Digital Resilience in the American Workforce

Technology is built into nearly every aspect of our daily lives and how we learn and work. Today, digital resilience – the awareness, skills, agility, and confidence to be empowered users of new technologies and adapt to changing digital skill demands – is more important than ever for active participation in society and the economy. Yet research shows that an estimated 32 million Americans struggle to use a computer, and half of all Americans say they are not confident using technology to learn. 

Digital Resilience in the American Workforce (DRAW) is an initiative from JFF, World Education, and Safal Partners, with support from The Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education (OCTAE), to better prepare adult education practitioners who support learners that struggle to fully engage in tasks that demand the use of digital technologies. 

Through DRAW, we will provide the field with flexible, evidence-based, and piloted strategies and materials that help teachers build the digital literacy skills and digital resilience of adult learners by:
– supporting professional development (PD) that enables teachers to be strategic and learner-focused in their lesson planning and instruction;
– supporting adult education programs in designing effective, flexible technology-enabled education and support services; and
– providing state Adult Education and Family Literacy Act (AEFLA) funders and their PD providers with models, guidance, and resources for supporting funded programs as they sustain and expand digital literacy efforts.

The DRAW Project will accomplish these goals by:
– identifying and curating existing resources for assessing and developing digital literacy skills and resilience;
– co-creating additional resources to fill gaps identified in the landscape scan;
– developing a Digital Skills Library to pull resources together in user-friendly, flexible formats with actionable strategies that work with diverse adult learner populations, including beginning-level English learners, and
– training adult education professionals in how to integrate high-quality resources into their instruction.