@Digital Lit

 

Jun. 2018 - Present

Introduction

One of the major impacts of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) is the exposure of the severity of the digital divide and digital literacy issue within our society in 2020. Remember when an entire State sheltered and the in-person interactions at all levels and in all aspects of life scrambled to get online (a.k.a. virtual). This disruption implies that ALL has the required device (e.g., laptops, tablets, etc.) and the Internet access to now function during and in the new post-COVID-19 world. This premise is NOT the case, especially in the underserved communities of Camden NJ. Our primary goal, therefore, is to focus efforts on closing the digital skills gap within Camden’s socioeconomically diverse, high-poverty, and underrepresented communities.

Background

The mission of the community digital lit program is to expose the residents of Camden’s underserved population to a digital way of life needed to survive in the 21st Century. The goal is to allow participants to explore, and immerse themselves in the fundamentals of digital technology and its applicability in everyday life interactions. A core component of our digital lit training is to assist participants in developing the necessary digital knowledge and essential skill sets to prepare them for a successful digital way of life.

Challenges

  • The need to raise the digital literacy of residents in Camden underserved communities to support the “new norm” post COVID-19.

  • Low community residents participation in “no-cost” programs. For example, an estimated adult population of 11,039 (Camden County, 2019) of whom approximately 67% (7,400) were targeted, only 45 adults enrolled in a “Get Connected” course. Fourteen of the 45 enrolled participants attended one or more sessions, and five completed the course. This dismal participation is common in disadvantaged communities such as Camden, New Jersey.

  • Train and produce an 80% digital literacy proficiency in the adult (i.e., 18 years and above) population in the underserved communities of Camden, New Jersey.

Summary & Method

Online delivery of a self-paced and instructor-led 40-hour “Get Connected” course to achieve two goals:

1) Participants ready and capable of filling out online forms

2) Have the digital capability to conduct way of life activities such as online banking, and online search for information.

The Cisco learning management system platform plus the Cisco WebEx conferencing platform will be leveraged to deliver the “Get Connected” course.

Solution & Metrics

The running of the @digital lit resource will be triggered when the minimum cohort size of 10 is attained to start a class. The 2020 cohort class of 15 was achieved and 5 completed the course.

 
Tunde A. Onitiri