Boosting Digital Literacy in the Workplace

Virtually every worker today needs digital skills. But how do we know what kind of skills they need for the workplace; how they can best acquire them; and what competencies or credentials can help them signal their preparedness to employers? How can public policy help (or hinder) this process of developing occupational digital literacy?
Notably, leaders distinguish between foundational digital literacy — a baseline skillset that workers need to have regardless of industry – and occupational digital literacy, which entails developing specific technology-related skills needed for a particular occupation or industry. Acquiring occupational digital literacy skills is best done in the context of technical skills training for that occupation, rather than as a stand-alone class or program.

A handful of workforce and education leaders scattered across the United States have begun to answer these questions through iterative program and policy development that is closely aligned with business needs on the ground. This “rapid prototyping” process, underway for the past several years, has accelerated dramatically with the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic and the associated increase in the demand for digital skills. But these bright spots are relatively isolated from each other and suffer from a lack of dedicated public investment.

This brief, a Supporting Resource, outlines emerging lessons from this work. In addition, the brief identifies timely opportunities for policymakers and advocates to foster the development of effective approaches and speed up the adoption of innovative strategies. It builds on previous research from National Skills Coalition (NSC) that described the extent of digital skill gaps among U.S. workers, which found that nearly one in three U.S. workers (31 percent, or more than 48 million people) had few or no digital skills, and that between 38 and 43 percent of those workers nevertheless were employed in jobs that required moderate or complex computer usage. NSC found that workers spent considerable time and energy covering or compensating for their skill gaps, and that this served as an invisible drag on productivity for workers and the businesses that employ them. NSC’s prior research also explored variations in digital skill gaps by industry, implications for workers of color, and potential areas for federal action.

As a product of this research on the need to develop digital literacy skills for today's workers, the following major findings and recommendations emerged:

FINDINGS:

• The real leaders in digital literacy have figured out how to adapt best practices to this new setting. Proven strategies like sector partnerships effectively meet the demand for digital skills.
• Contextualized or integrated models are effective in building occupational digital literacy. They teach technical skills by using the real-world materials and context in which the worker is likely to use them.
• Uneven access to broadband and digital devices hinders programs and economic vitality. Numerous leaders identified a lack of broadband internet access as a major barrier preventing digital skill building.
• Digital skills advocates have an important stake in the debate over competency-based models. In the digital literacy arena, as in other educational realms, there are two primary approaches to gauging skill attainment: A competency-based model, which is typically measured through an exam or other assessment process; and a time-based model, which may include exams and other assessments but is more explicitly linked to “seat time” or hours in the classroom. Both models often result in a credential, such as a degree, certificate, or certification.

RECOMMENDATIONS:

• Invest in industry sector partnerships that can collaborate with community colleges and other training providers to bring a business voice to the talent development process. These partnerships can be specifically designed to help close racial, gender, and other equity gaps that have served to limit some workers’ access to jobs that require technological skills.
• Modernize federal student financial aid to recognize the reality of how digital skills are acquired. Today’s financial aid policies don’t match the realities of today’s students, particularly working adults.
• Invest in high-quality professional development and technical assistance to aid workforce and education providers in designing demand-driven digital skill-building programs.
• Expand digital inclusion investments to tackle all three “legs of the stool” – broadband internet access, digital device access, and digital skills. By investing simultaneously in these inter-related variables, policymakers can ensure that potential progress on occupational digital literacy is not undermined by lack of equipment.

• Last Updated:
• Created:
• Resource Publication Date: 2020
• Author(s): Bergson-Shilcock, A.
• Funding Source: National Skills Coalition
• Resource Availability: Publicly available
• Posted by: Wesley Peterson
• Posted in: Workforce System Strategies