+ 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

+ 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 Paradigm  From supported use to independent use  Get 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 Google site

+ 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 Information Literacy What is Digital Literacy?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 Word Processing (Microsoft Word 2007) Available on the web

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+ How are the standards being used? Learner Web Partnership: 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