+ northstar digital literacy standards …an emerging community initiative
TRANSCRIPT
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Northstar Digital Literacy Standards
…an emerging community initiative
+Presentation overview
SPCLC
Adult Basic Education in transition
Why are standards needed?
Development and functioning of Task Force
Structure of Standards
How they are being used now
Certification process
Working with employers
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Mission: Building a more literate community
Last year – served 13,332 adult learners, provided 1,210,463 service hours
Largest consortium in Minnesota
Broad-based collaboration at all levels of the community
Website
+SPCLC Members
St. Paul Public Schools Adult Learning
St. Paul Public Library
11 community based non-profits: CLUES, GAP, HAP, Hmong Cultural Center, Jewish Community Center, Lao Family, Minnesota Literacy Council, MORE, Neighborhood House, VSS
Lifetrack Resources
Structure and memberships facilitates a variety of culturally sensitive services for diverse parts of the St. Paul community
+External Partners
Ramsey County WIB
DEED/FastTRAC
MDE
DHS
St. Paul College
Other non-profits
Local businesses
+SPCLC ABE Services
ELL – 75% of participants
Adult Basic Education (preparing for GED, basic skill brush-up) – 20%
Adult Secondary (GED) – 4%
Other programs – FastTRAC, family literacy, workforce education, distance learning
+Adult Basic Education:in transition
As the economy and society changes, ABE evolves: Emphasis on preparing for transition to employment or
higher education Collaboration with an array of institutions and organizations Involvement with public policy
One common theme: Digital literacy
+Digital literacy: Where we are now? ATLAS 2010 ABE Pracititioner survey* (≈600 teachers)
80.9% of 608 ABE teachers reported using the Internet with their learners
75% of the practitioners worked at a site with a computer lab
61% use computers or a mobile computer lab in the classroom
Libraries, non-profits, and other organizations report high demand for basic computer digital literacy training
Employers increasingly requiring technology skills for entry level jobs
Evolving definition of literacy includes digital literacy banking, paying bills, communicating with schools, friends, social networking, etc.
*Charting the Future: Minnesota’s ABE Workforce: Professional Experience, Challenges and Needs Survey results from ATLAS’ ABE professional development survey, Kelly Marchwick, ATLAS Consultant 2/10/2010
+Where do we need to be?
NEW ParadigmFrom supported use to independent useGet adults beyond basic skills threshold so they can use technology to learn and get jobs
Learners need to INDEPENDENTLY use computers for learning to prepare for post-secondary coursework
Workers need to have mastered basic skills threshold for most jobs
+Online Learning in Post-Secondary Programs
ATLAS 2008 Instructional Practices Alignment Survey (page 4)
70% of MnSCU faculty use hybrid instruction (f2f + online learning)
Governor’s goal for MNSCU - 25% of all credits will be earned on- line by 2015
+Technology use in WFC System & at work.
Job search is done online
Entry level job applications are online
WFC systems report high demand for assistance with resume writing, online job search database tools, and career development (ISEEK)
New technology demands in the workplace
+Implications
How can we define digital literacy standards responsive to changing needs and realities?
How do we get low-skilled adults ready for the future??
How do we work with the larger community - community support professionals & institutions – as well as ABE teachers to this end?
+Digital literacy standards needed
To standardize basic expectations
To align instructional efforts of ABE, libraries, WFC, non-profits and others
To meet employer expectations
To produce a more flexible, better qualified workforce
+St. Paul Digital Literacy Task Force
"Develop a commonly accepted set of digital literacy standards that will facilitate empowerment of adults needing technology skills for daily living, employment preparation, and/or transition to higher education
+Task Force Structure
Group began meeting spring 2010 at request of St. Paul Public Library
Open process for membership
Bi-weekly meetings to develop standards, pre-assessment, and test to attain Credential of Basic Computer Digital Literacy
Participants include professionals from community based non-profits, libraries, school district and non-profit ABE programs, state agencies
Google site used to manage Task Force
+Review of other standards
Thorough review of other resources
Two main problems: Based on much higher skill levels than we felt were
desirable, or were possible for many of our students/clients Many were proprietary, with a significant cost
Thus, we decided to design our own standards
+The Benchmarks
Information Literacy - the set of skills needed to find, retrieve, analyze, and use information
What is Digital Literacy?
Taskforce defined its initial task as defining standards for basic computer skills
Decided not to design curricula
+Northstar Digital/Core Computer Literacy Standards
Five standard areas defined Basic Computer Use Internet Windows Operating System Email Word Processing (Microsoft Word 2007)
Available on the web
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+How are the standards being used?Learner Web Partnership:
A Multi-state Support System for Broadband Adoption for Vulnerable Adults
Digital Literacy Instruction on skills needed in the digital world. Links to Blandin BTOP Project.
Broadband Consumer Education defining high-speed Internet, it’s role in digital inclusion, and how to make good decisions about accessing Broadband.
Career Pathways Orientation introducing Career Pathways, importance of career planning and developed examples of pathways in locally relevant industries. Provides a framework and instruction for how to use popular career and job database tools like GPS LifePlan, Perkins MN POS, iSEEK, and MNWORKS.net
+Future development of standards Develop assessment online tool to verify mastery of
skills (funding obtained from Otto Bremer Foundation and LSTA)
Certificate of Basic Literacy Skills awarded upon successful completion of assessment - the hope is this will be seen by employers as meaningful
Community campaign to familiarize employers and the broader community with the Standards
+Looking to the Future…
Future taskforce initiatives will focus on other Digital Literacy Competencies Evaluation of online information sources Searching techniques Internet safety, privacy, and online identity Responsible use of information Accessing, creating and sharing online information Using mobile devices to access information Whatever comes next…
+What are other agencies doing?
BTOP/Learner Web project
DEED/MDE FastTRAC Programs – last RFP required programs to integrate technology into proposed course work
ABE/WFC Integrated Programming Workforce Development Trainers gain instructional skills
through collaboration with ABE teachers Blandin Foundation Broad Grant funded computer skills
tutorials Learner Web Broad Grant will support WFC clients learn
about Broadband access and how to use it to reach education and career goals.
+Discussion & Questions
+Further Information
Tom Cytron-Hysom
Jenifer Vanek