Digital Skills Assessment and Learning Modules for Adult Basic Education Learners

• In Event: Interrogating Assumptions to Pursue Truth: Research That Reframes How We Talk About and Teach Readers

Abstract

Objectives: The Digital Equity Act is a large US policy investment providing digital skills training, improving online accessibility, and empowering rural communities. Using PIACC data (OECD, 2013), Sabatini (2015) found a strong relation between computer experience and literacy levels in US adults, suggesting digital skills may be entwined with reading literacy development. Literacy can be a gateway skill to social equity, mobility and success. Increasingly, digital skills may be viewed similarly. We view literacy and digital skills as overlapping and potentially mutually supportive to learning.
This session reports on new digital assessments and tutorial modules for adult basic education (ABE) learners as part of ongoing development of an intelligent tutoring system (ITS) for reading comprehension. Effectively using the ITS system outside a classroom setting requires adults to have confidence in digital skills. The tutorial modules are designed to help adults build these skills.

Perspectives: An estimated 19% of adults worldwide (17.5 % of adults in the US) read at or below Level 1 in literacy (PIAAC: OECD, 2013). In the US, adults at or below Level 1 are disproportionally people of color and English language learners. Olney et al. (2017) identified digital skills that adult learners were likely to either possess or find challenging.

Methods:

Tutoring Modules and Assessment System Design
We reviewed digital skills frameworks and online tutorials designed for adult learners. Many tutorials’ explanations were text-based, a potential barrier for poor reading adults. Few tutorials included practice materials. We programmed five modules using Adobe Captivate. The tutorials include 1) a voiced-over simulation, 2) scaffolded guidance as student attempts tasks, and 3) practice emphasizing repetition and generalization.
To develop assessments, we extracted student performance actions from the instruction and built corresponding questions. Assessments will be integrated for pre (placement), post (immediate learning) and delayed post (consolidation/mastery/fluency).

Assessment Validity Pilot
We hypothesized Amazon Turk Workers (AMT) should have adequate digital skills to answer questions near ceiling levels of accuracy and with fluency. Twenty AMT workers were randomized to test over 100 assessment items in a counterbalanced block design.

Results: Sixteen participants scored over 90% accuracy; 4 scored between 77-90% correct. Descriptive stats were: mean (sd)=.96 (.068), median/mode=1, range=.11; min=.69; max=1. Sixty-seven items scored 100% accuracy. We are reviewing every item with 90% or below accuracy. We will also report on extensive time-based log data to understand skill use fluency of skill use.

Discussion: Literacy skills and digital skills are increasingly overlapping and entwined, with literacy increasingly taking place in digital environments. Further, there is no reason ABE learners cannot do both, using resources like digital using multimodal supports (text-to-speech) as supports to learning. We see the research as challenging existing views and serving both digital equity and literacy.

Authors

• John P. Sabatini, University of Memphis
  Presenting Author

• Colin Carmon, University of Memphis
  Non-Presenting Author

• Arthur Graesser, University of Memphis, Tennessee
  Non-Presenting Author

• John Hollander, University of Memphis
  Non-Presenting Author

• Elizabeth Smith, University of Memphis
  Non-Presenting Author