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Information Literacy – Welcome to ALA’s Literacy Clearinghouse

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Scroll down to the fifth entry under Classroom and Program Resources for a list of materials and websites for teaching media literacy.

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Classroom Resources - New England Literacy Resource Center

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Lesson Packets on Media Literacy, Voting, and Advocacy

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Lesson Packets on Media Literacy, Voting, and Advocacy

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This link includes three lesson packets on media literacy, voting, and advocacy -- all in PDF, audio, and Google slides.

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In honor of our 20th Anniversary, we are creating lesson packets with Change Agent articles from across issues. Check back to see as new packets are added. Have you mined The Change Agent for interesting groupings of articles? Send us your ideas! If your lesson idea is selected, we would like to share it with others and give you a free one-year individual subscription in return. Is there a topic you would like to see us explore? Contact us and let us know about it.

These lesson packets are freely available for you to download, edit, and use. We hope that you'll sign up for our mailing list so that we can notify you when new lesson packets or other resources are added to the site.

Lesson Packets

1. Learn Writing by Studying a Writer

2. Exploring Ratio by Looking at Prison Statistics

3. Thinking About Becoming a CNA?

4. Workplace Safety - Learn It and Teach It

5. Reading Partners

6. Celebrating Freedom on Juneteenth: Reading Closely, Studying Further, and Learning Mechanics at Three Levels

7. Joys and Challenges of Holidays: Gathering Evidence from the Text

8. Write to the Writer by Gale Czerski

9. Making Sense of Extreme Inequality (and Scaffolding to Complex Text)

10. Taking Action at Work

11. Race and Voting Rights in 2016: Lesson Ideas

12. Facing Racism

13. Women Dealing with Domestic Violence

14. Homework Swap

15. Hair Care Recipes

16. Using Math to Start a Poultry Farm

17. Indigenous People's issue: Beginning Literacy Adaptations

18. Summer Reading Log

19. Become a Census 2020 Ambassador

20. Help Someone Understand the Census (beginner, intermediate and advanced)

21. How to Fill Out the Questionnaire

22. Avoid Hoaxes, Scams, and Rumors

23. Become a Voting Ambassador - in Print and Google Slides

24. Voter Suppression vs. Fraud - in Print and Google Slides

25. "Pandemic Haircut" - in Print, Google Slides, and Audio

26. Teach about Race in the Adult Ed. Classroom - 4 Google Slide Presentations

27. Stories from Mental Health: Learning, Coping, Healing - Google Slide Presentation

28. Career Exploration Packets - nursing, peer counseling, and transferable skills

29. What Pushes and What Pulls Immigrants to the U.S.? - includes a collection of articles and an adaptable graphic organizer for taking notes

30. Teach about the Upcoming Elections (2024)

31. Climate Change Refugees - Numeracy, Literacy, and Science

32. Including LGBTQ Voices in the Classroom

33. Lesson Packets 33

PACket 1: Learn Writing by Studying a Writer

Our first in a new series of teacher resources is an exploration of three articles written by Timothy Lovett published in three different issues of The Change Agent (Good Jobs, Not Just Any Jobs; All About Food; and Prisons and Justice?) The articles are accompanied by a lesson plan that is aligned to the College and Career Readiness Standards. This lesson plan zeroes in on writing anchor standards 1-5, breaking them down into plain English, providing you with a way to teach them to students, and offering student writing that models the anchor standards for your learners. You, as the teacher, get a clear-cut way to address standards, and your students get the added motivation of learning the standards not from an expert, but from someone just like them - a student who is modeling increasing mastery of writing skills - and at the same time writing about interesting topics in a sometimes humorous and always compelling way.
Download Packet 1: Teach Writing by Studying Writers
Packet 2: Exploring Ratio by Looking at Prison Statistics

This lesson is meant to supplement instruction on ratio and is aimed at those who are comfortable or getting comfortable at Level C in the CCR standards. This lesson first explores ratio and then offers students the opportunity to think critically about ratio in the context of socially relevant data presented in two kinds of charts. Answer sheets are provided - for the teacher's reference only or to share with students - your choice.
Download Packet 2: Exploring Ratio by Looking at Prison Statistics
Packet 3: Thinking About Becoming a CNA?

This lesson is designed to provide CCR-aligned activities in the context of content that provides information about work as a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA). The readings are GLE 5-8.
Download Packet 3: Thinking About Becoming a CNA?
Packet 4: Workplace Safety - Learn It and Teach It

This lesson is designed to increase reading, math, and presentation skills in the context of materials that explain health and safety laws as well as specific practices that workers - particularly those in environmental services or housekeeping - can use to stay safe on the job. Since one of the best ways to learn something is to teach it, this lesson plan includes the opportunity for students to teach what they have learned.
Download Packet 4: Workplace Safety - Learn It and Teach It
Packet 5: Reading Partners

This rich lesson packet provides relevant reading and writing opportunities, builds relationships between immigrant students and other receiving community members, and helps English Language Learners connect with community resources. In "Reading Partners," English language learners and members of receiving communities read one or two selected articles from The Change Agent and then use the writing prompts to engage in an exchange of ideas, experiences, and perspectives about the article topic. There are eight articles to choose from - articles about moving to a new community, work, health, schooling and parenting.

The aim of this activity is to use text as a way to get people from different communities talking (through writing) about topics of common interest. Programs that have partnerships with local organizations can use the activities to bring students into conversation with these partners (health care providers who want to connect with immigrants about health, employers who are interested in hiring immigrants, etc.). However, there are many opportunities to communicate across communities right in our own programs: this activity could be carried out by ABE and ESL classes that partner to read and correspond about the same articles, by program volunteers that partner with students, or by diverse student pairs in one classroom.
Download Packet 5: Reading Partners Packet 5 Tech Tip: Converting a Lesson to Integrate Technology
PACKET 6: celebrating freedom on juneteenth: Reading closely, studying further, and learning mechanics at three levels

"Juneteenth" is the celebration of June 19, 1865, when slaves in Texas learned they were free - two and half years after the Emancipation Proclamation. This activity includes text (at three different grade level equivalents or GLEs) and art work. The text shares a family's oral account of being slaves in Texas in 1865 when word of the Emancipation Proclamation finally reached them, a description of Juneteenth celebrations in Texas, and the ways an artist has preserved family history with her artwork. Students also have a chance to look at and analyze two full-color paintings by Sonia Sadler. The text is available at three different levels (GLE 4, 7 and 10). The aim of this activity is to provide students with an engaging, relevant text that allows them to develop key reading and writing skills and knowledge about U.S. history.
Instructions for Lesson packet #6 Download one or more texts for Packet 6: GLE 04, GLE 07, GLE 10
Packet 7: Joys and Challenges of Holidays: Gathering Evidence from the Text

Use the graphic organizer we provide (p. 36) or create your own to help students analyze four essays about holidays. They will investigate the text to find what the author says are "fun aspects" of the holiday as well as "challenging aspects" of the holiday, and they will write a paragraph based on the essays. The four essays are: "Christmas Changed" (also available in audio on The Change Agent website) by Diana Solorzano, "Taking the Good with the Bad" by Gregory Parker, "Celebrating Eid" by Nuzhat Jahan, and "My Diwali" by Sue Byman. The holidays also represent diverse religious traditions - Christmas (Christian), Eid (Muslim), and Diwali (Hindu) - so these texts also lend themselves to social studies explorations, such as geography, world religions, immigration patterns, and more. The texts used are levels 7-8 (grade level equivalent). CCR standards addressed are Level D (GLE 6-8.9). The aim of this activity is to provide students with engaging, relevant stories that help them practice the important CCR skill of using evidence from the text to be able to explain what the author is saying.
Download Packet 7: Joys and Challenges of Holidays
Packet 8: Write to the Writer by Gale Czerski

This lesson packet provides students with the opportunity to write back to Change Agent writers.

Find a description of Lesson Packet 8 here with downloadable articles and worksheets.

Packet 9: Making sense of Extreme Inequality (and Scaffolding to Complex Text)

Use these four articles from The Change Agent to examine extreme inequality and to consider the policy changes over the past 50 years that have increased wealth and income inequality. During the course of this lesson, students will be scaffolded to read a fairly complex text.
Download Packet 9: Making Sense of Extreme Inequality
PACKET 10: Taking action at work

Use this selection (or a subset of the selection) of multi-level articles written
(mostly) by students to teach reading skills and to spark discussion about the role of workers in determining what happens in the workplace.
Download Packet 10: Taking Action at Work
Packet 11: Race and Voting Rights in 2016: Lesson Ideas

Use the context of this election year to explore voting rights in the past and present. This packet includes pre- and post-activities, the hands-on History of Voting Rights activity, a link to a history of voting rights video, an article by Andy Nash on race and voting rights, and more stories and facts and figures about current voting restrictions.
Download level 10 version for advanced learners.
Download level 6 version for intermediate learners.
Packet 12: Facing Racism

White supremacist rallies, anti-immigrant jargon, and acts of racism, islamophobia, and anti-semitism - these frightening realities mark the beginning of the school year in 2017. As your program gets back into full gear this fall, please consider ways to infuse these high-quality, relevant materials into your classroom. They will help provide a safe and welcoming culture in your program, and they are effective ESOL and ABE teaching tools. These teacher-designed materials are associated with the "Talking about Race" issue of The Change Agent (Issue #42). To access that issue, you need a Username and PW, which you can get be purchasing an online subscription. To teach the lessons provided below, however, you don't need to do anything except click on the link. All the materials are freely provided.

"Existing While Black": A Worksheet for ESOL Learners by Lisa Gimbel
A 4-page worksheet with pre-reading activities (including definition of expressions and practice with expressions, vocabulary, and slang) and post-reading activities (including basics, language review, and comprehension).

"Best Practices for Talking about Race" by Lisa Gimbel and Riva Pearson
A collection wide-ranging tips from personal practice to curriculum to program and community-wide ideas.

"Teaching to Unlearn Racism" by Judy Hofer

"Who Paved the Way?" by Kathleen Budway
Pre- and post-activities (plus handouts) you can use with a short film made by an ESOL teacher in which her students talk about how it affected them to study African-American history and current events.

"Preparing My Students to Write about Race" by Hazel Robin
A teacher shares how she introduced The Change Agent "Call for Articles" on the theme of race. Rather than starting out by asking students to speak from experience, she asks them to conduct research and learn some science behind race. Creating an evidence-based context, she then invites them to respond to The Change Agent writing prompts.

"Exploring Racism: Police, Stereotypes, and the Possibility of a Better World" by Manny Reynoso
A teacher-created lesson that explores the definition of racism and incorporates a first-person story by someone who grew up afraid of the police. Finally, the lesson explores the possibility of a better world - using a video and discussion prompts.

"The Construction of Race in the U.S.: An Early History" by Cynthia Peters
This is a GLE 10 version of the GLE 6 article by the same name that appears on p. 22 of the "Talking about Race" issue. It includes CCR-aligned activities at the end.

"Using Sources: Unpacking a Well-Researched Article" by Kathleen O'Connell
This activity, based on "The 'Chief Illiniwek' Half-Time Show" on p. 8 of the Race issue, helps students examine and assess sources.

"Race and Voting Rights in 2016: Lesson Ideas" - by Andy Nash and Cynthia Peters
Use the context of this election year to explore voting rights in the past and present. This packet includes pre- and post-activities, the hands-on History of Voting Rights activity, a link to a history of voting rights video, an article by Andy Nash on race and voting rights, and more stories and facts and figures about current voting restrictions. Two versions are available:
- Race and Voting Rights in 2016 for advanced learners (Level 10)
- Race and Voting Rights in 2016 for intermediate learners (Level 6)

New! Two students discuss why we should talk about race in the adult education classroom

Packet 13: women dealing with domestic violence
Download Packet 13: Women Dealing with Domestic Violence
This packet contains three articles from Issue #19 of The Change Agent, "Women and Literacy." Two of the articles by practitioners reveal the effect of violence and domestic abuse on women learners. A third article, written by a learner, tells a story of trauma and resilience.

Packet 14: Homework swap
Download Packet 14: Homework Swap
The activity in this packet is modeled after the famous "Yankee Swap" party game. In this version, participants draw an assignment and then can swap assignments if there's one they prefer - so there are lots of opportunities for students to talk to each other as they navigate all the swapping.

Packet 15: Hair Care RECIPES
Download Packet 15: Hair Care Recipes
Use this collection of homemade of hair care recipes to practice reading, writing, and math. Take it further by creating a class recipe book of DIY personal care products and perhaps making some in class to use and/or share as gifts.

Packet 16: using math to start a poultry farm
Download the article with discussion questions and math problems and the solutions and extensions. Get the adaptable Excel spreadsheet here and the adaptable worksheet (in Word) here.
This true story about starting a poultry farm, written by an immigrant learner in Colorado, is a great way to teach math, reading, writing, and spreadsheet skills in a real-world context.

Packet 17: indigenous people's issue: beginning literacy adaptations
Download Packet 17: Beginning Literacy Adaptations
This 13-page packet contains five pieces, all written at about a fourth grade equivalency level. All the pieces (except for the first) are adapted from articles that appear in the "Indigenous Peoples" issue of The Change Agent. If your class is multi-level, you can teach from different levels of the same piece.

Packet 18: summer reading log
Download Packet 18: Summer Reading Log
Keep your students engaged with reading this summer by sharing this resource with them: a log of Change Agent articles that they read and listened to using our online audio.
Download Packet 19: Become a Census 2020 Ambassador
Packet 19: Become a 2020 Census ambassador

Census Planning and Tracking Grid. - Download Word doc and adapt as needed.

Packet 20: help someone understand the census

The purpose of this packet is to teach census basics, so that a student could explain what they learn to someone else. Thanks to the National Coalition for Literacy for generously supporting the development of these materials.
Download Packet 20: Help Someone Understand the Census (beginner, intermediate, or advanced)

The beginner packet has articles that have been adapted to be accessible for students reading at grade-level-equivalent 4. The After-You-Read activities are designed for beginners.

The intermediate packet has a mix of articles from Level 4 to Level 6. The After-You-Read activities are modified to be intermediate level.

The advanced packet has the same readings as the intermediate packet, but it includes the option to do additional research and learn more about how to evaluate the credibility of online sources, and it has more options for how to present the information learned.

Packet 21: how to fill out the questionnaire
Download Packet 21:How to Fill Out the Questionnaire
This beginner-level lesson packet supports students to fill out the 2020 census questionnaire in three different ways. Both the PDF and online questionnaires are near exact replicas of the Census Bureau's versions, except they are shorter. The paper copy has vocabulary and explanations on p. 2 of this packet. The online version has vocabulary and explanations embedded in the web pages.

Packet 22: avoid hoaxes, scams, and rumors
Download Packet 22: Avoid Hoaxes, Scams, and Rumors
This intermediate-level lesson packet gives students a chance to work on reading, writing, and speaking and listening skills in the context of relevant, timely information about protecting against fraud during the 2020 census.

Packet 23: Become a Voting Ambassador

This 10-page packet guides teachers to train students to be Voting Ambassadors. Students learn basics about voting - the issues and the procedures - and decide whether they'd like to take on the project of supporting others in their community to register and vote. Special attention given to carrying out this project-based learning opportunity safely during the pandemic. And we include a special article about voting during uncertain times. It is mostly intermediate- to advanced-level, and it gives students a chance to work on reading, writing, and speaking and listening skills in the context of a highly (!) relevant civics moment.

Packet 24: voter suppression vs. Fraud

During the 2020 election, we are hearing a lot about both voter suppression and voter fraud. What are they? How should we evaluate the claims about them? This 5-page lesson packet offers some definitions and activities on this topic, and asks students to develop their own questions and then research the answers.

PACKET 25: "PANDEMIC HAIRCUT" IN PRINT, SLIDES, AND AUDIO

Even though the pandemic has been catastrophic for so many people, student writers in the Pandemic issue of The Change Agent note the ways it has brought gifts. In this example, a student from Rhode Island says the pandemic makes her feel like "we are in a war." Yet she goes on to describe how she and her husband found an opportunity to "laugh and be joyful." For her, it happened when her husband asked her to cut his hair. She watched some tutorials on YouTube and then sat her husband on a stool in the bathtub where he got his first pandemic haircut. For your classroom, mix and match these three ways of accessing the article and activities.

PACKET 26: Teach about race in the adult education classroom

These four Google Slide Presentations were developed by Riva Pearson (JVS) and Cynthia Peters (World Education) for teachers to copy and adapt and use in their remote or in-person classroom.

1. Black Lives Matter - high intermediate ESOL

2. Talking to the Police - high intermediate ESOL

3. Introduction to Racism in the U.S. - high intermediate ESOL

4. Equality vs. Equity - can be adapted for various levels

PACKET 27: Stories from Mental Health - Learning, Coping, Healing

This Google Slide Presentation was developed by Cynthia Peters and Ebony Vandross (World Education) for teachers to copy and adapt and use in their remote or in-person classroom. Three more Google Slide presentations from the "Mental Health" issue (#52) are available, but you need an online subscription to access them.

"No Sick Days? That's Bad for Your Physical and Mental Health"

PACKET 28: career exploration packets - nursing, peer counseling, transferable skills

These four packets are collected from Issue #53 plus other issues of The Change Agent.

PACKET 29: what pushes and what pulls immigrants to the U.S.?

This packet of four articles from Issue #56 of The Change Agent explore various reasons why immigrants leave their country of origin and what draws them to the U.S. The last page of the packet is a graphic oranizer, where students can take notes about what "pushes" and what "pulls" immigrants to the U.S. (To extend this activity to include a digital literacy component, use this Google doc version of the graphic organizer. This version is "view only." To adapt it and/or to share it with your students, you must make a copy of it or download it.)

PACKET 30: Teach about the upcoming elections (2024)

Train Students to Become Voting Ambassadors
Training students to be Voting Ambassadors is a great way to engage in civics, practice speaking and listening in relevant and authentic contexts, learn digital skills, gain transferable skills, and develop leadership. This activity is aligned with IELCE requirements and other standards. Use this set of Google slides to get started. (It includes a link to a Google doc worksheet that helps students plan, take action, and reflect on their work.) More materials forthcoming in early 2024.

Teach the History of Voting Rights
This 9-page PDF includes a dynamic activity and video that teach the history of voting rights, an article about race and voting rights, and a worksheet that helps the student assess what they've learned and take it further.

Explore the Difference between Voter Suppression and Fraud
See Lesson Packet #24 above.

PACKET 31: Climate Refugees - numeracy, literacy, and science

This packet includes two articles by students about how climate change is a factor in creating refugees, one article giving background on how carbon affects our atmosphere, and a Google slideshow (developed by two math specialists) that teaches numeracy in the context of evaluating claims about climate change. Mix and match these resources for your own teaching purposes:
1.Climate Refugees by Efren Macias Ojeda - 2-page PDF with colorful data maps, and pre- and post-reading activities
2.Better Future: At Home, There Are No Jobs, The Cities Are Unsafe, and The Rivers Run Dry by Hortensia Reza - 2 page PDF with reading, writing, and pronunciation activities
3.The Earth's Atmosphere: Thinner than the Skin of an Apple - 1 page PDF picture story that explains how carbon affects the atmosphere
4.Climate Refugees - an adaptable slideshow that combines the content from #1 and #3 above and presents it (with more images and activities) in the Google slides
5.Math in Text: Hortensia's Story - a Google slides numeracy lesson that uses excerpts from "Better Future" (#2 above) to create a lesson around reading and understanding numbers in text
ALSO...check out The Change Agent's Issue #27, "Making Sense of Climate Change"

PACKET 32: Including LGBTQ voices in the classroom

Many of our students are LGBTQ, but they don't often see themselves reflected in the reading materials we bring into the classroom. This collection of three articles takes a step towards correcting that. Note: the levels are grade-level equivalents (GLE).

1. "What Would You Do If I Was Gay?" My Brother Said He Would Disown Me
by Anonymous - GLE 5

2. Fight on 'Til the End
by Annette Bowen - GLE 7

3. Different from Other Girls
by Sun Young Kim - GLE 6

For ideas about how to respond to homophobia if/when it shows up in your classroom, check out these two Change Agent articles written by teachers ("Coming Out to Students" by Deborah Schwartz, and " Homophobia in the Classroom" by Cynthia Peters). In each, they share their strategies for handling challenging situations. The best practices for talking about race in the classroom offered by Lisa Gimbel and Riva Pearson in this article are also excellent best practices for talking about gender and sexuality. As always, teachers are the best judge of when and how to bring up topics that may bring a range of responses in the classroom.

PACKET 33:

1. Be an Informed Voter

2. Participate in the Elections - Citizens and Non-Citizens

3. Share Your Story of Leadership

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In honor of our 20th Anniversary, we are creating lesson packets with Change Agent articles from across issues. Check back to see as new packets are added. Have you mined The Change Agent for interesting groupings of articles? Send us your ideas!

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BRIDGES Digital Resilience Toolkit Webinar

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BRIDGES Digital Resilience Toolkit Webinar

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Listen to Dr Mary Gaston describe the Toolkit. Access all content here.

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BRIDGES Digital Skills Framework - EdTech Center @ World Education

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The BRIDGES digital skills framework is the result of a collective effort to expand digital skills instruction and resources. Beyond defining the skills needed to pursue personal, educational, and career goals in an increasingly digital world, BRIDGES offers the tools and resources needed for learners and training providers to build these skills.

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Shareable Copy of Equipped for the Elections Part 1 September 20 2024

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World Education's TIDE project gathered useful resources to address access challenges.

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Digital Equity Resources - World Education

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global media and information literacy week

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Why the 5 Factors of News Literacy Matter - ProLiteracy

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With the media landscape constantly evolving, and as it’s becoming easier for misinformation to be created and spread, news literacy is more important than ever.

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BRIDGES Checklists for Diverse Learners (Aug 2024)

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Alliance for Technology Refurbishing and Re-Use

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Alliance for Technology Refurbishing and Re-Use

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Use this interactive map to locate and learn about the nonprofit refurbishers and recyclers in your area.

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To become a successful student, responsible citizen, productive worker, or competent and conscientious consumer, individuals need to develop expertise with the increasingly sophisticated information and entertainment media that address us on a multi-sensory level, affecting the way we think, feel, and behave.

Today's information and entertainment technologies communicate to us through a powerful combination of words, images, and sounds. As such, we need to develop a wider set of literacy skills helping us to both comprehend the messages we receive and effectively utilize these tools to design and distribute our messages. Being literate in a media age requires critical thinking skills that empower us as we make decisions, whether in the classroom, the living room, the workplace, the boardroom, or the voting booth.

Finally, while media literacy does raise critical questions about the impact of media and technology, it is not an anti-media movement. Rather, it represents a coalition of concerned individuals and organizations, including educators, faith-based groups, health care providers, and citizen and consumer groups, who seek a more enlightened way of understanding our media environment.

Over the years, many definitions and visions of media literacy have been created to reflect different points of view, different approaches and goals, and different audiences. Through the postings in various sections of the NAMLE web site, we will try to present many of these definitions along with their sources. We welcome input from visitors to the web site.

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What's the definition of media literacy? The ability to access, analyze, evaluate, create, and act using all forms of communication.

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Bad actors are flooding the information landscape with false and misleading information ahead of US elections in November, disproportionately targeting communities of color. The torrent of misinformation is sparking concerns it could alter voting patterns and even affect the outcomes of the presidential and other elections.

Misinformation is the inadvertent spread of false information with no specific intent to harm, while disinformation is false information designed to deliberately mislead people. Disinformation can include confusing or incorrect information about the voting process, which amounts to voter suppression, a continuation of Jim Crow-era attempts to disenfranchise Black voters through poll taxes and literacy tests. Today, Black, Brown, and immigrant communities continue to be impacted by mis- and disinformation, which sometimes exploits shared trauma among these communities to sway voters.

For example, during the 2020 election, Latinx voters in Florida were targeted by ads that falsely linked President Joe Biden to the repressive Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro. Immigrants who rely on translated content often find themselves subjected to mistranslations in WhatsApp groups and other social media platforms, where Spanish content moderation is limited.

In comparison to text, audio and visual mis- and disinformation can be especially difficult to detect and debunk. These threats are amplified by the rise of artificial intelligence (AI). Not only is AI used to produce realistic mis- and disinformation quickly and cheaply, bad actors can also use AI to reach communities of color with even more precision.

AI-generated images featuring former President Donald Trump with Black voters were recently posted on social media in an apparent attempt to appeal to these voters. Some of these images have been created by conservative media groups and others by private individuals. They also create fake social media accounts to peddle false information to Black voters.

Elected officials, media outlets, and community groups should work together to provide accurate, reliable, and accessible sources of information for all people, especially communities that hold pre-existing suspicions of the political process. Online platforms have a responsibility to respect human rights, including the right to vote. These safeguards are necessary to ensure free and fair elections that lie at the heart of the US democratic system.

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Disinformation About US Elections Targets Communities of Color

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Bad actors are flooding the information landscape with false and misleading information ahead of US elections in November, disproportionately targeting communities of color.

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Quick Link to the Glossary Instructor Guide

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Quick Link to the Glossary Instructor Guide

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This Google slide deck is free and open. That means you can copy it and make changes to better fit your learners' needs.

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Digital Skills Glossary Instructor Guide

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About Tech Goes Home

Who We Are

Founded in 2000, Tech Goes Home (TGH) empowers communities to access and use digital tools to overcome barriers and advance lives. Our programs focus on serving people and communities who face systemic barriers to technology adoption.

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Tech Goes Home | Digital Equity | Training, Access, Technology

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About Tech Goes Home Who We Are Founded in 2000, Tech Goes Home (TGH) empowers communities to access and use digital tools to overcome barriers and advance lives. Our programs focus on serving people and communities who face systemic barriers to technology adoption.

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iCivics - General Resources for Educators

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iCivics - General Resources for Educators

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Released at the Civic Learning Week National Forum in Washington, D.C., new research shows the need to provide more robust civic learning opportunities in high school, the positive effects of students openly discussing civic and political issues, the effect of legislation on teachers and students, and the need for more civic role models.

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Home - Advancing Civic Education for the Future of U.S. - iCivics

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iCivics is dedicated to advancing civic learning so young people have the confidence to shape the world around them and believe in our country's future.

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APIAVote monitors and analyzes disinformation trends as they pertain to voting rights, elections, democracy, anti-Asian hate, and other potential narratives about our communities.

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This resource contains an instructor guide with vocabulary building activities, a glossary index, and editable google slides -- one for each word in the glossary.

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The Digital Skills Glossary was built by adult educators who participated in the Winter 2023 EdTech Maker Space. We extend our deep gratitude to the following educators, who worked collaboratively to author original content, find openly licensed images, and design digital vocabulary resources and activities.

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The Digital Skills Glossary was built by adult educators who participated in the Winter 2023 EdTech Maker Space. We extend our deep gratitude to the following educators, who worked collaboratively to author original content, find openly licensed images, and design digital vocabulary resources and activities.

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Affordable Computer Access for All. These days, a computer is more than just a tech device. It is a doorway to employment, education, healthcare, social connection, and more. We are here to make sure everyone can afford the tech they need to succeed.

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Home > iCivics Election Headquarters iCivics Election Headquarters The best way to strengthen our democracy is to teach it. Presidential elections provide one of the most visible teachable moments for civic education. By discussing the election, the processes surrounding it, and the role of the people, we have the opportunity to build young people’s confidence […]

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EDC Upskill Course and Spanish Lg Glossary

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EDC Upskill Course and Spanish Lg Glossary

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Check out this adaption from EDC Upskill - which took the glossary and turned it into a course - with a Spanish language glossary!

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Digital Upskilling Initiative: Computer Basics

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By offering devices like desktop computers, laptops, tablets, and Wi-Fi hotspots through our low-cost online stores, we empower you with the tools you need to complete school work, apply for jobs, or connect with friends and family where you want, when you want. So what are you waiting for? Scroll down and check whether you're eligible for a low-cost, donated device through our HITConnect Store to start accessing digital opportunities today!

Begin shopping right now for your new devices at our online store: store.human-i-t.org.

There you'll be able to create an account, upload income verification information, and find the device that suits your needs! Call us with any questions at 888-391-7249.

Don't worry if you don't meet our income eligibility requirements. You can still find plenty of low-cost computers, tablets, and smartphones from brands like Apple, Dell, HP, Intel, and Lenovo at our eBay store.

Plus, all proceeds from our eBay store go directly towards our efforts to shrink the digital divide and the e-waste stream.

Underserved families and individuals, veterans in need, people with disabilities, seniors, schools, and nonprofit organizations are our primary focus.

We accept the following documentation to verify low-income status:

EBT (Electronic Benefits Transfer)

Free school lunches

Supplemental Security Income (SSI)

Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI)

Or other forms of government assistance

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Skip to main content Give Yourself the Tools to Easily Access Opportunities Online By offering devices like desktop computers, laptops, tablets, and Wi-Fi hotspots through our low-cost online stores, we empower you with the tools you need to complete school work, apply for jobs, or connect with friends and family where you want, when you want.

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All the election information you need, available in English and Spanish. Check your voter registration, find your polling place, learn about candidates, and more. Brought to you by the League of Women Voters Education Fund. VOTE411.org

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Free Resources to Support Digital Skill Building

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Free Resources to Support Digital Skill Building

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These are all vetted and free resources contributed by educators. You can share with learners to help them build skills.

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Digital Skills Library • Digital Skills Library

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Digital inequity disproportionately impacts the Black community and people of color. We stand together against structural racism.

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The League of Women Voters is a nonpartisan, grassroots organization working to protect and expand voting rights and ensure everyone is represented in our democracy. We empower voters and defend democracy through advocacy, education, and litigation, at the local, state, and national levels.

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The resources in the Digital Skills Library are also available in this free application. You can use it to make playlists of content for students to click through.

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SkillBlox makes it easy for instructors to find, organize, adapt, and share quality free content with learners.

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Forgot your password?

Current Issue

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To make a donation, send a check made out to World Education to 44 Farnsworth Street, Boston, MA, 02210 or click the button below to donate online. Your donation to The Change Agent is tax deductible and greatly appreciated!

Announcements

"We Take Action," the latest issue of The Change Agent co-published with Essential Education, is now available!

(more...)

The recording of Teaching with the Immigrants and Immigration Series (Issues 56-58) webinar is now available! View the recording and slides below.

More big changes! We are making our offerings even more accessible by organizing The Change Agent content to come out more often with more easy-to-use lesson packets and with more beginner-level adaptations. Find out what we have in store!

Copyright © 2023

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The Change Agent | An Adult Education Resource for Social Justice

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Forgot your password? To make a donation, send a check made out to World Education to 44 Farnsworth Street, Boston, MA, 02210 or click the button below to donate online. Your donation to The Change Agent is tax deductible and greatly appreciated!

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A Playbook for Fostering Digital Resilience through Instruction in Adult Education 

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A Playbook for Fostering Digital Resilience through Instruction in Adult Education 

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This Playbook offers descriptions to teach lesson in highly relevant content areas of financial literacy, health literacy, workforce prep, and civics education. Each lesson has edtech routines.

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LINCS | Adult Education and Literacy | U.S. Department of Education

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The Digital Resilience in the American Workforce (DRAW) initiative developed a suite of publications to build the adult education field's awareness and understanding of digital resilience, digital literacy, and digital skills.

The DRAW team developed a suite of professional development resources to support adult education professionals in their efforts to build the digital resilience of adult learners. These resources can be used by individuals or integrated into statewide or regional professional development efforts.

Links for DRAW Cohort 1 (password protected)

Unit 1- Defining Digital Skills

Unit 2- Instructional Models, Practices, & Resources

Unit 3- Building the Digital Resilience of Diverse Learners

Unit 4- Focus on Equity as a Key to Digital Resilience

Unit 5- Assessing Digital Skills

Playbook
This playbook demonstrates how digital resilience can be a goal in any adult learning context by supporting learner use of digital technologies as they learn academic content. The playbook explores four different topic areas: workforce preparation, health literacy, financial literacy, and civics. Each is presented as a short scenario describing a lesson that integrates digital literacy instruction with a "resilience" approach achieved through use of routines.

Templates
Routines & Edtech Routine Templates
Instructional routines are repeated learning activities that provide structure. They are an important element of learning in all content areas and at all levels. This document introduces a template for creating instructional routines that include opportunities for learners to build digital literacy skills and resilience using Seattle's Digital Skills Framework. Click here for examples of routines for different classrooom settings and content areas, including the routines highlighted in the Playbook for Fostering Digital Resilience through Instruction in Adult Education.
Blank Templates

The DRAW initiative has supported the development of two resources that instructors can use to find instructional resources that build learners' digitial resilience.

Digital Skills Library
The Digital Skills Library is an open repository of free learning resources designed to help all adult learners develop the digital skills needed to achieve their personal, civic, educational, and career goals.Instructors can use this online hub of self-directed, beginner to intermediate-level digital literacy tutorials to find learning resources to support instruction in digital literacy and skills.

Digital Skills Glossary
Knowing the "language" of digital skills is an important foundation for digital resilience. The Digital Skills Glossary is a set of open vocabulary-based resources and activities to help build learners' digital resilience.

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The Digital Resilience in the American Workforce (DRAW) initiative developed a suite of publications to build the adult education field's awareness and understanding of digital resilience, digital literacy, and digital skills. The DRAW team developed a suite of professional development resources to support adult education professionals in their efforts to build the digital resilience of adult learners.

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SkillBlox is a collection of open educational resources (OERs). Find Change Agent articles here, accompanied by teacher-curated additional resources to help teach on the topic. Take what's here and build you own SkillBlox for your students.

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This resource has hundreds of routines that you can integrate into your classroom to help students build confidence with digital skills and devices.

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This app is designed to help you find strategies, resources, and activities to support meaningful edtech integration and digital skill development.

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Read the landscape scan and access all DRAW funded resources

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LINCS | Adult Education and Literacy | U.S. Department of Education

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Building Skills and Literacy for Equitable Advancement

September 2021

Technology is integral to nearly every aspect of our daily lives, including the way we learn and work. Therefore, everyone must develop digital resilience-the awareness, skills, agility, and confidence necessary to be empowered users of new technologies, actively participate in society, and adapt to the labor market's ever-changing demands for digital expertise. To ensure that learners achieve digital resilience, educators must develop programming that integrates and applies digital skills content that's immediately relevant yet forward-looking and designed for use in multiple contexts.

Yet research shows that nearly 32 million Americans struggle to use a computer, and half of all Americans say they are not confident using technology to learn. Moreover, many adult education instructors have not been trained in best practices for offering digital literacy instruction to learners. Persistent gaps in access to technology and opportunities to develop digital skills exacerbate societal disparities, disproportionately impacting Black learners and workers and other people of color. This digital divide threatens to impede economic recovery efforts, as more than 8 in 10 mid-level jobs require digital skills.

To help adult education practitioners improve their ability to support learners who struggle to fully engage in tasks that demand use of digital technologies, JFF and World Education, with support from the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education, have launched a new initiative called Digital Resilience in the American Workforce (DRAW). Through DRAW, we aim to do the following:

Support professional development that enables teachers to be strategic and learner-focused in their lesson planning and instruction

Support adult education programs in designing effective, flexible technology-enabled education and support services

Provide state Adult Education and Family Literacy Act (AEFLA) funders and their professional development providers with models, guidance, and resources for supporting programs that sustain and expand digital literacy efforts

As part this new undertaking, we will provide the field with flexible, evidence-based, and piloted strategies and materials that help teachers build the digital literacy and digital resilience of adult learners. These efforts will help to ensure that adult learners can obtain the technical skills necessary for postsecondary education and training, employment, civic engagement, and economic self-sufficiency.

Together, and in partnership with practitioners across the country, we will do the following:

Conduct a landscape scan to identify and curate existing resources for assessing and developing digital literacy skills and resilience

Co-create additional resources to fill gaps identified in the landscape scan

Develop a digital library to pull resources together in user-friendly, flexible formats with actionable strategies that work with diverse populations of adult learners, including beginning level English learners

Train adult education professionals in how to integrate high-quality resources into their instruction

Digital Digest

The following blog series will be sharing lessons learned from a national landscape scan conducted by the Digital Resilience in the American Workforce (DRAW) project. The goal of DRAW is to better prepare and support adult education practitioners to teach foundational digital skills and address barriers learners face when using digital technologies.

1. Putting Digital Literacy and Digital Resilience into Frame - Posted April 28, 2022

2. Digital Digest: The Digital Skills Library - Posted May 11, 2022

3. Advancing Access and Digital Equity: Challenges and Solutions- Posted June 16, 2022

4. D igital Digest: Selecting an Assessment for Digital Literacy- Posted June 23, 2022

Publications and Resources

Landscape Scan

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. To learn more about DRAW's findings and to read the landscape scan visit: lincs.ed.gov/state-resources/federal-initiatives/draw/landscape

Deep Dives and Workbooks

This series of deep dives into the Digital Resilience in the American Workforce (DRAW) findings, from our national landscape scan on adult digital literacy, offer a closer look into resources and approaches for adult educators to use in the classroom. Explore the chapters of the DRAW landscape scan for a robust exploration of invaluable resources for digital literacy, instruction, and resilience.

How You Can Get Involved

Ongoing:

You can stay connected to DRAW through the LINCS Integrating Technology group and the Advancing Equity in Digital Learning; Employment Tech for Adults Listserv.

Fall 2023: Technical Assistance Program

The DRAW Technical Assistant (TA) Program is a training program for instructors in adult digital literacy programs whose work is funded under the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act (AEFLA), as well as state professional development leaders. The program offers participants an opportunity to engage in peer learning and develop plans for using materials created by the DRAW team to enhance digital literacy instruction and make supplementary resources available to adult education learners. This program will include a webinar, state and local courses, and coaching.

Call for Program Participants

State adult education programs that are eligible for funding under of the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act (AEFLA)-Title II of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act-are invited to apply to participate in the Technical Assistance (TA) Program.

Please note that only the state director (or a designee) can apply. We recommend that the state's professional development leader help complete the application and that program leaders identify qualified instructors for participation.

Instructors and state leads who participate in the program will learn how to integrate DRAW materials, methods, activities, and tools into adult education programs and professional development trainings. The application opens on June 1, 2023, and closes on June 22, 2023.

This program is free for participating states and programs. Please review the overview document for further details. If you have any questions, please email digitalskills@jff.org. Decisions will be announced July 10, 2023.

The application takes about 21 minutes to complete. We recommend that you draft and save your responses in a Word document like the one linked here. When you're ready to submit your application, you can copy your responses from the document and paste them into the application.

Application Overview

Learn everything you need to know about the TA Program, the application process, and important dates in this application overview.

Adult education professionals will do the following in the Technical Assistance Program:

Learn how to navigate the wide field of digital literacy resources and how to locate the resources they need through the Digital Skills Library.

Apply DRAW digital literacy instructional strategies and resources into their programs with the support of an instructional coach.

Engage in the Literacy Information and Communication System (LINCS) community technical assistance and professional development training.

Receive professional development support that enables them to be strategic and learner-focused in their lesson planning and instruction.

Professional Development Resources

The DRAW team will post an asynchronous webinar for state adult education directors and state professional development leaders on how to apply for this professional development opportunity. The link to the presentation and slides will be available for download on June 8th. Previous pilot webinar recordings and are available for your review.

Key Partners

JFF
World Education, Inc.
Safal Partners
Performance Excellence Partners
Rock Creek Video Production

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Digital Resilience in the American Workforce (DRAW)

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Building Skills and Literacy for Equitable Advancement September 2021

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Digital ESL is a hands-on, paper-first course designed to teach beginner English learners digital literacy through guided experimentation on their smartphones.

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https://jsi.zoom.us/rec/share/y1JsoSetP-5Xannu_nJJ56vHpF8off-gpWbaE0I8tOpEawXmNtwC9fZP7IfLzfPa.4xQEpBk80OWfU9bB

Passcode: ?VP55isF

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Video Conferencing, Web Conferencing, Webinars, Screen Sharing

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Zoom is the leader in modern enterprise video communications, with an easy, reliable cloud platform for video and audio conferencing, chat, and webinars across mobile, desktop, and room systems. Zoom Rooms is the original software-based conference room solution used around the world in board, conference, huddle, and training rooms, as well as executive offices and classrooms. Founded in 2011, Zoom helps businesses and organizations bring their teams together in a frictionless environment to get more done.