92% of U.S. jobs require digital skills (Closing the Digital Skill Divide, National Skills Coalition, 2023). According to the Virginia-specific data from the NSC analysis, Virginia employers are more likely than the national average to require digital skills, with the Commonwealth’s most in-demand foundational digital skills being Microsoft Office suite, computer literacy, typing, social media, and data entry – not in rank order.
“without computer you cannot work on your life” – participant in EEC’s Intensive program
To close the digital divide, the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development Office of Broadband has put together a plan for the Commonwealth to achieve full digital opportunity “where residents have access to affordable, reliable high-speed internet, device access and the digital skills required to fully participate in the modern world.” The Virginia Digital Opportunity Plan identifies three goals to achieve full digital opportunity:
- Access and Affordability: Virginians will have access to affordable, reliable, high-speed internet.
- Digital Skills and Literacy: Virginians will have access to digital learning resources and sustainable devices.
- Adoption: Virginians will be equipped with the knowledge and skills to fully utilize broadband services, whether it be at their home or business.
To achieve digital equity, we need to work on digital inclusion, which includes digital literacy training among other activities. EEC’s adult education programs and student support services are well-situated to support digital skill development and adoption in the Commonwealth.
Digital Inclusion at English Empowerment Center
“English language skills and digital literacy are essential for obtaining and keeping a family-sustaining job, supporting children in school, participating in community life, obtaining community services, and accessing further education and training” (Harris, 2015).
The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the digital transformation at EEC, spurring staff, instructors, and learners to become familiar with Zoom and other tech tools to continue classes online. But EEC’s investment in enhancing instruction with effective use of technology and combining English language with digital skills goes back many years.
- Access to self-paced learning opportunities on mobile devices: Since 2017, EEC has continued to purchase and promote the use of high-quality, mobile-friendly lessons through Cell-Ed, EnGen, USA Learns, and USAHello so that adult learners can continue their education even if they can no longer attend our live classes.
- In-class practice with language learning websites.
- Online English for customer service curriculum: EEC's Foundations of Customer Service curriculum for English learners is available through Cell-Ed platform on mobile devices, WhatsApp, and computer. More than 1,300 adult learners have upskilled with this learning material – notably through the California Department of Social Services and New York’s Office of New Americans.
- Portable projectors and Wi-Fi hotspots: For sites with limited technology available, we can lend projectors and hotspots so that real-world materials and mobile learning experiences can be part of any class.
- Staff and instructor participation in the curation, creation, and adaptation of learning resources to support digital literacy and online learning.
Our work to increase access to digital training and digital skills development has been acknowledged many times, often in conjunction with the benefits to adults in the workforce. See the Amplifying Impact report by the National Skills Coalition (NSC) and the Building a Digitally Resilient Workforce: Creating On-Ramps to Opportunity report by the Digital US Coalition.
But the work continues.
Of the 9,000+ learners EEC has surveyed, 43.80% report having Internet access at home, 51.69% have a smartphone, and just 24.71% have a computer. Our device lending program and ongoing efforts to incorporate digital skills instruction into, eventually, every class will help adult learners access employment and educational opportunities and more fully and equitably participate in the community requires not only learning English.
Laptop lending program
As we wrote about previously, by 2021, we had purchased 30 laptops for learners in our Intensive English and Workforce Readiness program to participate in class online and to have regular access to typing practice and digital literacy training on using email, filling out online job applications, and searching for information. Shortly thereafter, we purchased Wi-Fi hotspots and 15 more laptops so that learners across all three levels of Intensive (literacy, beginning, intermediate) have these opportunities. Learners go through an orientation where bilingual staff or volunteers walk them through how to use the computer for class (e.g., connecting to Wi-Fi, checking for emails from the teacher, joining Zoom meetings).
Funding from the Virginia Department of Social Services and Amazon enabled us to acquire these devices and pay for monthly tech support and maintenance, but it is an ongoing issue across the Commonwealth to have sustainable funding sources for access to digital resources and technologies.
“I didn't know anything about computers, but we got a lot better, and I want to learn more of the things I don't know.” – participant in the Intensive program
With 16 hours of class a week, the Intensive program affords learners more time to learn digital skills alongside English, workforce preparation, and civics education. But even classes that meet 4-6 hours a week can incorporate digital skills instruction.
Digital skills instruction
Digital skills currently comprise at least 75 skills across 10 domains (BRIDGES). Adult ESOL programs have long recognized the benefits of teaching information literacy and using technology to enhance learning, but integrating digital skills training into language instruction is a more recently embraced component of our work.
“With digital literacy, everyone is a learner.” (Harris, 2015)
Learners need access to quality curriculum, and instructors need time for professional development on how to effectively teach digital literacy and digital skills.
Digital skills curriculum: Northstar Digital Literacy
Thanks to a partnership with the Northern Virginia regional consortium of adult education providers, we can provide EEC learners free access to Northstar Digital Literacy tests in 15 topic areas and accompanying self-paced learning modules in English and Spanish. Instructors can access the accompanying intermediate-and-up curriculum for each topic.
Since 2022, 61 learners in our Intensive program and Beginning English classes have earned a Northstar Digital Literacy badge to demonstrate their mastery of essential digital skills for life, work, and community. These learners have earned 91 badges across the following topics:
- Basic Computer Skills – 40 learners
- Internet Basics - 21 learners
- Using Email - 18 learners
- Google Docs - 7 learners
- Information Literacy – 3 learners
- Windows - 2 learners
Community members are welcome to take Northstar Digital Literacy tests at any time. Go to this link to get started. Contact us if you want a learner account to study the self-paced learning modules.
We also recommend these free instructional resources:
- DART: A Foundational Digital Literacy ESL curriculum – 20 paper-based lessons integrating beginning-level English language learning with foundational digital skills, starting from the alphabet on the keyboard and advancing to searching the internet and staying safe online.
- Digital Skills Library – searchable repository of learning resources in English, Arabic, French, Hungarian, and Spanish.
- Digital Skills Glossary – set of vocabulary-based resources and activities.
Effective approaches: Project-Based Learning and Integrated and Contextualized Learning
To teach language, we consider what tasks learners need to be able to do and plan backward to identify what vocabulary, grammar, and language skills to focus on. In today’s world, many tasks require digital skills and digital tools as well. Teaching digital literacy is complementary to language instruction.
For example, teachers in our Intensive program and Family Learning Program have fostered learner engagement with digital skills through project-based learning. Vaishali (Intensive) regularly uses the multi-week folk stories project lesson from the Teaching the Skills That Matter initiative to guide Intensive learners in researching and creating a presentation of an important folk story from their home culture. Cassie (Intensive and formerly FLP) uses digital literacy mini-projects to help beginning learners locate and use their local library and to help parents and caregivers in FLP access and navigate their children’s school websites and online communication tools.
But digital skills instruction can also be part of everyday lessons. Teachers have shared that some of their most successful lessons involve, for instance, learners in searching for clothing prices on their mobile device or searching for job openings on Indeed. EEC staff Soo Park and Nada Raja are working with two Beginning English level 3 classes this spring to integrate information search skills and online safety into weekly lessons and curricular themes.
Digital Opportunity for All
EEC appreciates the bottom-up approach taken by the Office of Broadband to develop the Virginia Digital Opportunity Plan. They interviewed community-based literacy organizations and included state-wide data and trends from the adult education office at the Virginia Department of Education and the Virginia Adult Learning Resource Center’s survey of adult education practitioners. EEC staff responded to the adult education survey, participated in an Office of Broadband input session in December, and submitted a public comment on an earlier draft of the state plan. We are pleased that the plan submitted to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration includes our suggestion to administer the 2027 Digital Opportunity Survey during the traditional school year so that EEC and other adult education providers can have more time to promote survey participation amongst adult learners so that individuals experiencing a language barrier have more representation in the survey responses.
As we continue to scale up our digital skills instruction, EEC staff is keeping tabs on national initiatives: Teaching the Skills That Matter in Adult Education (TSTM); AI for Learning and Work; Digital Resilience in the American Workforce (DRAW); Transforming Immigrant Digital Equity (TIDE); and the upcoming BRIDGES holistic framework for building digital resilience.
EEC remains steadfast in its commitment to closing the digital divide, and we recognize that we are one part of the overall ecosystem for equitable ESOL learning and digital resilience. As the Commonwealth moves forward with implementing the Virginia Digital Opportunity Plan, EEC looks forward to partnering with other organizations and engaging with more volunteers to ensure that all residents can access employment and educational opportunities and more fully and equitably participate in the community. Together, we can build a more inclusive, digitally resilient Virginia.