Educator's Corner

It has been a great joy for our staff at Mindquest Academy to work with many of you in the past few years: with teachers in the three pilots; with college faculty in early development of courses; with our Advisory Group from MnSCU, state ABE, and MLC; and with other adult education professionals. We will continue to support and expand this unique community of adult educators who are committed to creating new opportunities for adult learners to enter and succeed in post-secondary education. Pilot trials with ABE are ending but we will develop new strategies for training teachers so that increasing numbers of teachers will have access to the courses. We will also put into place an online teacher certification process, with assistance from state ABE. We'll continue our College Prep pilot with community/technical colleges, and we will expand to new campuses with classrooms staffed by ABE teachers.

We want to create a kind of "clearinghouse" here in our website, a place where adult educators can come to learn about new online and other college preparatory efforts nationally, to share ideas and experience, and to ask questions of each other and of us. We'll be building this part of our website continuously and inviting your contributions in a number of ways.

We're excited about the ABE Transitions to College Initiative and we look forward to working with both ABE programs and colleges. We'll keep you informed about what we're doing with this new effort.

ABE teachers speak out

Here are a few remarks from three ABE pilot teachers:

Mindquest Academy answers our funder's request for learners who progress into postsecondary and employment. Mindquest Academy is a preparatory tool. It helps learners gain the skills for success in postsecondary and employment. As more online communication and learning activities are being integrated into education and employment, our ABE learners need to have online learning and communication skills in order to compete and be successful

These courses were very interesting to teach. I was looking for something that was appropriate for our students and this definitely was. The materials were at easier to more difficult levels, wide ranging, and carefully sequenced. I plan to use them again.

For those who had not used computers to learn before, their confidence with technology increased. They truly felt great about learning a new way to learn. For those who were already computer literate, it opened up a sense of independence and flexibility of learning that is not possible in a traditional classroom.