Northstar Digital Literacy Standards

Why Digital Literacy?

Parenting: School lunch payments are made via websites or phone apps.

Employment Many job applications are online or require email to apply.

Once hired, many employee systems are technology dependent – timesheets, time off requests, tax forms, benefits sign ups…

On the job tech skills are everywhere– even in jobs that traditionally did not require tech skills. This forklift has a touchscreen PC for inventory and delivery instructions.

Online appointment form for scheduling appointments with USCIS (United States Citizenship & Naturalization Services) USCIS

Apps and websites helpful for navigating transit systems

Electronic medical records, test results, communication with doctors

Philando Castile – the aftermath of the shooting was broadcast on FaceBook live video. If you were a part of that community, this was a huge news story, which you would be effectively unable to engage in with the rest of your community if you lacked digital literacy skills or access to the internet.

Digital Literacy Impacts Every Aspect of Life Parenting Employment Banking & money management, taxes Civic participation & community engagement Healthcare Housing Transportation Further education & training News & information access Shopping Entertainment

5-Minute Partner Discussion How many ways have you used digital technology in the past 24 hours? In what ways are individuals excluded from full participation in society when they lack digital skills and/or internet access?

Northstar Digital Literacy Project www.digitalliteracyassessment.org Roots in St. Paul Standards came first Originally developed for stand-alone computer classes Incorporated into primary content instruction in ABE Online, interactive assessments of knowledge and skills Sponsoring sites can proctor assessments and offer certificates Also play the intro video from the Northstar homepage. https://youtu.be/0ZPC5Er6md4

The Standards Basic Computer Skills World Wide Web Windows Mac OS X Email Word Social Media Excel PowerPoint Information Literacy

Intersection with CCRS & TIF Both CCRS & TIF have standards that require digital skills CCRS & TIF are broad & do not detail specific digital competencies

TIF – Effective Communication Skill 3 SWBAT… Utilize a variety of technologies for communication Sub Skills: a. Evaluate and use appropriate technology tools for clear and meaningful interactions to suit purpose and audience (e-mail, texting, Skype, social media, cell phone) What does it mean to be able to use email? Is that just logging in, reading and sending messages? What about attachments? Dealing with spam? Using folders? Deleting messages? Northstar sets out to answer these questions.

Reading CCR Anchor Standard 7 Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse media and formats, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words. C: Draw on information from multiple print or digital sources, demonstrating the ability to locate an answer to a question quickly or to solve a problem efficiently. What digital literacy skill are implicit in this reading standard? What do learners need to be able to do on a digital device in order to “draw on information from… digital sources”?

CCRS & Northstar – Let’s take a look! It’s time for an activity! Will need the handout with the CCRS & Northstar exercise.

Tips for Planning Instruction #1: Make it relevant! Content or language learning objectives should drive activities. Teach the digital skills necessary to carry out the learning activity. Make the relevance to learners’ goals explicit.

Tips for Planning Instruction #2: Do a little at a time Don’t try to teach the entirety of Word or Gmail in one lesson. Add skills incrementally as activities become more complex.

Tips for Planning Instruction #3: Teach concepts and digital skills explicitly Digital literacy is more than just controlling the device and pushing buttons. Comprehension of underlying concepts is critical! How is a browser different from Word? Why can you not send email to an Internet address? Is someone@someplace a complete email address? What’s missing? If you save a document to a computer’s hard drive, can you open that document on a different computer? Why/why not?

Tips for Planning Instruction #4: Model and let learners model Think-aloud Ask guiding questions Let a more skilled learner lead the class Try pair work - two learners, one device (let the less- skilled learner control the device)

Tips for Planning Instruction #5: Learners need opportunities to use digital technologies in a meaningful context Hands-on Purposeful

Where can we learn more? http://online.themlc.org There are also a number of excellent sessions on this topic in the conference coming up!

Where can we find instructional resources? In your binder! In the Next Steps section, look for the list of Digital Literacy Instructional Resources.

What questions do you have?