National LINC Online Curriculum & Online PBLA Project (NLOC)

This presentation provides an overview of the National LINC Online Curriculum (NLOC) project activities and timelines, it explains the purpose of the courseware, and it includes a demonstration of an e-unit. It shows specific activities at CLB 4 and how users navigate this learner-centered, task-based, accessible courseware.

The NLOC project, developed for the Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada (LINC) Program, will introduce innovative and unprecedented online courseware on avenue.ca. This is a five-year project funded by IRCC for CLB-3, CLB-4 and CLB-5 learners. This curriculum incorporates digital literacy and specialized content, such as Indigenous perspectives, Francophone communities, inclusivity and cultural awareness. This accessible courseware fills a language learning gap for self-directed, asynchronous learning, offering “off the shelf” comprehensive e-units that learners can do anytime, anywhere. Also designed to be flexible, this courseware can be used as a blended model in face-to-face and virtual classrooms, providing a ready-made curriculum for instructors to supplement as they see fit. This courseware includes the principles and best practices for a PBLA-aligned curriculum, incorporating real-world tasks, prior knowledge and experience, skill-building activities, skill-using and assessment tasks and reflection. Content is organized under themes for the 21st century, and the activities are designed to take the learner on a journey that builds skills and strategies needed for integration in work, education and community.