86 Facilitator to work things out. The Facilitator’s main job will be to help instructors and students with their technical issues. As Diana explains, “The main objective of the onboarding program is to demonstrate that teaching online is very doable. There are things to remember, but it doesn’t have to be stressful.” Interested in Learning More? Instructor Profiles Context In Diana’s & Lauren’s Own Words Application of Technology Standards Instructor Profiles: Diana Agudelo and Lauren Hebert have worked together in the Edmonton Catholic Separate School Division’s LINC Program since 2011. Diana is currently the program’s academic coordinator, and Lauren works primarily as a literacy instructor. Diana, who began her ESL career as a language instructor, is originally from Columbia, South America. She arrived in Alberta in 2009 shortly after finishing a Master’s degree in ESL at Minnesota State University. She was hired immediately to teach in the LINC program, which she continued to do for the next 13 years. In 2021, she was hired by the Edmonton Catholic Separate School Division (ECSSD) to take on a new role as the Adult ESL Program’s Academic Coordinator, where she continues to work today. Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) was a core class in Diana’s Master’s studies. While she was taking the program, she also worked as a Spanish teaching assistant, which required her to teach online using Adobe Connect and Skype – her first immersion into technology-assisted teaching. When COVID-19 arrived in 2020, this experience proved invaluable. As Diana puts it, “Pretty much every language instruction program had to move to online instruction or go out of business. We all had a lot to learn, but having some experience as an online instructor was so important in helping me plan the way forward.” Lauren first encountered English as a Foreign Language (EFL) instruction when volunteering overseas as a high school graduate. When people realized that she spoke English, they would occasionally ask if she would be willing to teach English. As Lauren explains, “In some informal overseas contexts, just speaking English is enough of a credential to teach. Although I didn’t feel fully equipped to do so, I welcomed the challenge, enjoyed the experience, and returned to Canada looking forward to further training in TESL.” When Lauren returned to Canada, she completed a degree in Linguistics at the University of Alberta, followed by a stint as a language researcher. She developed a real love for learning, especially regarding how people learn to speak a language. How do children and infants learn to speak their first language? How do adults learn to speak a second language? That led her to take a Master’s degree in TESL at the University of Alberta, which she completed in 2017. Almost immediately, Lauren was hired by ECSD LINC where she has been working primarily as a literacy instructor ever since. Lauren took on the role of Portfolio Based Language Assessment (PBLA) Lead in 2020. CC-BY-NC-SA 2025 New Language Solutions Avenue Instructor Standards for Technology-Enhanced Language Learning, version 1.2
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