Digital Literacy Initiatives

The U. S. Department of Education, Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education (OCTAE), Division of Adult Education and Literacy (DAEL) funds digital literacy initiatives to enable adult learners to succeed in a range of academic activities, including STEM and college and career readiness. These initiatives enhance the integration of technology into instruction, increase student access to technology and leverage learning outside the classroom.

• Resources for Students
• Resources for Teachers and Tutors
• Resources for Programs

Resources for Students

Resources for Teachers and Tutors

• Digital Equity: Exploring this Modern Civil Right podcast explores digital equity and why it is considered by many to be the civil right for our time.
• Digital Resilience in the American Workforce (DRAW) Blog Series shares lessons learned from a national landscape scan conducted by World Education, Inc., Jobs for the Future (JFF), and Safal Partners. The goal of DRAW is to better prepare and support adult education practitioners to teach foundational digital skills and address barriers learners face when using digital technologies.
• Digital Resilience in the American Workforce (DRAW) Publications and Resources are deep dives into DRAW findings, from our national landscape scan on adult digital literacy. These deep dives offer a closer look into resources and approaches for adult educators to use in the classroom.
• The Digital Resilience in the American Workforce (DRAW) Landscape Scan is a wide array of information on instructional content and strategies, assessment needs and tools, digital access and equity models, and professional development models and resources. This scan informs the resources and professional development created through DRAW. Second, it pulls together much-needed information, resources, practices, and models for adult education professionals and others engaged in digital literacy instruction, digital equity and access initiatives, research, and policy.
• The Digital Skills Library is a crowdsourced learning resource curated by adult educators, digital navigators, digital skills training providers, and other individuals dedicated to ensuring all adults have access to quality digital skills content.
• Improving Adult Literacy Instruction: Supporting Learning and Motivation booklet describes principles of effective instruction to guide those who design and administer adult literacy programs and courses. It also explores ways to motivate learners to persist in their studies. 
• Integrating Digital Literacy and Problem Solving into Instruction is a collection of lesson plans and ideas to accelerate learning for adult students by improving their use of technology to solve problems and communicate with others. View Webinar
• Integrating Technology in the Adult Education Classroom is a self-paced course that examines the why, how, and what questions for integrating technology in the adult education classroom. Log in to the LINCS Learning Portal.
• Integrating Digital Literacy into English Language Instruction is a resource suite focusing on foundational digital literacy skills, the importance of digital literacy, and ways to integrate digital literacy into instruction with information and communication technologies.
• Issue Brief: Digital Literacy explains what digital literacy skills are and why they are important. It describes what skills students need for digital literacy and provides tips for integrating digital literacy in the adult education classroom.
• OER STEM Project is an open educational resource designed to increase teaching and learning of STEM subjects in adult education. OER STEM aims to strengthen science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) instructional content and practice in adult education specifically through the use of widely available and free open educational resources
• The Teaching Skills that Matter Digital Literacy toolkit components support teachers to integrate the digital literacy skills that matter to adult students by using integrated & contextualized learning, problem-based learning, and project-based learning.
• Use Technology Effectively provides ideas on how you can use the technology you have more effectively in the teaching and learning environment. Teaching Excellency in Adult Education (TEAL) highlights ways to be creative despite uneven technology infrastructure.

Resources for Programs

• Building the Technology Ecosystem for Correctional Education: Brief and Discussion Guide  describes technical, instructional, and other considerations for adopting and integrating technology to support education in prisons and jails.
• Building a Digitally Resilient Workforce: Creating On-Ramps to Opportunity is a report from the Digital US coalition and is the result of a six-month landscape analysis and strategic planning period, laying the groundwork for a new collective impact approach to support both on-ramps to digital skills as well as pathways to new opportunities.
• Connected Teaching and Personalized Learning: Implications of the National Education Technology Plan (NETP) for Adult Education lays out a broad vision and applies these concepts to the adult education field and adult learners who are not currently connected to an established program. It follows the structure of the National Education Technology Plan (NETP) 2010 by addressing five areas of concern—Learning, Assessment, Teaching, Infrastructure, and Productivity. The 2016 Plan, Future Ready Learning: Reimagining the Role of Technology in Education articulates a vision of equity, active use, and collaborative leadership to make everywhere, all-the-time learning possible.
• Educational Technology in Corrections 2015 informs corrections and correctional education administrators as they explore ways to securely and cost effectively provide advanced technologies in corrections facilities to help strengthen and expand educational and reentry services.
• Improving Adult Literacy Instruction: Supporting Learning and Motivation booklet describes principles of effective instruction to guide those who design and administer adult literacy programs and courses. It also explores ways to motivate learners to persist in their studies. 
• Integrating Technology in WIOA highlights the places in Title II, Adult Education and Family Literacy Act, in which technology plays a supporting role in the improvement of teaching, learning, professional development, productivity, and system efficiencies.
• Issue Brief: Digital Literacy explains what digital literacy skills are and why they are important. It describes what skills students need for digital literacy and provides tips for integrating digital literacy in the adult education classroom.
• Reboot Your Digital Strategy! highlights efforts by OCTAE and the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) to work together to enhance the digital literacy of youths and adults with low skills.
• Use Technology Effectively provides ideas on how you can use the technology you have more effectively in the teaching and learning environment. Teaching Excellency in Adult Education (TEAL) highlights ways to be creative despite uneven technology infrastructure.