Students get an opportunity to interact with and learn from other cultures, lands, and demographics. Diversity provides for a holistic and enriching learning experience.
In the whirlwind of 2020, we were thrown into a whole new way of learning. Students and grown-ups had to switch to learning from afar. We now live in a world where learning never stops.
In 1998, Wendy and Eugenia researched Toronto and the Greater Toronto Area, to see if a community newspaper for adults going back to school would be useful. In January 1999, Learning Curves was launched This year, 2025 will be our 25th year of publishing Learning Curves.
I recently caught up with Masoud Riyazati, a 2017 graduate of the Millie Rotman Shime Academic Bridging Program who completed his Honours Bachelor of Arts in June 2023.
She told me they are teaching their clients how to use AI to edit an existing resume to focus on a new job application. AI Artificial Intelligence the latest high tech development. Read up on it.
My name’s Ming Sun Lam from the big city of Toronto. Thanks for the chance to gab about myself, especially at this point when I’m finally a college grad, and more career-minded than ever before.
This heartwarming essay challenges preconceptions, unveiling the joy, comfort, and hidden brilliance found in everyday moments. Join the conversation on appreciating the present, embracing the familiar, and exploring the uncharted territories of the seemingly ordinary.
Surely, every person studying a new field asks themselves this question – “What material should I read on the subject?”.
This year I read a book by James Clear titled “Atomic Habits”. One of the chapters mentioned the “2-Minute Rule” which helps with procrastination, breaking old habits, and building new healthy ones.
Finding a job is the greatest challenge most newcomers to Canada face. Whether it is the lack of credential recognition, language barriers, or unfamiliarity with Canadian workplace ethics; a job hunt invariably turns into a frustrating exercise for many.
Pursuing post-secondary education is common for adults even years after they have worked at their jobs. The reasons for going back to school vary.
With the thinking hat right on; I look within myself for all those stories, I’ve witnessed from dusk to dawn but nothing comes closer to the journey of ‘the reflection I capture the day in, day out', whom I fondly call A pocket full of sunshine due to the warm and fuzzy feeling this one leaves behind.
Over the summer, the University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies (SCS) Blueprint Career Services team has been hard at work updating workshop materials, curating excellent free resources for Blueprint Portal members, and connecting with community groups who need specific career support.
The first few years of life in immigration are usually very challenging. A person often has to literally start their life from scratch - dealing with everyday issues, rebuilding social connections, and navigating new laws and rules.
My name’s Tiffany from the Georgetown area in Ontario. Thanks for letting me share a few moments from my childhood, family, and recent times that make up my life of almost twenty-one years.
The art of multi-tasking and single-tasking in postcard advice
In the current era, individuals find themselves inundated with information. "Rebooting" oneself and one's brain is now a more frequent necessity than ever before in history
Read the translation to English of ‘Seungmu’ by Jo Ji-Hoon, one of the most beloved poems in Korea.
One Teacher’s Perspective: When COVID-19 shut down our schools and campuses in February 2020, all classes immediately went into virtual classrooms. One teacher's perspective on everything that happened since that time.
Hello, everyone! My name is Galina. I am 41 years old. I have been living in Canada for 3 years, and many things have changed in my life in terms of both my place of residence and my activities.
Sarah had been busy looking at schools in Canada for her two children. She and her husband, Bob had recently received their Permanent Residency and were very excited at better prospects that awaited them
The realities of the modern world dictate their own rules. Several decades ago, the life of an ordinary person was simple and straightforward: go to school, get an education, find a stable job, and work until retirement.
“Pull the windows open, nice weather is here, with the sky oh so blue and a tinge of grey splattered around in an artistic smear, accompanied by the musical backdrop coos of the birds
My name is Gabriel Henry. I was born in Thunder Bay and lived there until the end of Grade eleven.
Hello everyone! My name is Iryna Paltseva and I’m very proud to introduce myself to you as the new editor of Learning Curves.
These 3 questions are often asked by newcomer job seekers, so to expand on what I know I sat down recently with Angela Mohan, a Career Specialist with Achēv in downtown Toronto.
On February 24, 2022, 43.5 million people in Ukraine found themselves waking up in their worst nightmare – the biggest war in Europe in the last 70 years. At 5.30 in the morning, deafening explosions from air strikes were heard almost throughout the country.
Bernard Haldane first uses the 80% statistic about hidden jobs in an article about job seeker re-employment from Aug 1966.
When her mother passed away from a stroke last fall, Maggie Galanis suddenly felt surreal without Diana’s presence. But after thirty-six years with melancholic and volatile Diana, Maggie’s life would turn a new page.
Like every refugee, we have a story, a past. My husband was a very well-known person in Türkiye. He was an influential journalist. His columns and his speeches on television were very effective.
Over the past 200 hundred years, the world has changed so dramatically that the human brain can sometimes not comprehend it.
During my trip to London in June 2022, while walking in front of Buckingham Palace, I suddenly stopped and looked at the palace from a distance for a while.
Career Fairs are multi-sector recruiting events that are very common in Canada.
On December 7th, the students of University in the Community (UitC) hosted an evening with the co-authors of the recently-published book, Valley of the Birdtail: An Indian Reserve, A White Town, and the Road to Reconciliation.
The front page article of the Winter 2022 issue of Learning Curves titled “Micro Credentials The Next “Big Thing” in Adult Learning”
Born in 1970 to Macao businessman Man-Yun Chin and his third wife Emma, Paul grew up studying Chinese, English and Portuguese in excellent schools.
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.
One day before my 33rd birthday, I wrote and passed my very first exam towards becoming a Real Estate Agent! After almost a decade of being a full time mom to 3 kids, this was my first step towards building a professional career.
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
I remember walking home on Friday, 13 March 2020 from the Bloor Street United Church where we had celebrated the lives of both parents of a congregant.
That energy can be sometimes negative, sometimes positive. With others, you simply feel their strength and resilience.
My name is Juleen Thapar, an educator from India’s Amritsar region. When I came to Toronto in 2019 with husband, Ranbir, we had already been teachers and school administrators for thirty years.
Career advice can appear in many forms. It can be verbal from a trusted Career Coach or read in a recommended book. Twenty years ago, I was encouraged to read a book titled “The Four Agreements” by Don Miguel Ruiz.
Most of the time when we talk about a community, we assume that we are referring to a group of like-minded people who meet regularly in a public or private setting.
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.
When Brad Dalgleish dropped out of high school in grade 9, he didn’t imagine that he would be graduating from the University of Toronto with an Honours Bachelor of Science 14 years later.
The intention of this article is to provide an overview of some basic information that prospective dividend investors would find useful in their pursuit of additional income streams.
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.
We’re living in a culture that’s “credentials crazy.” These days you literally need to be certified to place bags of potato chips on a shelf (it’s called a food handling certificate.)
You probably won’t find many people who disagree with you when you say that good workplace skills are a necessity.
On November 18, Daniel Munro will likely feel the same elation and relief as thousands of other University of Toronto students that day: they are graduating.
For almost 75 years, JVS Toronto has had a single mission – to help job seekers find meaningful employment.
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.
After COVID-19 hit back in March 2020, few realized the impact it would have on the world of work. Working remotely is now part of the “new normal.” But for many workers, it’s anything but. Overnight, employees were asked to navigate unfamiliar territory and the challenges that went with it.
There comes a time when one is thrown into transition or chaos and then out of transition again. What are the automatic responses to disruption?
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.
Angie Cheng is a parent, worker, and university student. Earlier this year, she told Learning Curves (Spring Issue 2021) how her family of five had lived through a year of COVID. Last week, I asked her to tell me more about her life since coming to Canada twenty years ago.
When I was in Grade 2, I discovered what a “shortcut” was. Instead of walking to school along the side of the road, my brother showed me a path through a farmer’s field that could save me five minutes of time.
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.
Walter Davis definitely took many years to accept the importance of self-sufficiency. In February 2021, he finally stayed with a full-time, graveyard-shift job in data processing. Although he found the work monotonous, he managed to pass his probation earlier this month.
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.
It should have been a day like any other. But when George McKenzie, then 21, woke up, something didn’t feel right.
When we first got together via Zoom during the Spring and Summer months, it seemed as if by some fluke we had landed in a place that we had had no intention of visiting.
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.
The two scenarios in this article are intended to help parents foster their child(ren) transitional skills from traditional to online learning.
I remember the last day before March Break very well. The Minister of Education stated that all schools would be closed until April 5th due to COVID-19.
Learning outside of the classroom used to be considered an option, now it is to use today’s phrasing the “new normal.”
The Universities, Colleges, and Schools charts in this Mosaic of Adult Education help you find the doors to specific programs at an educational institution.
As an apprentice, you get paid as a worker which is good, but the hard part is finding an employer who will also train you.
In the Summer 2019 issue of Learning Curves, I had written about a proposed federal Canada Training Benefit, as described in the March 2019 federal budget.
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.
What is office survivability? It is understanding that career success is not only about accomplishing your job tasks and your performance goals, it is also about relating appropriately with a group of people
I love to read which is surprising because when I was younger, you could not pay me enough to pick up a book.
Regular readers of Learning Curves will know that University in the Community (UitC) is an adult education program founded in 2003 by the Workers’ Educational Association, the publisher of this newspaper
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.
John Murphy has always been proud of his loud voice and intricate ideas with elaborate arguments, but more importantly, he enjoys giving people advice solely based on his own opinions.
Olga Saade found PTP on her journey towards entering the field of dentistry so that she can carry on in the profession she worked in and loved in El Salvador.
Ballroom Dancing, which used to be considered solely a social pursuit, has blossomed into one of the most entertaining and enjoyable ways to socialize and to stay in shape.
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.”
Educational providers are constantly developing new courses to help us stay up to date.
Readers of Learning Curves will recognize the name of the WEA initiative called University in the Community.
I often chatted with Tim when he worked at a store near Toronto’s Main and Gerrard Streets.
Beginning this journey back to school has been a long one, and has not been easy.
There is no static profile for students who come to PTP Adult Learning and Employment Programs.
We all make plans but then life happens.
Have you ever felt that you should have gone further with your education? That you were capable of more?
The experience of a new culture is oftentimes eye opening and the shock that comes with it can sometimes leave us in awe.
When I first met Susan Shin in November 2017, she was a college student studying international business.
David is sitting in my office on a frigid February afternoon, explaining how he came to be studying – and succeeding – at U of T after being away from school for so many years.
Most people are surprised to learn that the Canadian Mothercraft Society’s reputation of providing high quality early education