Developing the Learner Plan

In this module, we will review learner retention materials to highlight how literacy can make a difference in people’s lives, encouraging learners to participate in life-long learning opportunities.

About Literacy Basics

Developing the Learner Plan

You have determined that your program is the right place for a client to be and you have completed an assessment for eligibility. Now, you will begin working on developing a plan to help the learner with their Literacy and Basic Skills (LBS) needs.

The Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities (MTCU) requires that LBS service providers maintain a file for each learner. One mandatory document in these files is the LBS Learner Plan. However, Learner Plans are more than an administrative device to fulfill funding requirements. A Learner Plan is an important document that forms the learning agreement between the practitioner (instructor or tutor) and the learner.

In other educational fields learner plans may be called

learning contracts
learning commitments
study plans
learning agreements
training plans
self-development plans
service plans (used in Employment Ontario as a generic term)

Learner Plans – An Important Component of Successful Adult Learning

Learner plans are key ingredients to successful adult learning. By involving learners in the development and follow-through of a learning plan targeted to their goal, they can buy into the learning process. The Learner Plan is the first step toward active learner participtation in facilitated learning, rather than passive acceptance of what the teacher thinks they should know. When adult learners have control of their learning, they learn better.

Malcolm Knowles was a champion of self-direction in adult learning and andragogy. He defined andragogy as the process of helping adults engage in learning, as opposed to pedagogy which refers to the teaching of children. Androgogy shifts the spotlight from the teacher to the learner. If you are developing a Learner Plan for successful adult learning, you should consider Knowles’ theories. They assume that adult learners have the following needs:

The need to know. Learners need to understand the need to learn something – how it will benefit them if they learn it or what the consequences will be if they do not – before they are willing to invest time and energy in learning it. In the process of drafting a learning contract, learners are subtly challenged to think through why they are undertaking to learn something.
The need to be self-directing. The psychological definition of an adult is “one who has achieved a self-concept of being responsible for himself or herself – whose self-perception is that of a self-directing person.” When a person has arrived at self-concept, he or she experiences a deep psychological need to be seen by others and treated by others as being capable of being self-directing. Contract learning at its best involves the learners in making decisions about what will be learned, how it will be learned, when it will be learned, and whether it has been learned, usually with the help of a facilitator or resource person.
The need to have the learners’ unique experiences taken into account. It is predictable that in a group of adults, the range of experience, both in quantity and in quality, will be greater than in a group of children. Because of their experience, adults have developed different styles of learning, different levels of operation, different needs and interests, different speeds of learning, and different patterns of thought. Hence the importance, particularly with adults, of providing for highly individualized plans for learning. Learning contracts are almost always individualized plans for learning. Five individuals may have the same objective in their contracts and go about accomplishing that objective in five different ways.
The need to gear learning to the learners’ readiness to learn. Adults become ready to learn something when they experience in their life a need to learn it. Since the life situations of any group of adults are different, they become ready to learn different things at different times. Learning contracts provide the flexibility to enable learners to time their learning according to their readiness to learn.
The need to organize learning around life tasks or life problems. Adults have a task-centred or problem-centred orientation to learning, rather than the subject-centred orientation that is characteristic for children. Learning contracts enable learners to state their objectives in terms of tasks or problems that relate to their life situations.
The need to tap into intrinsic motivations. Children and youth have been conditioned by their school experience to rely on extrinsic motivators – pressure from parents, teachers, and the grading system. Although adults respond to some extent to extrinsic motivators (wage increases, job promotions), their deepest motivation comes from such intrinsic motivators as increases in self-esteem, responsibility, creativity, and self-fulfillment. Learning contracts challenge learners to tap into the intrinsic motivators.

Knowles (1986) as related by Joseph R. Codde, Using Learning Contracts In the College Classroom

Malcolm Shepherd Knowles, Ed.D., (1913-1997) was an American academician and practitioner in adult learning and education. He developed and refined the principles of adult learning now known as andragogy. His writing has made a significant impact, internationally, on the practice of adult education and academic settings. He is widely acknowledged as the most quoted and cited adult education authority of his time. His writings include

The Adult Learner: A Neglected Species (1973, 1978, 1984)
Lifelong Learning: A Guide for Teachers and Learners (1975)
Self-Directed Learning (1975)
The Modern Practice of Adult Education: Andragogy vs. Pedagogy (1980)
Andragogy in Action (1984)
Using Learning Contracts (1986)

Learner Plan Content

Knowles (1986) felt that to support the learner’s needs a learning contract should include:

Learning Objectives – the content (the knowledge, skills, attitudes, etc.) that will be learned and developed by the learners to complete the tasks for their goals
Learning Resources and Strategies – the methods, strategies, activities and resources that will be used to learn the content to accomplish the learning objectives
Timelines – the target date(s) for the various learning accomplishments
Learning Demonstration – what “evidence” will demonstrate that the objectives have been met
Validation – how this “evidence” will be assessed and by whom

Many years have passed since Knowles put forth his theories, yet they are still the core of adult learning and learning contracts or plans. Most agree that his suggestions for Learner Plan contents are necessary. These five core areas are also consistent with our Literacy and Basic Skills (LBS) Learner Plans content requirements. The LBS Service Provider Guidelines (October 2016) also say the plan should include:

the learner’s name, address and background details gathered in the learner profile of the LBS Participant Registration
overall goals
barriers, possible solutions and referrals (see the Information and Referral module in Literacy Basics for more information)
other non-LBS requirements of the learner’s goal path, such as certificates, courses and abilities

As we write Learner Plans, we must consider the learners. The contents, along with the language and format, should meet the learners’ needs

to understand the plan and the content
to self-direct their learning
to build on experience
to be ready, willing and able to learn the contents
to address barriers within the plan
to be motivated to work on and complete the plan

Individual Plans for Individual Learners

Learning plans are a “map” of the path a learner will take on their learning journey from their starting point (intake assessment) to their desired goal. As each learner is different, each Learner Plan should be unique to reflect individual objectives, wishes, aptitudes and needs. Plans

vary depending on the learners’ goal path and the tasks their goals require.
include the acquisition of skills to complete tasks in one or more competencies, task groups and levels.
use different strategies, methods and resources.
adapt for disabilities, personal issues or learning styles.
vary in length and may be short (a few weeks) or longer (a year or more).
have different means of demonstrating learning.

Even if learners are on the same goal path, or have common learning goals, learners probably won’t have the same learning styles, abilities, support needs, time available, previous knowledge or experience. You shouldn’t have identical individual Learner Plans where only the names of learners are different. By duplicating plans, you will not adequately address the needs of learners. Remember that the Learner Plan belongs to the learner and should be specific to that learner.

Because Learner Plans belong to learners, it is important that they understand their Learner Plans and are able to explain them to someone else. They should be able to share them with staff at other literacy or training programs or at other agencies. Therefore, you need to explain the various sections of the Learner Plans to the learners. Learners should have their own copy of the Learner Plan to keep as you maintain a copy in the learners’ files.

Employment Ontario Service Plans and Learner Plans

All Employment Ontario (EO) service providers, including Literacy and Basic Skills providers, create plans that detail the benefits and services they will deliver to meet clients’ needs. Within Employment Ontario and the Employment Ontario Information System Case Management System (EOIS-CaMS) these are called service plans. Service plans detail the client’s

goal
sub-goals
plan items

For the Literacy and Basic Skills (LBS) field, the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities (MTCU) has created service plans in EOIS-CaMS that support the Ontario Adult Literacy Curriculum Framework (OALCF). Terms used in Employment Ontario, EOIS-CaMS, the LBS Participant Registration Form and the Learner Plans are different than those used in the OALCF.

The table and diagram below show the relationship between terms.

Service Plans

All Employment Ontario service providers create plans for individual participants that detail the benefits and services that the service provider can deliver in order to meet clients’ needs. Employment Ontario refers to this type of plan as a service plan, although we also refer to them as Learner Plans in LBS.

“The service plan is a system tool that allows an Employment Ontario service provider to plan and manage the delivery of services and activities to help a client achieve a specific goal.” (EOIS-CaMS: Service Provider User Guide, Chapter 8B: Service Plan Management for Literacy and Basic Skills, Version 2.6 April 2019)

Goals

The primary reason for the creation of any service plan is to enable a client to achieve an overall plan goal. In the OALCF, learners’ goals are expressed as goal paths. EOIS-CaMS “goals” have been configured for the five LBS goal paths:

Independence
Employment
Adult Secondary School Credit
Postsecondary Education
Apprenticeship

Sub-Goals

The goal or goal path can be broken down into more manageable steps to assist the learner in achieving the goal. These steps are known as sub-goals, which typically consist of one or more scheduled activities or plan items. For LBS, the sub-goals are the LBS competencies, learning activities, training supports and referrals to community resources or other programs and services.

EOIS –CaMs sub-goals:

Competency A. Find and Use Information
Competency B. Communicate Ideas and Information
Competency C. Understand and Use Numbers
Competency D. Use Digital Technology
Competency E. Manage Learning
Competency F. Engage with Others
Learning Activities
Training Supports
Referrals out to community resources or other programs and services

Plan Items

Sub-goals usually have one or more plan items. Plan items are the actions and/or the achievements that must be fulfilled to meet the learners needs. In LBS, Competency based plan items are representative of the task groups and level indicators from the OALCF with the finishing point attaining a Milestone. The successful completion of some or all applicable plan items is required for a learner to achieve a sub-goal.

For complete step-by-step directions on creating the LBS service plan in EOIS-CaMS, see Employment Ontario Information System (EOIS) Case Management System Service Provider User Guide Chapter 8B: Service Plan Management for Literacy and Basic Skills.

Learner Plan Templates (Service Plans)

In EOIS-CaMS, “the ministry has created service plan templates based on the relevant program or service guidelines. The templates include a predefined set of sub-goals, which include plan items. Service providers must use these templates when creating service plans; however, a service plan created from a template can still be customized to meet the individual requirements of a specific client, thus providing even greater flexibility.” (EOIS-CaMS: Service Provider User Guide, Chapter 8B: Service Plan Management for Literacy and Basic Skills, Version 2.6 April 2019)

The EOIS CaMS Service Plan Template for LBS contains two main sections: the Client Summary and LBS the Learner Plan. “The Learner Plan describes the learning and program elements that prepare learners for their next steps beyond the LBS program. It includes the learner’s goal, background information, assessment results, tasks, learning activities, program duration, additional supports required by the learner as well as referral results. It organizes information in a common format for ease of use between program providers.” (EOIS-CaMS: Service Provider User Guide, Chapter 8B: Service Plan Management for Literacy and Basic Skills, Version 2.6 April 2019)

Note: LBS practitioners must be authorized to enter information into, and download from, EOIS-CaMS. Authorization and user codes are arranged by your agency’s Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities Employment and Training Consultant (ETC) following a request from your agency’s Service Provider Registration Authority (SPRA).

Learner Acceptance of Plan

For a service plan to be activated, the learner plan template must be accepted by the learner. You need to keep a copy in the learner’s file and provide a copy to the learner.

Learners need to understand the contents of their plans in order to accept and agree to them. Keep in mind that the plans are for the learners and that it helps them “own” their learning. For some learners understanding all the steps in their plan and navigating many pages of documents may be difficult. They may feel that there is too much information or that the forms are too complicated. They may have difficulty understanding the language of the OALCF that is presented on the EOIS CaMS Learner Plan.

One way to personalize the Service/Learner Plan in EOIS CaMS is to use the Comments sections of each Plan Item to provide more learner specific details than just the Task Group and Level Indicator. This is especially true in the Learning Activities sub-goals, where you can choose from preset activities or create Custom Plan Items. You may change the name of Learning Activity, Custom Plan Items to be learner specific. Add the specific learning activities that the learner will undertake to the Comments using language that they may better understand or that relates to their goal.

Some LBS agencies prefer using their own learner plan documents to help the learners understand the details of their future training, for example:

The Literacy Council York-Simcoe has developed learning plans for each of the goal paths they serve. Their Learning Plans have all the applicable milestones offered from drop-down menus in an Excel spreadsheet.
The Adult Learning Centre for Cochrane and Iroquois Falls has a much more detailed template. Their LBS Learning Plan and Assignment Tracking Sheet, in the Sample Forms section, lists any of the resources/learning activities that they commonly use. The practitioner completing the form just removes rows that are not applicable to the learner’s plan. Other resources and activities can be added in new rows. As well as information needed to set up the learner’s plan, there are spaces to track the learners training progress and assessments as they move through the program.

Some practitioners find that mind-maps or other visuals help the learner to visualize the steps to their plan and the links to their goal. Two examples of this are the Key Tasks Learning Form and the Learning Activities Step Plan used by Barrie Literacy Council which can be found in the Sample Forms section.

Whatever method you use, remember, this is an essential step in the adult learning process and worth the time spent helping learners understand and “buy into” their plan.

Building a Service Plan/Learner Plan in EOIS-CaMS

The successful creation of a service plan requires the following steps to be performed in sequence.

Create a service plan using the LBS Participant Registration form. The Participant Registration is one of the documents required in each learner file (Literacy and Basic Skills: Service Provider Program Guidelines). For help in understanding how to complete the Employment Ontario Literacy and Basic Skills (LBS) Participant Registration form, review the how-to guide offered by CESBA at http://cesba.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/How-to-Fill-Out-the-PRF.pdf.
In EOIS-CaMS:
1. Create a client summary from the information on pages 1, 2 and 4 of the completed LBS Participant Registration Form
2. Add sub-goals and plan items to sub-goals from the information on page 5 of the completed LBS Participant Registration Form
3. Submit service plan for approval
4. Create Plan Summary
5. Download Plan Summary to a secure computer location
Make any additions or changes required and print the Plan Summary, now titled as Learner Plan.
Present Learner Plan to the learner for acceptance. Provide learner with a copy.
In EOIS-CaMS:
1. Upload any changes made to the Learner Plan/Plan Summary
2. Record acceptance (or rejection) of plan summary
Place a copy in the learner’s file.

Setting the Learning Objectives

The first step in setting up a Learner Plan is setting the objectives. Learning objectives or learning outcomes describe what the learners will be able to do by the end of their Literacy and Basic Skills (LBS) plan with your agency.

Learning objectives are drawn from the learner’s goal, the goal path requirements, and the learner assessments. These objectives direct the content, how it will be presented and the expected outcome. They help learners see how specific learning activities meet their learning needs.

Wording objectives from the learner’s perspective personalizes the objectives, for example, wording the objective as “I will” rather than “the learner will” or “you will.”

Objectives should clearly state what the learners will be able to do or demonstrate as a result of their LBS training. Objectives should not be vague. Instead they should be concrete and measureable. In the following chart, we show an example of a vague objective for a learner on the independence goal path. This is followed by examples of better and more specific learning objectives.

Learning objective: A statement in specific and measurable terms that describes what the learner will know or be able to do as a result of engaging in a learning activity.

Ohio University, Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine

As you can see from the chart, once you have specific, measurable learning objectives, you can relate these to the Ontario Adult Literacy Curriculum Framework (OALCF) competencies and task groups. The competencies that the learner needs to work on are the sub-goals and the task groups and level indicators are the plan items you use to populate the LBS Learner Plan for the EOIS-CaMS system.

The templates created by MTCU provide sub-goals and plan items in the language of the OALCF rather than as learning outcomes specific to the individual learner. Because of this, many programs have developed ways to document the distinctive outcomes for each learner. These may be simple statements such as those in the following forms or more detailed Learner Plan add-ons.

Filled in this becomes

The learning outcomes can also be incorporated into a larger format that includes learning objective tasks and overall timelines, such as Literacy Council York-Simcoe’s Literacy Program Learning Plan in the Sample Forms section. The sample is completed to show Jane Doe’s plan for the employment goal path, working mostly on Understand and Use Numbers Competency C, Level 2.

Learning Activities, Strategies and Resources

Once you have set the learning objectives with the learner, you can plan how you are going to help the learner meet those objectives. You will need to consider the methods, strategies, activities and resources that you will use to enable the learner to accomplish their learning objectives.

Once you have determined suitable, goal-related learning activities, a list of resources is needed to put the plan in motion. What tools will you use to teach the skills and task-completion abilities the learner must acquire? These tools might be books, worksheets, online training materials, videocasts or real-life materials.

To help compile resource lists for individual learners, some programs have developed generic resource lists for the various goal paths. The Learning Centre for Georgina has created supplemental learner plan resource forms relative to each of the five goal paths. These forms include resource lists of materials relevant to the goal path. They have developed lists for

Task-Based Resources (see the Employment Goal Path sample in the Sample Forms section)
Computer Programs
Paper-Based Resources
Additional Reading Comprehension Resources
Additional Resources

Task-Based Activities

The Ontario Adult Literacy Curriculum Framework is task-based and goal-directed. It is important that you include task completion as part of your learning strategies. Tasks should be related to the learners’ goal paths and goals.

Let’s consider a learner whose goal is clerical work (employment) and whose sub-goals (OALCF competencies) include

Find and Use Information
Communicate Ideas and Information
Use Digital Technology

Example activities might be:

researching clerical work using the Internet
writing a newsletter article of 200 – 300 words about clerical work and why it is a good choice for the learner
desktop publishing the article, including 1-3 photographs, using MS Word

It may seem like a big effort to think up tasks for all the learners’ plans, but help is available. There are a number of excellent resources available from which to draw. See the Additional Resources section of this module for suggestions.

Although the OALCF is task-based, learners still have to develop the skills to perform the tasks. “Skills are discrete descriptors of literacy and numeracy development, such as decoding, sentence structure and locating information. Tasks emphasize more than skills, as they consider purpose, context and culture to reflect actual use.” from OALCF: Selected Assessment Tools

Together, skills development and task performance make up half of the four aspects of literacy learning as defined in OALCF: Selected Assessment Tools.

skills development -> task performance -> social practice -> change

An excellent tool to help you break tasks down into their foundation skills is CESBA’s (Ontario Association of Adult and Continuing Education School Board Administrators) Embedded Skills, Knowledge and Attitudes Reference Guide for Ontario (ESKARGO).

Literacy Council York Simcoe has created Competency and Related Tasks Sheets for each of the goal paths. A copy of the sheet for the Independence Goal Path can be found in the Sample Forms section of this module.

For more information on learning activities, strategies and resources, see the Literacy Basics Training module.

Accommodations

The Accessibility of Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) legislates that educational institutions and their educators, teachers and staff are to learn about and provide accessible learning materials, course delivery and instruction and be knowledgeable at interacting and communicating with people with disabilities who may use alternate formats. This means, whenever a learner has a disability, which many of the learners we serve do, we must build accommodations into their learning plans.

“Documents that are as clear as possible, teaching methods that are as engaged, as relevant and as explicit as possible, using a wide variety of strategies in instruction, bringing inclusive materials (like curriculum that reflects diversity) into any learning environment – these are simply good practices to support everyone’s learning.” “Every initiative to accommodate has to be unique to the strengths, needs and desires of each individual, and arrived at in consultation with them. Yet sometimes people can’t figure out what might help, either because no one has ever asked them before, or because they’ve only recently articulated the nature of their challenges.” Current Best Practices and Supportive Interventions for Clients with Learning Disabilities Toolkit

What Might the Accommodations Look Like?

Current Best Practices and Supportive Interventions for Clients with Learning Disabilities Toolkit has adapted some suggestions from LDonline.org’s excellent online resource, Accommodations and Compliance Series: Employees with Learning Disabilities. These cover the areas of Reading, Spelling, Writing, Mathematics, Speaking/Communicating, Organizational Skills, Memory, Time Management and Social Skills.

Adaptive and assistive technologies are becoming more and more widely available, affordable, and understood. E-readers, text magnifiers, screen readers and voice-to-text programs are a few of the common possibilities. Current Best Practices and Supportive Interventions for Clients with Learning Disabilities Toolkit provides some suggestions you may want to build into some learner plans. However, the toolkit cautions “Careful needs-based selection of assistive technology is paramount, but more importantly, selection has to be collaborative with learners, chosen according to their preference and goals. The phenomenon of “buy in” is central.”

Timelines

Would you head out on a long bus, train or plane trip with no idea of how long it would take to get to your destination? No, you would expect a schedule and estimated time of arrival. So, too, do the learners have a right to know when they can expect to finish the Literacy and Basic Skills part of their journey. They need to have a timeline.

A timeline is a timetable or a schedule of events. Timelines are usually divided into blocks or sections with each section ending in a milestone. Timelines show events and activities in the order in which they will happen or have happened.

The Learner Plan timeline is the chronological map of the learners’ time in our program. It shows when blocks of learning will be completed and which milestone or other assessment strategy will validate the learning in that section. We can think of each plan item as a block. These blocks are the time in which the learner will complete activities to develop the skills to manage tasks at task group levels. Each plan item should have an expected start and end date. When all the blocks are put together, we can estimate the overall time it will take the learner to reach their LBS goal and be ready to transition to their next step.

Estimating how long it will take to do something is often very difficult. Here are some tips for creating a realistic timeline:

look at each sub-goal and plan item
analyze the various activities and tasks you have planned
determine the order in which the activities, tasks and plan items need to be done
estimate how long each activity, task, or plan item will take and then plan a little extra time for each
plan for an extra activity or two in case the learner experiences difficulty
add all the times to get an estimate of the total time for each plan item, sub-goal, etc.
be flexible – adjust the plan and timelines to the learner’s needs to keep it current and relevant.

Try using a Gantt chart to help you track the various pieces and to provide a visual for you and the learner. Gantt charts are commonly used in project management. However, as they show activities (tasks or events) displayed against time, they are also useful for planning learning. Each activity is represented by a bar. The bar represents the start date, duration and end date of the activity. This allows you to see at a glance:

what the activities are
when each activity should start and end
where activities overlap with other activities, and by how much
the start and end date of the whole plan

In the example Gantt chart below, there are numbers representing the tasks. Providing details of the tasks and activities would make it easier for the learner to visualize their learner plan.

You can create a Gantt chart by hand on graph paper or use downloadable Excel templates. Microsoft Project or other specialized software have Gantt chart views.

Planning for Learning Demonstration and Validation

Assessment is a critical part of the Literacy and Basic Skills program. We need to ensure that assessment of learning is built into the Learner Plan. Without assessment at various stages along the timeline, how will any of the stakeholders – the learners, the funder, our transition partners or ourselves – know that the training is working?

For the learner to feel ownership of their plan, they need to know how to tell when the plan is complete. They should know

what success will look like
how success will be determined
who will be the judge of success

The Learner Plan Template includes fields for recording tasks and other learning activities to demonstrate learners’ progress towards completion of their goal path and their readiness to transition beyond the LBS Program.

Within the OALCF, milestones are the main tools used to demonstrate completion of plan items. “Milestones are goal-related assessment activities that learners complete to demonstrate their abilities to carry out goal-related tasks. Learners and practitioners work together to choose milestones that are meaningful and appropriate, given both the learner’s literacy skills and the learner’s goals.” (Employment Ontario Partner’s Gateway Overview of the OALCF – General Questions and Answers, Question #4 – How are Milestones and Culminating Tasks captured?)

You are not to show the learner any milestones until the learner is ready to attempt that milestone. However, you should share the overall concept of milestones and the general description of the individual milestones selected.

Selected milestones should be entered into EOIS-CaMS at the time you enter the learner’s service plan. As a result, the milestone numbers will print out on the downloaded Learner Plan.

“Another indication of learner achievement is the successful completion of goal-related culminating tasks. These are more complex than milestone tasks and aligned with the Curriculum Framework. Culminating tasks draw together multiple competencies which may be at different levels of complexity. The successful completion of a culminating task is an important demonstration of the learner’s ability to manage the kinds of tasks they will encounter once they transition beyond the LBS Program.” (Employment Ontario Partner’s Gateway Overview of the OALCF – General Questions and Answers, Question #4 – How are Milestones and Culminating Tasks captured?)

Milestones and culminating tasks are not the only means of demonstrating learning. You and the learner should work together to plan what other means can be used to show acquisition of skills and ability to complete goal-related tasks. Task-based activities like those found on www.taskbasedactivitiesforlbs.ca or integrated tasks are two examples of other ways to assess learning. For more information on assessing, go to the Literacy Basics module on Assessment.

Reviewing the Plan

Learner plans are not static. They are living documents. Literacy learners may face many barriers and challenges that can affect their learning ability and schedules. When these things occur, we need to adjust the plan to suit the learners’ current needs.

Some reasons for Learner Plan changes are

a learner changes their goal
significant events affect the timelines (health, absenteeism, etc.)
progress varies from the original estimate

To ensure that Learner Plans continue to meet the learners’ goals, learning objectives and time frames, you must regularly review the plans. This is a Literacy and Basic Skills service provider requirement (LBS Service Provider Guidelines, effective October 2016). Most importantly, reviewing the Learner Plan ensures that it continues to fit the learner’s needs.

A living document is a document that is continually edited and updated.

Wikipedia

Changing a Learner Plan

If a learner’s plan needs adjusting (assuming you are using the Enhanced Learner Plan), you should take the following steps:

When to Review Learner Plans

There is no set time frame for reviewing Learner Plans. The reviews should be appropriate to the learners’ schedules. For example, if a learner attends your program only 2 days a week, the time frame between reviews might be longer than for a learner who attends 5 days a week. In another instance, a learner who progresses quickly might have reviews more often than someone who takes a little longer to master skills and complete tasks.

The Ministry also requires us to have a system to remind us to review files. Programs do this in different ways, such as

day-timers and computer-based task tracking such as Outlook
event activity reminders built into the Employment Ontario Information System Case Management System (EOIS-CaMS). Note: LBS practitioners must be authorized to enter information into, and download from, EOIS-CaMS. Authorization and user codes are arranged by your agency’s Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities Employment and Training Consultant (ETC) following a request from your agency’s Service Provider Registration Authority (SPRA)
review as milestones are completed
reviews of all files at a specific time, such as monthly

Learner Plan Development in Summary

We need to have Learner Plans completed, signed and in our files. But Learner Plans should belong to the learners. Engage learners in developing the Learner Plan so that they understand

the steps that should be taken
the order in which skills and tasks should be addressed
the resources and activities to be used to help them with each plan item (OALCF Competency) and sub-goal (OALCF Task Group)
the relationship between the learning activities, the learning objectives and their goals
how the strategies and methods suit their needs and learning styles
what types of training delivery will be used for what learning, for example:
one-to-one tutoring
small group
classroom
blended learning using some e-Channel
other online training
how the learning will be assessed
when and how the plan will be reviewed

Questions and Activities for Reflection

The LBS Service Provider Guidelines (October 2016) say that you “need to work with learners to develop a Learner Plan that reflects what the learner needs for the goal path.” This closely resembles Malcolm Knowles’ first assumption about adult learning in his theories of andragogy. We have listed his assumptions, along with his recommendations for content of learning contracts, in the first box below. In the second box, we have listed the Ministry’s requirements for LBS Learner Plans. Compare the two lists. Do MTCU’s expectations vary significantly from Malcolm Knowles’?
Presently, which of the following would you say is the main way you use the Learner Plan?
– as an administrative device
– as a helpful tool for the practitioner
– as a means for learners to own their learning
Take some time to consider how you develop a new learner’s Learner Plan. At what points is the learner given the opportunity to provide input into the development of the plan?
How might you involve the learner even more in Learner Plan development?
Knowles mentions six needs that adult learners have:
– to know
– to be self-directing
– to have the learners’ unique experiences taken into account
– to gear learning to the learners’ readiness to learn
– to organize learning around life tasks or life problems
– to tap into intrinsic motivations
Which needs would you say you are best at addressing?
Are there any needs that you think you should make an extra effort at meeting? If so, what is one step you could take?
If the learners were asked by someone outside of your agency what steps they would have to take to reach their goals, how confident are you that they would be able to explain them?
How do you make sure that the learners are clear on what their objectives/learning outcomes are?
What would you say are the main difficulties you have faced in setting realistic timelines for learners? What is one thing you could do to develop your timelinesetting skills?
The Learner Plan template has a sub-goal called Learning Activities. Do you think what you presently record in this space is helpful to the learners?
What system does your program use to ensure you review Learner Plans in a regular and timely manner?