The Learner Web Partnership Project, which received a $3.3 million grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce last October, will be moving its digital literacy program from the development to implementation stage this week.
Program aims to increase digital literacy
The Learner Web Partnership Project, which received a $3.3 million grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce last October, will be moving its digital literacy program from the development to implementation stage this week.
The Learner Web Partnership Project aims to increase access to learning for youth and adults after they leave school. The software for Learner Web was developed at PSU by professor and chair of the Applied Linguistics Department Stephen Reder.
“My research has found that many individuals have clear educational and employment goals, but often lack realistic plans to follow that can lead them from where they are in their lives to their goals,” Reder said. “Learner Web was designed to provide that missing link—realistic learning plans for individuals to follow, supported and assisted by a range of local programs, services and individuals…who can coordinate their help and support around the learner.”
PSU has been the lead organization in this project, according to Reder. The first phase of the digital literacy project focused on content and partnership developments. Beginning this week, the program will be implemented in partners’ computer labs with trained tutors to assist users.
“We will be broadening the on-ramps to the information highway for low-skilled and economically vulnerable populations, helping them to move across the digital divide,” Reder said.
The Learner Web Partnership Project is closely tied to Reder’s research, which focuses on the ways in which individuals create their own learning opportunities after leaving school, particularly in the areas of literacy and language developments and transitions to post-secondary education.
The project’s $3.3 million grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce is a part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act’s Broadband Technology Opportunities Program. As previously reported by the Vanguard, this program aims to bring a higher level of digital literacy and access to individuals across the country.
According to the Learner Web website, the partnership will help 23,538 adults become “broadband-ready.”
“The new digital literacy project based on Learner Web will enable the lowest-skilled, least educated and most economically vulnerable populations to become digitally literate, internet savvy and take advantage of the Learner Web and other online resources, and hopefully meet their goals and fulfill their dreams,” Reder said.
Participants will complete two to three learning plans with the assistance of on-site tutors. Though the programs are self-paced, participants will spend an estimated 15 hours on these programs. According to Learner Web estimates, the project will directly create 64 jobs per year, indirectly create 41 jobs per year and will induce 23 jobs per year.
The Learner Web Partnership Project is being implemented in multiple regions across the U.S., including Minnesota, California, Texas, New York and the city of New Orleans.
Digital literacy and broadband consumer education content was developed by the Minnesota Literacy Council, and tutor learning plans were developed by ProLiteracy Worldwide in Syracuse, N.Y., according to Reder.
The project will be implemented in about 75 computer labs in the U.S., Reder said. These include labs at South Texas College, Cayuga Community College in New York, the Richmond Public Library in California, the Literacy Coalition of Central Texas, the Minnesota Literacy Council and Goodwill of southeast Louisiana.
Reder recently spoke at Loyola University in New Orleans about economic development and adult literacy in the city, and ways in which Learner Web can help to reform adult education and training to increase individual successes in areas of education and employment. ?
