Empowerment in Digital Literacy Acquisition Programs
Jill Castek, Gloria Jacobs · 2020
This chapter focuses on the experience of learners who became tutors in digital literacy acquisition programs in six states. Data were drawn from over 100 participants in a large, multi-year, Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP). The BTOP project included lead partners who provided adults with opportunities to learn to use computers and the Internet in settings that included libraries, community-based organizations, workforce development offices, adult education settings, and incarcerated re-entry programs. Similar implementation strategies were used across all programs They each: (1) used the same online platform designed specifically for adult learners, (2) provided digital literacy materials in English and Spanish, and (3) offered in-person tutor support and each learner was given the opportunity to work at his or her own pace and identify his or her own learning goals. A common customizable tutor training program was facilitated by tutor-coordinators to address the unique needs of different sites and implementation configurations. In almost every program site in the study, there were tutors who had started their participation in the program as learners. Tutor coordinators and individual tutors recognized something special in these learners and encouraged them to become tutors. Findings suggest that learners who became tutors built their self-confidence and continued to increase their application of digital literacies by tutoring others and widely applying what they had learned in new contexts.