2025 Symposium

Registration & refreshments: 8:00 a.m. – 8:30 a.m. 

Opening remarks: 8:30 a.m. – 8:45 a.m.

• Dean Laura Dinehart, College of Education & Human Development
• Ben Lando, Publisher, NowKalamazoo
• Michael Evans, KLC Executive Director

Session descriptions: 

8:45 a.m. – 9:45 a.m.
Empowering Literacy: Proven Strategies for Supporting Adult Readers 
Presenter: Jennifer Blanchard, M.A.
Join us for this rich and engaging session where educators will learn evidence-based methods to address common reading challenges faced by adult learners. Participants will explore techniques for enhancing phonics, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension. Through collaborative practice, attendees will apply strategies, engage in peer feedback, and take time to reflect. By the end of this workshop, educators will be prepared to implement these approaches, fostering improved reading skills and confidence in their adult learners.

8:45 a.m. – 9:45 a.m.
From Prompt to Practice: AI Tools for Adult Educators
Presenters: Abbey Weathers & Dr. Elizabeth Isidro
Discover how artificial intelligence can help you create engaging, personalized learning materials for adult learners. Using real-life scenarios, you will design activities and exercises for different literacy and language levels, build interactive games and conversation prompts, and apply AI ethically while keeping learning human-centered. You’ll leave with practical tools, creative ideas, and the confidence to use AI in a way that supports every learner.

9:45 a.m. – 10:45 a.m.
Adult Student Attainment: Changing Systems
Presenter: Patrick Brown
In the last two fiscal years, Michigan has made significant investments into adult educational attainment related to attracting adult learners, adult learners without a high school diploma or equivalency into the postsecondary landscape.  We will share with attendees about important investments in Michigan including an innovative adult education funding model for innovation in programming that leads to college attainment.  In addition, our efforts to support an expansion of Michigan Reconnect, a statewide tuition program to make college more affordable for Michiganders. Additionally, we will show how we are leveraging policy shifts to provide wrap around support for learners across Michigan in connection to innovative program grants and regional collaboratives.

9:45 a.m. – 10:45 a.m.
Research in Adult Learning
Presenter: Dr. Joe Kretovics
This presentation will address how principles and practices of adult learning can be applied to create effective conditions for learning in formal and informal settings. We will explore how experience, self-directed learning, critical reflection, and transformative learning can be used to improve learner outcomes and help close the literacy opportunity gap.

11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Tutoring Strategies for Community Literacy Centers
Presenter: Michael D. Evans 
Community Literacy Centers provide adult learners with opportunities to participate in classes, groups, one-on-one tutoring, and self-paced learning with instruction provided by volunteer tutors. This session will share strategies on how to provide various types of instruction for adult learners of multiple levels using the CLC Model developed by the Kalamazoo Literacy Council. Attendees will learn how quality adult education services have been extended throughout Kalamazoo County through Community Literacy Centers to help close the literacy opportunity gap.

12:45 p.m. – 1:45 p.m.
Adult Learning Strategies for Family Literacy Adventures
Presenter: Michael D. Evans
Parents are the first teachers of their children, and helping their children read is a critical part of
parenting. This session will provide strategies to incorporate objectives to family literacy activities
that support academic and professional outcomes for adult learners. These multi-general learning strategies have been developed through the Parent Literacy Together program, which is operated by KLC in collaboration with the Adult Education and Training Program at Goodwill Industries of Southwestern Michigan. Updated strategies that prepare parents to guide storytelling and learning activities with their children will be shared along with career pathway opportunities that can be provided in a family literacy setting.

12:45 p.m. – 1:45 p.m.
Adult Learning with Incarcerated Populations
Presenter: Dr. Dale Brown 
Brown’s talk will be centered on his experience founding, directing, and teaching for Western Michigan University’s college-in-prison program, Higher Education for the Justice-Involved. Over the course of seven or so years, the program has found its footing as an interdisciplinary liberal arts program that is firmly, unapologetically, and full-throatedly rooted in the humanities. To complete the rigorous BA program, students must earn at least 122 credits. HEJI students are, by many measures, wildly successful in the college-in-prison classroom. This success, however, might stem from causes which may strike many of us as counter-intuitive.

2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Workforce Literacy with Burlington English 
Presenter: Jessi Pavey 
Workforce Literacy skills are a major goal for the learners we support, but coming up with a way to teach it can be difficult. The Kalamazoo Literacy Council has spent several years working to ensure that our learners get the best skill training possible, and the best includes the use of Burlington English. In this session you will learn how we have created a workforce program for all learners. You will be given the syllabus we use in our 6-week JOBS program and the opportunity to see how we utilize Google Classroom making it easy for individuals to learn anywhere, anytime.

2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Adult Learner Advisors: Panel Discussion 
Facilitator: Patrick Brown 
This panel will feature adult learners from the Kalamazoo Literacy Council who will share stories and experiences about their literacy journeys.