving for personal growth, I share my “aiming for success” story, in the hopes that I can inspire other older adults to keep reaching for their educational goals.

Art gives us an experience like nothing else can. Art exhibitions, whether in a formal gallery or part of an informal event, provide the opportunity for art to be explored.

Recently while viewing www.womenofinfluence.ca, I read an article titled “A Changing Workplace: From Corporate Ladders to Corporate Lattices”.

When Saigon fell to the Vietcong, I was only in kindergarten. But soon, school became “re-education”. We swept streets and picked up garbage.

The Workers' Educational Association of Canada (WEA) has been a champion of free, public education for adults since its beginning in 1918.

Love of Learning

Dec 7, 2015

As the late American journalist, Christopher Morley, once said “There are three ingredients in the good life: learning, earning and yearning”.

In the last issue of Learning Curves, an article, which I wrote The new, new economy, described how citizens around the world

Often adult students had dropped out of high school, though they do this less than they used to, and later they often decide to go back to school. But there has been few community accessible learning information services to help adults go back. So often they start back based on what a friend advises or at an educational program they know in their area or at a program they have seen an ad for.

Keep It Simple

Aug 8, 2015

David Li has found the secret of teaching the complicated and rigorous practice of accounting by breaking it down to a simple and elegant format that is easy to understand.

Don’t let yourself get caught in the all-too familiar trap of waiting until your children have gone back to school before thinking about your own continuing education.

For several years, I would see Sonia’s welcoming smile behind a local library’s reference desk.

It is exciting to see that the Community Hubs Advisory Group, established by Premier Kathleen Wynne and chaired by Karen Pitre, is currently engaged in consultations across the province.

It’s Monday morning, and another week of work begins. Upstairs I hear my neighbour stirring

In part one, we learned that eighteen-year old Sarah came from Tehran during the Gulf War to marry forty-year-old Yousef.

These days when you say that your grandparents rock, you don’t mean in a rocking chair! Baby boomers, many of whom are now seniors, have dramatically changed the face of retirement.

According to a report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives titled Degrees of Uncertainty:

Three organizations are working together to support Aboriginal employment: the Métis Nation of Ontario (MNO), Toronto Employment & Social Services (TESS), and Miziwe Biik Aboriginal Employment and Training.

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