Learning Opportunities

The Edmonton Regional Learning Consortium (ERLC) is hosting a one-year community of practice from May 2015 to June 2016. You will collaborate in a blended format, both face-to-face and an online environment. Raelene Finlayson will facilitate this project. Raelene has extensive experience working within early learning environments from teacher assistant to international consultant. She is the current ECS Coordinator in Parkland School District, and hopes to connect with many of the early childhood leaders she met while working as Senior Manager at Alberta Education. Raelene’s passion for connecting and expanding on best practices in ECS across various settings, will allow us to further reflect on our own teaching and learning in this area.

The goals of this project are to:

• Identify resources and strategies to support Early Childhood Services.
• Allow for a reflective dialogue on a variety of ECS topics including: inclusive practices, supports for emotional development, play based learning, pre-literacy, as well as other topics as determined by participants.

As a participant you would be committing to:

• Participate in a one-day face-to-face orientation session on May 20, 2015.
• Read and reflect on new pedagogical approaches to ECS.
• Participate in five one-hour online meetings/webinars throughout the year to share experiences, strategies and network with other participants.
• Contribute to discussions and co-develop a dedicated project website.
• Respond to two online surveys.
• Participate in a one-day follow-up session in May/June 2016 to share success stories.

Target Audience

Early Learning/Early Childhood Services CoP members