Understanding the need for digital literacy skills for teachers & learners

Hello colleagues,

I know a major focus for many adult education programs in the past eight months has been supporting program staff and learners in building digital literacy skills. For a lot of us that has been rapid-response work to quickly figure out how to provide classes online and support learners remotely.

But I know that a lot of us are also working to support learners who are suddenly being called upon to use digital skills as part of their jobs -- often as essential workers in food service, healthcare, retail, or other industries. 

I wanted to share some new research from the nonprofit National Skills Coalition that illustrates the kind of digital skills our learners need to have, and how adult education can be part of the solution. Slides here; the full report is The New Landscape of Digital Literacy

Comments and reactions welcome!

Comments

Colleagues,

I invite you to review the full report. It’s important to note the report relies on PIAAC data describing the digital skills of adult learners and current labor market trends. One of my key takeaways was the idea of fragmented knowledge.

“It may seem surprising that in this day and age some workers have few or no digital skills. It is important to note that many of these workers may have fragmented knowledge: That is, they may be comfortable using a mobile phone to text a photo, but not be familiar with how to operate a mouse or upload a job application.”

Interestingly, there are several career clusters identified as having employees who need to upskill their technology literacy. Construction, transportation, and storage sectors have the highest proportion of workers without digital skills. Finally, I noted the connection between the need to increase the digital literacy of all learners to meet the ambitious goals for postsecondary credential attainment.

One of the comments in the report that made me pause was the comment to be aware of when technology is the tail wagging the dog. As professional development providers,

  • how could we use the information in this report?
  • how could we prepare educators to address the idea of fragmented knowledge? And
  • how do we ensure that the technology instruction isn't the 'tail wagging the dog' but rather meaningful integration to help learners increase their probelm solving skills while building technology resilience? 

Thank you for sharing this important report Amanda. There's a lot to unpack, but I look forward to our conversation.

Sincerely, 
Kathy Tracey

Colleagues,

I invite you to review the full report. It’s important to note the report relies on PIAAC data describing the digital skills of adult learners and current labor market trends. One of my key takeaways was the idea of fragmented knowledge.

“It may seem surprising that in this day and age some workers have few or no digital skills. It is important to note that many of these workers may have fragmented knowledge: That is, they may be comfortable using a mobile phone to text a photo, but not be familiar with how to operate a mouse or upload a job application.”

Interestingly, there are several career clusters identified as having employees who need to upskill their technology literacy. Construction, transportation, and storage sectors have the highest proportion of workers without digital skills. Finally, I noted the connection between the need to increase the digital literacy of all learners to meet the ambitious goals for postsecondary credential attainment.

One of the comments in the report that made me pause was the comment to be aware of when technology is the tail wagging the dog. As professional development providers,

  • how could we use the information in this report?
  • how could we prepare educators to address the idea of fragmented knowledge? And
  • how do we ensure that the technology instruction isn't the 'tail wagging the dog' but rather meaningful integration to help learners increase their probelm solving skills while building technology resilience? 

Thank you for sharing this important report Amanda. There's a lot to unpack, but I look forward to our conversation.

Sincerely, 
Kathy Tracey