Displaying results 11 - 19 of 19
Resource
Findings from a National Landscape Scan on Adult Digital Literacy Instruction
Posted on
Description
In the first year of the Digital Resilience in the American Workforce (DRAW) initiative, Jobs for the Future (JFF), World Education, and Safal Partners launched a landscape scan to better understand what training resources and approaches are most relevant for educators seeking to increase foundational digital literacy and digital resilience for an adult learner population. Over the past decade digital literacy has emerged as an essential skill for personal, civic, educational, and career success. Yet few adult education professionals – including, but not limited to, those teaching in AEFLA-funded programs – have been trained to help learners develop the confidence, self-efficacy, and digital resilience they need to adapt to today’s digital demands.
Resource
Launching a Digital Literacy Accelerator
Posted on
Description
The Office of Educational Technology (OET) at the U.S. Department of Education is actively looking for ways to promote digital literacy. OET believes that one effective way to support digital literacy is through innovative educational technology (edtech) tools created by a diverse array of developers who have a range of different backgrounds, life experiences, and education.
This report, coauthored by OET and WestEd staff, is aimed at agencies interested in supporting edtech or digital literacy accelerators, as well as education leaders interested in supporting strategies to address misinformation.
This report examines the following questions about the DLA:
What did OET and WestEd learn from research and the current state of the field of digital literacy to develop and scale innovations?
What were the problems teams were trying to solve?
What did OET and WestEd learn when teams applied their innovation to the identified problem?
What are the barriers to new innovations in the digital literacy space?
What best practices can OET and WestEd extract from the accelerator and apply to future thinking?
Based on OET and WestEd’s work with the DLA, what recommendations do we have for federal agencies to support the field of digital literacy?
Resource
Advancing Digital Equity for All
Posted on
Description
Community-Based Recommendations for Developing Effective Digital Equity Plans to Close the Digital Divide and Enable Technology-Empowered Learning
In spring 2022, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Educational Technology (OET) committed to advancing digital equity through the Digital Equity Education Roundtables (DEER) Initiative. Through DEER, OET hosted a series of national conversations with leaders from community-based organizations, as well as families and learners furthest from digital opportunities. The “Advancing Digital Equity All” resource illuminates insights from these conversation to highlight the barriers faced by learner communities and promising solutions for increasing access to technology for learning.
The historic federal investments authorized by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act offer critical opportunities for broadband planning that can identify and equitably address the various availability, affordability, and adoption challenges described. Using this guidance resource as a starting point, it is essential that leaders collaborate with those most impacted by the digital divide to develop comprehensive digital equity plans that outline strategies to meet the needs of learners, their families/caregivers, and communities effectively and sustainably.
Resource
Technology-Based Coaching in Adult Education Final Report and Toolkit
Posted on
Description
The TBCAE Toolkit is designed to assist adult education program administrators, program staff, and state staff in planning and implementing text messaging that supports adult education learners’ program participation and attainment of education outcomes. The toolkit comprises of five main sections:
Introduction to Toolkit and Overview of TBCAE Project: Overview of the TBCAE project approach and implementation and implementation and an overview of the tools, checklists, forms, and resources referenced in the Toolkit.
Planning Text Messaging in Adult Education Programs: Descriptions of the steps staff can take in planning the use of text messaging with adult education learners.
Implementing Text Messaging in Adult Education Programs: Information to help adult education staff; implement and track activities in using text messaging.
Adult Education State Leadership Support for the Use of Text Messaging: Suggestions for state staff on how to support adult education program staff in using text messaging.
Appendices: The tools, checklists, forms, and resources referenced in the Toolkit. The appendices are also available in Microsoft Word format to facilitate their use.
Resource
The Rapid Response, Innovation, and Challenges of Sustainability in the Time of COVID-19: Reports from the Field
Posted on
Description
A new report that explores how adult education programs have adapted over time to the constantly changing conditions in programs caused by ongoing but inconsistent and sporadic COVID-19 infections and local policies governing public health. The report also looks at lessons learned after more than a year of remote teaching.
Resource
Researcher Guide on Interpreting Impacts
Posted on
Description
IES released a guide to help researchers avoid common misinterpretations of statistical significance and report study impacts that are more actionable for end users. Improving the quality and relevance of education studies is IES Director Mark Schneider’s central goal for the Standards for Excellence in Education (SEER).
The guide introduces BASIE (Bayesian Interpretation of Estimates), an alternative framework to null hypothesis significance testing, and walks researchers through the key steps of applying BASIE:
Select prior evidence based on the distribution of intervention effects from existing impact studies (e.g., IES’ What Works Clearinghouse database).
Report traditional (based only on study data) and shrunken (based on both study data and prior evidence) impact estimates.
Interpret impact estimates using Bayesian posterior probabilities (or credible intervals).
Examine the sensitivity of shrunken impact estimates and posterior probabilities to what prior evidence is used.
The guide includes “express stops” and a simple Excel tool so that researchers can quickly start using BASIE. Detailed “local stops,” technical appendices, and programming code are also provided for evaluation methodologists.
View the guide by clicking here.
This guide is one of a series that helps researchers implement SEER. Guides on generalizability and sharing study data were recently released, and a guide on implementation research is in development and will be announced on https://www.ies.ed.gov.
The Institute of Education Sciences, a part of the U.S. Department of Education, is the nation's leading source for rigorous, independent education research, evaluation, statistics, and assessment.
Resource
Guidelines for Technology-Based Assessment
Posted on
Description
The Association of Test Publishers and the International Test Commission have collaborated to develop Guidelines for Technology-Based Assessment to promote best practices and ensure fair and valid assessment in a digital environment. These Guidelines are now in draft form and are available for public comment through May 15, 2022. The draft Guidelines are the product of a multiyear effort that involved dozens of invited authors, ad hoc technical reviewers, and extensive review by ten advisory groups representing practice areas and regions of the world.
Resource
Enhancing the Generalizability of Impact Studies in Education
Posted on
Description
This guide will help researchers design and implement impact studies in education so that the findings are more generalizable to the study's target population. Guidance is provided on key steps that researchers can take, including defining the target population, selecting a sample of schools—and replacement schools, when needed—managing school recruitment, assessing, and adjusting for differences between the sample and target population, and reporting information on the generalizability of the study findings.
Resource
Researcher Guide on Sharing Study Data
Posted on
Description
IES has released a guide to help researchers who, to support open science, are making decisions about how to safely and appropriately share study data. This includes deciding which study data to share, how to organize the data, what documentation to include, and where to share their final dataset. Making data open is one of the Standards for Excellence in Education (SEER) that IES Director Mark Schneider identifies as essential to making research transformational.
The guide offers researchers tips to address common challenges in sharing study data, such as how to balance privacy with transparency, along with concrete steps to take throughout the research process. Key principles include:
The goal of data sharing is to produce something of value for science and ultimately, for the improvement of education.
Focusing on sharing a well-organized and well-documented dataset can improve the organization and efficiency of the original study team.
Researchers should commit to sharing some data or code to facilitate additional analysis.
There is no single approach to sharing study data, and tradeoffs may be necessary.
The guide also provides links to other resources, a checklist, templates, and sample materials.
View the guide by clicking here.
This guide is one of a series that helps researchers implement SEER to improve the quality and relevance of their education studies. A guide on generalizability was recently released, and another guide on how to report more interpretable impact findings is forthcoming and will be announced on https://www.ies.ed.gov.
The Institute of Education Sciences, a part of the U.S. Department of Education, is the nation's leading source for rigorous, independent education research, evaluation, statistics, and assessment.