Research, Evaluation, and Demonstration Projects

Adult learners deserve high-quality technology-rich education that enables them to meet their goals. That is why our projects are grounded in evidence, and we contribute to knowledge in adult education, digital education, and digital literacy through our own research and evaluation.

At five connected learning centers (CLC) across the country, our Digital Navigators Connecting Communities project worked to increase the impact of established community-based organizations by integrating digital navigator services to their operations. This work addressed the digital inclusion needs of over 5,000 community members and led to the expansion of this work to work with more than 50 CLCs across the United States. Within this work, we use a co-creation model that brings partners in early to shape research questions and designs.

Our 21st Century Learning Ecosystem Opportunities research initiative with Portland State University illuminated what motivates frontline service workers to engage and persist in employer-supporting education. Our demonstration projects, such as Transitions to College and Careers, deepen our understanding through partnerships with local practitioners and systems that serve adults with foundational skill needs.

We also field test products to support the development of educational technologies that work for  adult learners, continuously looking for new innovations to explore. As generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) has become more common, we have refocused our Workforce EdTech initiative, creating technical assistance resources like the AI Integration Framework, to help teachers and education leaders integrate AI in education and training settings with diverse adult learners and workers. In addition, we have partnered with Learning Upgrade, Voxy, Cell-Ed, and Burlington English to author case studies that offer use scenarios illustrating promising  implementation strategies. In our ongoing partnership with Adobe, we have piloted innovative features for creating and reading digital content. In our Liquid Mode pilot, we explored and uncovered the promise of PDFs read on mobile devices in both the US and Malawi. Our work with Adobe is now focused on piloting Adobe Express in the state of Gujarat in India.  

Our work is built on the foundational National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy, for which we were a lead partner for dissemination and research from 1996 to 2007. Much of that research, which increased knowledge and gave those teaching, managing, and setting policy in adult literacy education a sound basis for making decisions, remains relevant and informs our work.