TOWES has been working in a partnership with the Canadian Virtual College Consortium (CVCC) and Fanshawe College to develop and test our new online training tool: Essential Skills Direct.

The ESD field test is currently underway; for more information on what our partners are contributing to this project check out CVCC’s project website.  Here you will learn about how Fanshawe College is using a new technological and human interactive approach to help vunerable learners to over come learning barriers. Fanshawe’s  ‘Distance Education Assistive Bundle’ will be tested by some of the participating field-test learners as they work their way through ESD.

To learn more about this project, contact us, visit the CVCC website, or follow the TOWES Times for updates.

The TOWES website will soon be unveiling a new look.

The TOWES team has been working hard to not only improve the look of our website – but enhance the user experience.

Check out this Sneak Peek of the new TOWES.com:

sneak peek of the NEW TOWES.com

See anything you like?

What improvements would you like to see?

Looking for an Essential Skills Assessment related to your industry?

Take a look at the TOWES Sector Series Assessments which target the following sectors:

• Manufacturing
• Office and Administration
• Aerospace
• Health Care
• Entrance into Apprenticeship.

These tests were developed using extensive research on the Reading Text, Document Use and Numeracy requirements of the occupations in the above industries. Each test targets the Essential Skills levels required by those occupations, and the documents used in the problem sets have been selected from the industry. The Sector Series assessments help show employers, sector councils, training departments and test takers how TOWES is relevant to their industry. As with any TOWES test, the test taker does not need any specific background knowledge of the sector to complete the assessment. The sector series assessment is a great option to keep in mind for clients with a career goal.

Also, don’t forget about the TOWES General Series assessments. The “G-Series” are by far our most popular assessments, and prove to be a great option for use in situations where clients may not have a career choice in mind, and is also good for testing large groups of varying ability.

Do you have questions about using TOWES to assess Essential Skills? Contact Us.

New Year, New Projects

2010 is proving to be a busy year for TOWES and the TOWES staff.

In the first month we have been on the road to visit our distributors and partners, participate in project meetings and deliver training sessions.

TOWES is also busy with a couple new pilot projects, which are being conducted in Alberta and across the country:

Essential Skills Direct (ESD) - We have 13 project partners on board to field test this new Essential Skills training tool; that means almost 300 participants across Canada will be involved.

Essential Skills Online for Licensed Practical Nurses (ESO-LPN) – TOWES is excited to launch the field test for ESO for LPN, an online Essential Skills too developed specifically for IPNDIEN (Integrated Practical Nurse Diploma for Internationally Educated Nurses).  Developed as a support tool for internationally educated nurses, ESN for LPN features several enhancements that consider Essential Skills instruction for ESL learners. If you are interested in learning more about this project or participating in the field testing, please contact Meghan at: 403.410.3198.

Stay tuned to the TOWES Times, as we will be announcing some new exciting projects that we have coming up for 2010 — including changes to our website.

Tell us about the new Essential Skills projects you have on the go!