Tech Tips Blog
Welcome to Tech Tips! This blog covers topics related to technology use in adult education in the United States. Posts include simple lesson ideas that teachers can use to integrate technology into instruction, updates on what’s happening in the field, new opportunities and resources, and news from our EdTech Center projects.
We welcome guest contributors. See our contact page for more information.
World Education Celebrates CareAcademy’s MIT Inclusive Innovation Global Grand Prize Win
By Victoria Neff Last night, World Education team members attended MIT’s Inclusive Innovation Challenge Gala to cheer on CareAcademy, the grand prize winner in the Skill Development and Opportunity Matching category. CareAcademy was recognized for improving the future...
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App-to-Speed Learning Circles in Adult ESOL Programs
By David J. Rosen, Ed.D. A learning circle is a group led by a teacher, staff member or volunteer facilitator whose members all share an interest in the same subject or topic. It’s a non-formal, organized study circle that includes an online course or other online...
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xR for Adult Education
On Monday, October 22, I attended xR in EDU, a day-long event exploring the use of augmented and virtual reality in education and training. My goal was to listen for ideas that best connected with the field of adult education. In this post, I will share some of what I...
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Field Testing an Effective Virtual Career Exploration Technology with Adult Learners
The EdTech Center @ World Education is currently field testing Nepris, an online career exploration platform that connects educators with employers and industry experts to bring more relevance to the classroom and inspire learners towards real-world careers. Field...
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Leamos “Let’s Read” Online Literacy Course for Spanish Speakers
By Laura Medina, Southern California Director, Building Skills Partnership and Alison Ascher Webber, Board Member, Building Skills Partnership “Not being literate has brought me much humiliation and ridicule. Now thanks to the Leamos program, I know how to write my...
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One Adult Literacy App, Many Diverse Learners
AmritaCREATE's Approach to Learner Usage and Engagement in the Xprize Adult Literacy Competition By Rita Sutcliffe, English Language Content Manager, AmritaCREATE Clear instruction at the appropriate level and engagement of the learner are basic educational issues...
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Using the ISTE Student Standards in Adult Education
The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) is well known in the K-12 world as a thought leader on the issue of digital literacy. Their digital literacy standards, first shared in 1998, have been continuously revised to keep apace with both changes in...
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Facing the Retail Revolution with Empowered Learning for Technology Skills
By Jen Vanek and Brandon Olszewski As retail technology evolves to incorporate new trends such as online shopping, self-checkout and personal data, one cannot help but notice the changing nature of work. Rather than mechanically checking out customers one at a time,...
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What We’re Reading – August 2018
Skillsmart's white paper, Skills-based hiring expands across Western Massachusetts provides a compelling example of technology 'screening in' candidates for work they might not qualify for through a traditional resume. A hospitality company realized that to find...
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Teaching Tech Skills to Older Adults
It’s 2018, and at this point you can toss an iPad to a 4-yr-old and they’ll be able to find some games to play, but this is not necessarily the case for older adults. Just like any new thing, it’s easier to master when you’ve grown up with it, than when it’s thrust...
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What We’re Reading: Critiquing Adult Participation in Education
Many of you have probably seen by now the first report from the Critiquing Adult Participation in Education project (CAPE) on Deterrents and Solutions. The need to leverage technology to provide alternative, flexible, anytime, anywhere, personalized solutions was...
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Experimenting with Google Assistant in ESOL Classrooms
Digital tools and technology are part of everyday life. Mobile devices can tell us where to go and how to find things. We use apps to calculate monthly bills, plan trips, and showcase favorite memories. A world of information is at our fingertips, and at the sound of...
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Using Smartphones for Math: How a Refugee Center Found Success
This post is by Vinod Lobo, CEO of Learning Upgrade. This week, the five finalists for the Adult Literacy XPRIZE were announced, one of which is Learning Upgrade. Join us in congratulating them and stay tuned for posts by other XPRIZE finalists. The UMI Learning...
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Using Northstar in the Classroom
The online Northstar Digital Literacy Assessment has helped over 2 million adults identify the gaps in their digital skills and gain recognition for their strengths. In this tech tip, adult educator JennaRose Dahl shares how she uses Northstar with her learners. “If...
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Converting a Lesson to Integrate Technology
By Leah Peterson Have you ever found a lesson that looked interesting and engaging but didn’t have the tech elements you were hoping for? This is the story of how I adapted a lesson from the The Change Agent, a magazine and website for adult learners, to be more...
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Discussion: Innovative Digital Learning Models for ELL Immigrant Adults
Did you participate in the Innovative Digital Learning Models for ELL Immigrant Adults webinar? If so, join the discussion! If not, watch the recording, then join in. Mobile and other technologies make possible anytime, anywhere learning to extend education to...
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5 Reasons Why Teachers and Instructional Designers Should Care About Learning Analytics
We at the EdTech Center are closely tracking the ability of technology to provide personalized learning experiences that accelerate learning and increase student motivation and success. The future of personalized learning will depend on the ability to gather data...
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Winter/Spring Schedule: E-Learning Professional Development
Winter/Spring courses from World Education's E-Learning Professional Development (PD) Series are available for registration. Learning is always best with friends - gather up your team and register today! E-Learning PD facilitated courses are 4-8 week explorations of...
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Innovative Digital Learning
By Alison Ascher Webber This week I facilitated an all-star panel organized by the Migration Policy Institute to showcase innovative program models that leverage educational technologies to train hard-to-reach adults and extend learning beyond classroom walls. As the...
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English Innovations: Learning English with Digital Literacy and Community Engagement
By Heide Wrigley English Innovations is a national model that blends in-class and out-of-class learning for adult English learners with high beginning levels of literacy and little time to spend in a formal adult ESL program. It is a 100 hour jump-start program...
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Online Citizenship Preparation with USA Learns
By Evelyn Fella A Need and a Solution With a 26% increase in the number of immigrants applying for naturalization,* and citizenship classes across the U.S. filling up with long waiting lists, a need for more immigrant services was apparent. To address this need, the...
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Connect, Relax, and Refocus: Using Technology to Alleviate Anxiety for Language Learners
By Becky Shiring Using a second language around native speakers can be nerve wracking. I know this from embarrassing attempts I’ve made trying to speak Spanish. I overthink every word, pull out Google translate to check myself, turn red in the face, and stumble trying...
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The Digital Homeroom
By Jen Vanek There is much adult learning happening outside of formal ABE programs with hired trained teachers. Community based organizations, libraries, and agencies that provide social services to adults who might have language or literacy learning needs play a...
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Cyber-ESL Student Supports – Recipe for Success
By Alison Ascher Webber Instituto del Progreso Latino achieved a 96% retention rate by Cohort 4 of their Cyber-ESL distance learning program with low-income Latino adults in Chicago by asking the question, “What supports will our participants need to be successful...
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Integrating Digital Literacy and Language Instruction
By Alison Ascher Webber Digital literacy and second language instruction should be integrated, and not taught separately. This message was conveyed by researchers and practitioners from Minneapolis to Belgium at the recent Literacy Education and Second Language...
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Learning Upgrade: XPrize Semi-finalist Leveraging Big Data
By Alison Ascher Webber One of the newly announced semi-finalists in the Adult Literacy XPrize competition is Learning Upgrade, a mobile app that teaches through songs, videos, games, and rewards. Learning Upgrade has helped over 1 million students make learning...
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How to Bring Life to an Empty Computer Lab
By Sarah Bell The Problem: What do you do when students aren’t attending your computer classes? That was the problem we faced at Literacy KC in Kansas City, Missouri. Literacy KC works with adults 16 and older who need help with their literacy skills. They range from...
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Keeping Career Training Current: Technology at Hacienda La Puente
By Alison Ascher Webber In the “Inside California Education” short documentary on Hacienda La Puente Adult Education, autoshop instructor Mike Rojas shows computer software used to teach students how to build and test electrical circuits in a simulated environment...
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Do you Kahoot? Gamification for Learner Engagement
By Grazia Mora Kahoot! can make class fun while helping teachers check for understanding. Finding ways to make our classes at Building Skills Partnership (BSP) engaging is essential as our students are immigrant janitors across California who often juggle multiple...
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Digital Literacy: Consume, Create, Curate!
EdTech Partner Nell Eckersley gave adult educators a compelling “Call to Action” to go beyond consuming technology and become ambassadors for curating and creating information online. Read on for a synopsis of her keynote speech given at OTAN’s annual Technology &...
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