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.
Readability Features & Technology for Better Reading (Part II)
Note: This is the second part of a two-part series on readability in digital texts and literacy. The first post defines readability and why it matters. The second post elaborates on recent research done to better understand readability preferences, as well as...
Readability Features & Technology for Better Reading (Part I)
Note: This is the first part of a two-part series on readability in digital texts and literacy. The first post defines readability and why it matters. The second post elaborates on recent research done to better understand readability preferences, as well as...
Is Your State Planning for an Equitable Digital Future?
by Judy Mortrude The future of work is digital — and it’s already arriving. American workers in industries as diverse as agriculture and hospitality are increasingly required to use mobile apps, virtual reality headsets, and other digital tools to carry out their...
EdTech Panel @ NCTN: Envisioning an Ecosystem that Supports Digital Skills and Lifelong Learning for Adults
By Karisa Tashjian With a new decade upon us, it’s an ideal time to take stock of the remarkable changes in the ways that technology has affected our lives over the past ten years. The iPad debuted, mobile devices are widespread, more time is spent using social media,...
Special Issue on Online Learning, Technology Integration, and Digital Literacy: Call for Papers
The EdTech Center is proud to support ProLiteracy and the Adult Literacy Education: The International Journal of Literacy, Language, and Numeracy on a special issue that highlights promising strategies for classroom technology integration, use of online learning, and...
21CLEO: First Year Recap
A year has passed since we kicked off the 21CLEO project. The 21CLEO research project responds to the need for employers, educators and policy makers to better understand the characteristics of an effective learning ecosystem that engages frontline service workers in...
Enriching Distance Learning through TVM
by Kate Redmon, Instructional Specialist and Curriculum Developer at Yavapai College ABE/ASE Let me tell you, I’m all about free and open educational resources. For years I was a private contractor, tutoring adults with disabilities through Vocational Rehabilitation,...
What Is a Learning Ecosystem?
During the past year, we’ve come to realize that the term learning ecosystem is widely used, but not usually defined or widely understood. Rather than taking the term for granted, we crafted this blog post to explore the origins of the term, discuss what it has come...
Team WorldEd Awarded Achievement Winner in the Adult Literacy XPRIZE Communities Competition
Team WorldEd, a diverse, virtual community of adult education providers, today announced that it has been named the Tier 1 Achievement Winner in the Barbara Bush Adult Literacy XPRIZE Communities Competition presented by Dollar General Literacy Foundation. This...
The Triple E Framework for More Effective Technology Integration in Adult Education
By Susan Gaer, World Education Partner, OTAN Subject Matter Expert, and Kristi Reyes, ESL Faculty at MiraCosta College, OTAN Trainer Have you ever wondered how well you were integrating technology into your lessons? The Triple E Framework, developed by Dr. Liz Kolb in...
Barriers to Learning, Part 2
By Crystal Dixson and Naila Bairamova In a previous post, we presented findings from our landscape scan that discussed barriers to participate in learning opportunities. The framework we have chosen to organize our thinking is Margaret Becker Patterson’s...
The EdTech Center’s Guide to the 2019 ProLiteracy Conference
Big conferences are hard to navigate! We don’t want to miss you, so we created this list of our sessions. At the 2019 ProLiteracy Conference, the EdTech Center @ World Education will share new research and practical classroom ideas on new technologies, digital...
8 Tips for Implementing Learning Circles in Any Program
Maryann Peterson with EdTech Center Staff A version of this article first appeared in PROGRESS, Virginia's adult education and literacy newsletter published quarterly by the Virginia Adult Learning Resource Center. Learning Circles shape more than just the...
Vote For Digital US & EdTech Center @ SXSW EDU!
Digital literacy is rapidly becoming the new literacy. Like it or not, technology has come to stay. Everything we do -- from accessing healthcare, handling financial transactions, engaging with our community, and even accessing learning and job opportunities --...
Barriers to Learning, Part 1
By Naila Bairamova and Crystal Dixson This blog post is the first in a two-part series that focuses on barriers to learner participation and persistence in employer-supported educational opportunities. In this framing of past research and reports, the 21 CLEO Research...
Leveraging Digital Literacy Skill Attainment as a Program Outcome
By Tom Cytron-Hysom Adult Basic Education programs across the US are working to integrate more digital literacy instruction into their educational programming. Knowing exactly how that programming fits within reporting and outcomes requirements that frame federally...
Making Good Use of Free Apps in Support of New Mobile Learning Initiative
The Adult Literacy XPRIZE Communities Competition is about uniting a very wide circle of people who care about empowering others through literacy; my home state of New Hampshire is part of Team WorldEd’s Adult Literacy XPRIZE work, and I feel privileged to...
Digital Divide: Gaps & Opportunities
By Jennifer Maddrell and Victoria Neff Access to reliable and fast internet is vital in today’s modern, digital world. As described by the National Digital Inclusion Alliance, digital equity exists when everyone has the information technology needed for full...
Considerations for Effective Distance and Blended Instruction and Assessment
The IDEAL Consortium is dedicated to helping member states across the US establish quality, innovative distance and blended learning programs; IDEAL has served as a facilitator of collaboration and sharing of effective practice since its inception in 2002. IDEAL’s...
Defining Employer Supported Learning Opportunities
The 21st Century Learning Ecosystem Opportunities (21Cleo) research team has been hard at work! In our last two blog posts, we reported on a field review of learning opportunities from a process perspective (how we chose the literature we reviewed) and from a product...
International Profiles on EdTech: The Ayedi Project
Uganda, like other East African nations, has made impressive advancements in mobile phone usage and penetration in recent years through the widespread distribution of cellular signals. During the past 10 years, mobile phone access in Uganda grew by 50%. Today, nearly...
Innovative Approaches to Mobile Learning Integration in Low-Resource Areas
Across Asia, World Education is leading the mobile learning revolution and working with educators, learners, administrators, policymakers and tech developers to make digital tools and apps relevant and accessible. Whether the programs you support serve low-resource...
CareAcademy: Mobile Learning to Prepare Adults for In-Demand Caregiver Profession
Senior care is one of the fastest-growing areas of work of the US, and certified home health aides (HHA) are especially in high demand given the shortage of paid caregivers. With the population of people over the age of 65 expected to double over the next two decades,...
Support Distance Learners from the Start
The IDEAL Consortium is dedicated to helping member states across the US establish quality, innovative distance and blended learning programs; IDEAL has served as a facilitator of collaboration and sharing of effective practice since its inception in 2002. IDEAL’s...
Setting the Stage for Distance and Blended Learning
The IDEAL Consortium is dedicated to helping member states across the US establish quality, innovative distance and blended learning programs; IDEAL has served as a facilitator of collaboration and sharing of effective practice since its inception in 2002. IDEAL’s...
Learning Opportunities Available to Frontline Workers
By Crystal Dixson, 21 CLEO Research Team Assistant In our efforts to better understand the characteristics of learning opportunities available to frontline service workers, we’ve undertaken a comprehensive review of the work that has been published and distributed in...
The EdTech Center is headed to CIES!
The EdTech Center is headed to this year’s Comparative International Education Society (CIES) conference on April 14-18, 2019, in San Francisco, California! This is our first year attending with our colleagues at Bantwana, JSI and World Education, Inc. and we’re...
Catalyzing a Mobile Learning Movement in Adult Literacy: World Education Receives Milestone Award from Adult Literacy XPRIZE Communities Competition
World Education is honored to be a milestone award recipient in the national Adult Literacy XPRIZE Communities Competition. Team World Ed is improving access to learning for adults with low literacy skills through their smartphones. In this competition, friends,...
21CLEO Research Team Introduces Early Work at COABE
Join session presenters Jen Vanek, from the EdTech Center@World Education, and Kathy Harris, from the Literacy Language, and Technology Research group, during Session 1, Monday, April 1st 8:00am-9:00am. Studio 1. In our session, 21C Learning Ecosystem for...
21 CLEO Field Literature Review Process
The 21st Century Learning Ecosystems Opportunities (21 CLEO) project has embarked on a review of research that describes educational opportunities offered to frontline workers. Throughout the course of this review process, the project has been creating a list and...