eNet
Join eNet to collaborate with inspiring educators and explore blended learning tools and approaches.
How does inequitable access to the internet affect adults in Ontario? What are the layers and impacts of our province’s “digital divide”?
We explore the answers to these questions in our research overview Ontario’s Digital Divide: A Spotlight on the Differences in Online Connection, Activity and Benefits.
Research highlights
Ontario’s Digital Divide was completed in early 2020 and is based on an analysis of the Canadian Internet Use Survey (CIUS) and other information. It looks beyond infrastructure, highlighting the ways in which income, age and level of education contribute to the digital divide. The overview reveals three interrelated layers of the digital divide, involving differences in:
- How people connect to the internet.
- The types of online activities in which they engage.
- How they benefit from their interactions with services, resources and networks that are only available online.
If the Ontario government is to achieve its goal of making this an “inclusive, equitable and accessible digitally enabled province,” these three layers must be addressed.
Using this research overview
The ongoing and entrenched digital divide directly impacts adult literacy learners and others who could benefit from learning and training programs. Ontario’s Literacy and Basic Skills (LBS) program works directly with digitally excluded adults with limited internet access and has a role in digital inclusion efforts.
This paper summarizes and highlights issues that are well-known to practitioners in the adult literacy education space. You can use it as a tool that supports your local advocacy efforts.
In 2018, we decided that a guide on writing effective case notes for digital literacy training services would better support our work as coaches.
We hoped that our guide and our record of how we developed it might be useful to others working in literacy and basic skills (LBS) as they develop, enhance or extend their own system of sharing information through case notes.
Our main finding was that case notes on their own aren’t a solution to the dilemmas in our work, but there are two outcomes of the project that will make a positive contribution to the field: case studies and reflective practice.
Case studies became the Wayfinders Studio and reflective practice became the Educator Network (eNet).
Wayfinders Studio
Join literacy educators who are experimenting, piloting and reflecting on how digital technology can enhance learning.
An environmental scan of LBS programs indicated that a number of different tools and processes were being used to track data across all three sectors, and while the tools worked, duplication and inefficient data sharing was a concern.
Sioux-Hudson, a community-based literacy program, procured and implemented a student information system called Orbund and found that the system meets their needs for case management and that they could successfully customize it to align with ministry data requirements and their own internal needs.
The cost of Orbund is prohibitive for an individual program but is more manageable if individual programs can share an enterprise license. AlphaPlus provided a three-year license to pilot programs who are willing and able to help identify gaps/issues and work with AlphaPlus and Orbund to work through these issues before rolling it out to other programs.
After seeing Orbund in action, staff in the pilot programs felt it will help streamline and advance case management administration. Read the report to learn how Orbund worked for these organizations and the next steps for the implementation of Orbund.
In 2017, AlphaPlus was asked by a sector membership group for information on options for digital literacy and basic skills (LBS) learner files and cloud – based storage.
The sector members identified a primary driver for the investigation as the burden of physically storing more than seven years of learner files. Space in multi-service facilities and school boards is in high demand , and file storage space allocated to LBS service providers can be significantly constrained, causing operational tensions and issues .
This investigation and report is only an initial foundational step. As stakeholder engagement and consensus building takes time, proposed models for thinking about how data is gathered, recorded, confirmed and stored have been provided as a starting point for the discussions.
AlphaPlus engaged 10 English-speaking literacy practitioners from community-based programs to explore the ways that LinkedIn Learning might fit into individual professional development plans for literacy and basic skills (LBS) managers and instructors.
Read the report to see what we learned about how LBS practitioners are learning in order to strengthen their practice and better support colleagues, program participants and community partners.
Our exploration of a particular platform led us to a wider look at how literacy practitioners engage in professional learning, what makes it effective and what they’d like to see in the future.
We think that their insights and recommendations are a powerful guide to creating effective professional learning opportunities that amplify scholarship in the field.
A cross-case analysis of six community-based programs in Ontario’s Literacy and Basic Skills system
In 2018, AlphaPlus oversaw a cross-case analysis of digital inclusion and digital literacy development in six community literacy centres in Ontario, which receive funding from the Ministry of Advanced Education and Skills Development (MAESD) Literacy and Basic Skills (LBS) program. The literacy centres, situated directly in small towns, cities and remote communities throughout Ontario, play a key role in supporting the province’s digital transformation initiative and its commitment to ensure an “inclusive digitally enabled province.” The centres provide various learning opportunities for digitally marginalized adults — adults living in poverty, the unemployed or precariously employed, those with limited education and some older adults. They use various models of digital literacy development to respond to learners’ array of digital literacy experiences and aspirations. However, this work is not currently part of a broader provincial digital inclusion strategy. In addition, professional development opportunities and educator training are inconsistent across the system. LBS eligibility criteria and enrolment targets can interfere with the ability of community organizations to be fully inclusive and responsive to digitally marginalized adults, particularly older adults and those not actively looking for work.
In Ontario, our government is transforming how it collaborates with the public and provides services by migrating many everyday interactions and transactions to an online platform. This e-government service initiative includes a commitment to provide opportunities for people to advance or gain new digital skills, particularly to individuals most in need of digital literacy training. As those in the adult education sector know, a digital divide and lack of technology training persists in Ontario and in Canada. For many Ontarians, the cost of an Internet connection puts access out of reach. When Internet access is available disparities in education level, literacy, technical skills, online problem solving and access to digital learning supports contribute to the divide. AlphaPlus’ synthesis review project sought to examine existing literature to better understand effective and comprehensive digital literacy learning, as well as inclusion opportunities for current and future users of e-government services.
The report details the results of a literature review and a jurisdictional scan funded by the Ontario Human Capital Research and Innovation Fund (OHCRIF) in 2016-2017. This project explores what it means to be an inclusive and digitally enabled province, and to support Ontario’s vision for advancing digital literacy skills for those in need. Because of the digital literacy strategy currently under development in Ontario, this research was an ideal opportunity to look at promising policies, programs and practices designed to create an environment of digital inclusion in other jurisdictions.
Finding Our Way: Digital Technologies and E-Learning for Adult Literacy Students, Educators and Programs Literature Scan: 2005-2011, presents a global snapshot of how technology has been used to enhance teaching, learning and professional development.
Given the ubiquity of digital technologies in today’s world and the pressure on educators to keep up, the report explores how they are and could be supported to integrate technology into their practice.
Ultimately, the report aims to spark a national discussion about what is happening, what needs to happen, and how AlphaPlus can, in collaboration with the adult literacy field, begin to harness the full potential of digital technology and e-learning in the service of adult literacy teaching and learning.
DLI Knowledge Sharing: Milestones and digital technology: Assessment and reporting practices (ASL session)
The recording is no longer available but you can view the slides.
See the Research Brief.
See the Research Overview.
See the Full Report.
With the introduction of the OALCF (Ontario Adult Literacy Curriculum Framework) and its aligned reporting system in 2012, Ontario’s Literacy and Basic Skills programs (LBS) have experienced extensive changes in the way they report program activity and demonstrate accountability.
See the Full Report.
See the Research Overview.