AlphaPlus

Here’s a conundrum – if approximately 25,443,862 Canadians are wireless phone subscribers  and nine million Canadian households have broadband internet  and add to that the fact that 17,139,200 Canadians have a social networking profile doesn’t it stand to reason that some of those Canadians are also enrolled in adult literacy programs?

If that is the case the challenge is not only to provide  meaningful, authentic learning experiences using digital technologies but also to build ON the skills that adult literacy students already have. This is a bit of a round about way of getting to the question of how to assess the digital skills of  students as they enter a program. In the (recent) past we tended to focus on “computer skills” i.e. mouse skills, internet browsing and email  - here ia on example of the types of areas covered – computer skills self-assessment from HRSDC.

But, given the ubiquity of digital devices and the sheer numbers of Canadians who are online, and, of course, the requirements related to OALCF, I wonder if  now, right from the beginning we should be asking about cell-phone use, about texting , about social networking (e.g. Facebook) use, about online banking and online shopping… would this be a useful way to gauge the level of familiarity that students have with digital technology, and therefore make it easier to plan programming and to incorporate digital devices  that students regularly use in programming? I don’t have a clear sense of how adult literacy programs are handling this issue now and would love to hear what you think.  Has anyone, for instance, put together a list of questions related to digital technology/device use as students enter a program?