Our next postsecondary transitions promising practices stop is World Education in Massachusetts to talk about the Digital Resilience in the American Workforce (DRAW) project and the Digital Skills Library. Rachel Riggs, Technical Advisor with World Education, will join the discussion this week to talk more about both initiatives. Below is a brief overview of each project. Please comment in the discussion how these efforts might help the adult learners you serve be better prepared for transitioning to postsecondary education and training.
DRAW
To help adult education practitioners improve their ability to support learners who struggle to fully engage in tasks that demand use of digital technologies, JFF and World Education, with support from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education, have launched a new initiative called Digital Resilience in the American Workforce (DRAW). Through DRAW, we aim to do the following:
- Support professional development that enables teachers to be strategic and learner-focused in their lesson planning and instruction
- Support adult education programs in designing effective, flexible technology-enabled education and support services
- Provide state Adult Education and Family Literacy Act (AEFLA) funders and their professional development providers with models, guidance, and resources for supporting programs that sustain and expand digital literacy efforts
As part this new undertaking, we will provide the field with flexible, evidence-based, and piloted strategies and materials that help teachers build the digital literacy and digital resilience of adult learners. These efforts will help to ensure that adult learners can obtain the technical skills necessary for postsecondary education and training, employment, civic engagement, and economic self-sufficiency.
Digital Skills Library
DigitalSkillsLibrary.org was created by committed practitioners from community colleges, adult education and literacy organizations, and workforce development agencies across the United States and beyond who share the vision of a supporting a digitally resilient workforce. This resource addresses two of the major needs identified through the DRAW landscape scan: better awareness and access to instructional content, and better quality and variety for diverse learners.
Comments
Hello everyone!
Thanks for inviting me to join this exciting discussion highlighting promising practices for Career Pathways and Postsecondary Transitions.
What could be more important for the future of adult learners than developing digital resilience? In their recent report on Closing the Digital Skill Divide, the National Skills Coalition reports that 92% of jobs require digital skills. That's a percentage calculated in February of 2023. But what about March of 2023 and then September of 2023 and then February of 2024? As we all have experienced, technological advances are happening daily, and with that constant evolution comes an ever-changing landscape of technology use, especially in the workforce.
For adult learner-workers this means we have to build on digital skills instruction and work on fostering digital resilience which the DRAW initiative defines as, "the awareness, skills, agility, and confidence to be empowered users of new technologies and adapt to changing digital skill demands". To support adult ed practitioners in that effort, we are developing and piloting strategies and materials that will support digital literacy instruction.
? On the DRAW webpage, we've published the report from our landscape scan along with blog and deep dives that address every piece of digital skills integration from frameworks to assessment to instruction to professional development, and beyond.
? The Digital Skills Library is a library of thousands of FREE lessons, tutorials, eModules, videos, etc. that will assist educators in teaching digital skills. Explore the library where you can find resources by digital skills domains or using the keyword search.
? Coming soon! The Digital Skills Glossary will be part of the Digital Skills Library site. Join us on March 10 at 1 PM Eastern to explore the open glossary and imagine how you might put it to use! Register for the March EdTech Strategy Session.