Assessing and Building Digital Literacy Skills for Low-skilled Adults: A Practical Approach

Two years ago, the St. Paul Public Library began a community process in collaboration with the St. Paul Community Literacy Consortium to develop basic digital literacy. An inclusive, community wide process over several months led to the development of specific benchmarks in five areas: basic computer use, windows operating system, internet, email, and Word. Please see http://spclc.org/programs/digital-literacy-standards Following completion of the standards, the Friends of the St. Paul Public Library successfully raised funds from the Otto Bremer Foundation and IMLS to develop an online assessment measuring competency in the standards. The concept was that the assessment would initially be used to assess individual skills in terms of digital literacy. The results would be used to inform individualized instruction for adult learners. Once the skills were mastered, the assessment could be taken again. Those who successfully pass the assessment will be awarded a Northstar Certificate of Digital Literacy which will be marketed to employers an entry-level credential. This workshop will provide an overview of the completed assessment modules, which will be available online for anyone to use. The Design team will provide an overview of the challenges, constraints, and successes of the nine-month process leading to conclusion of the Assessment. Included will be standards and best practices developed for organizations approved to proctor the assessment and award certificates, allowing an open but controlled process to maintain the integrity of the Certificate. They will also discuss next stage of the process, which will involve a community-wide marketing campaign. To access the full presentation for this session, click on the Download button to the right