Erik Rock

What is the compelling INQUIRY question that guides the design of your lesson/project?

• How can we engage first time technology learners into digital practice and digital citizenship?

LESSON/PROJECT SUMMARY:

• Scenario: Adult learners with limited technology participation often experience barriers as participation in economic, personal, social, and health arenas are completed online in a digital space. Something as seemingly simple as lack of an email address can prevent someone from being able to apply for a job or access governmental benefits. Engaging users in digital practice and beginning to build digital literacy skills will begin to reduce participation barriers. Co-learning of introductory computer skills such as typing, using an internet browser, and typing can and will occur.

  • Solution: One possible first step to assisting adult learners in engaging in digital practice and digital citizenship is to provide instruction and assistance in making an email account and demonstrating how an email account can be used as a personal identifier on websites that allow users access to components within the website. Creation of an email and using it to create accounts on external websites demonstrates foundational aspects of digital citizenship and will allow conversations of personal digital footprint, online safety, digital responsibility, and web navigation literacy to take place.
    

• Lesson Summary: To begin, learners will explore the value of engaging in digital practice by creating a visual problem/solution exploration board. Via demonstration and instruction, learners will create a free email account and use said email account to create an account on Indeed.com for job search. Afterward, learners will be directed to external learning modules; “work time” to complete learning modules of interest will be provided, as well as assistance from the instructor(s) in navigating the online resources. Topics such as email vs. account name, passwords and password responsibility/management, online safety, and creation of digital content on a website will be discussed.

  • Personal digital inquiry: Learners will create a visualization of the digital literacy problem that brought them to class and formulate their personal inquiry question.

  • Digital and media literacy: Learners will begin using digital tools and create an email account. They will analyze the uses of the digital tools engaged with and the ways in which online accounts can interconnect. They will reflect on their digital footprint and value of participating in digital spaces.

  • Anytime & real-time components:

    • Anytime: visual exploration worksheet, handout/guide, resources/learning modules

    • Real-time: live demonstration, questions & support for learning modules

TEACHING GOALS: What anytime and/or real-time digital teaching practices will you aim to accomplish in this lesson/product?

• • Overarching Teaching Goal: Teach learners how to make an email account and use it to interact with other websites that require an account to be made and used. Acquaint learners with additional resources so that they can continue digital literacy education.
    

  • Anytime Teaching Goals:

    • Visualization board

      • Hold space for learners to visualize their problem and begin formulating questions as to why they should engage with digital practice.

    • Handout/guide

      • Provide a physical worksheet and reference guide that learners can refer to for questions/reminders and make note of important steps as we work through content.

    • External resources

      • Provide additional learning opportunities that can be done at any time and instruction/support in using and accessing these resources.
        

  • Real-time Teaching Goals:

    • Live demonstration

      • Demonstrate step-by-step the process of creating an email account and an Indeed.com account linked with that email account.

    • Questions & support

      • Advise, support, and guide learners to ensure their comfort and likelihood of continued digital practice.

LEARNING OUTCOMES: What will learners be expected to know, understand, and be able to do during and after they engage with the sequence of tasks in this lesson/project?

• • Overarching Outcome: Learners with no or severely limited digital citizenship and who are struggling to complete digitized life obligations will be able to:

    • 1. Start participating in online spaces after making an email account;

    • 2. Discover how email and online accounts interconnect throughout the web and act as a personal identifier;

    • 3. Become acquainted with additional learning resources and modules for increasing their overall digital literacy.
      

  • Anytime Outcomes:

    • Visualization board

      • By being able to put words and metaphors to the problem, learners will be able to visualize how entering into digital citizenship will allow them to complete tasks they otherwise would not have been able to complete.

    • Handout/guide

      • Having a paper worksheet that will guide learners through the steps, remind them of terms/definitions, and provide space to write down reminders, passwords, or other notes.

    • External learning resources

      • Learners will know of additional ways to learn more about digital spaces and engaging as a digital citizen.
        

  • Real-time Outcomes:

    • Live demonstration

      • Learners will follow along the demonstration and create their own email accounts.

    • Questions & support

      • Learners who are digital beginners will be given assistance accessing the online learning resources and support through the navigation process. Learners will feel safe to ask questions without judgement.

TEXTS/TOOLS/TECHNOLOGIES AND RATIONALE: Identify the digital texts, tools and/or technologies that will be used in this lesson. Explain why you have selected these digital resources for this work.

• Instructor’s Digital Resources and Inspiration:

  • For participating in the national conversation, creating policy, and learning directions to take:

    • National Digital Inclusion Alliance

    • Digital Us and the Digital Navigator Playbook

    • Digital inclusion as a social determinant of health article
      

• Visualization board

  • Blank for learners

  • Sample of completed
    

• Handout/guide

  • Print copy of guide and worksheet
    

• Real-time demonstration

  • Video (would be live and in person, but for the sake of the project, here is a short sample video of what will be done in class)
    

• External learner’s resources:

  • Digital Us Learning Resources

  • National Digital Alliance Assessment

  • Northstar Digital Literacy Assessment and Skills modules

  • Applied Digital Skills with Google

  • GCFLearnFree Learning Modules

Additional Resources:

• These resources can and should be adapted for adult learners, as many non-digital practicing adults have not learned these citizenship skills and are at the same (or lower) skill level as youth:

• Common Sense Media

• Be Internet Awesome

Feedback from Jill

Hi Erik -- I love the way you've spelled out the scenarios and summaries -- you've got a very important project here! And I love how you're tackling it in real-time and anytime ways!!

I wanted to share a few resources that I thought might be useful. If not for this project, maybe for a collaboration in the futurer.

All materials from an IMLS research project in Portland, OR

• With our public librarians, we created a short set of tasks to get to know how much support library patron's needed with digital skills, then we observed to see what we could learn.

  • See library tasks (links to 6 tasks + an inquiry task)

    • here's what we learned -- Power, Relationships and Participation and the Literacies of Navigating Life in the Digital Age (see https://drive.google.com/file/d/10DPdpL57imObXXXxrrs9jQ2Loi3PieF6/view?usp=sharing)

These resources might also jog a few ideas!

• • See also -- blueprint for designing library tasks

  • See digital problem solving checklist

  • See documenting digital problem solving

  • See defining digital problem solving

See you back for more conversation in the Zoom Room on Thurs. at 4:30!