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Accessibility GUIDE
SkillRise presents
The Profile of a Lifelong Learner
The dispositions and skills that adult learners need to be successful in the future of work.
And the
Upskill with EdTech Framework
Practical advice about technology usage for adult learning and workforce programs.
Learners First: An Equity-Centered Approach to Educational Access
In this scenario, you’ll be part of a team including:
Vera, a long-time adult education English as a Second Language teacher...
And Sharon, a former high-school math teacher, who is new to teaching adults.
Corey, program manager, pretty new to the adult education field...
You all work together at...
The Adult Education Program at North Lakeland Community College
Focus: Preps students for GED or HiSET, provides career-pathway and enrichment courses.
Serves about 250 students per year.
Has a limited budget from the community college.
Together, you’re working on addressing some challenges the program faces related to the student experience.
The team is looking at problems highlighted by a recent data analysis.
Here’s what we see in the report:
For our 12-week in-person classes, 45% of students stop coming to classes around week six or seven.
That’s a lot of students dropping.
Academic Services has asked us to develop an approach for addressing this in the next year.
The thing is, they don’t have study skills. They get behind and then can't catch up, and they bail.
Maybe they need online tutoring to help them develop better study skills?
Should we brainstorm some other ideas?
What do you think?
Tutoring sounds like it could help. Plus, online they could do it from home.
Yes, let’s brainstorm some more possible solutions to the problem.
Wait, do we understand why this is happening?
You and the team explore some ideas, then decide to implement a study skills tutoring program.
Here’s what happened...
The tutoring benefitted some students, but actual attendance in the tutoring sessions was pretty low.
And there wasn’t a noticeable improvement in class attendance and retention.
Red Flag
Avoid making assumptions about your learners.
If you don't try to directly understand their needs, you might miss the real challenges that they face.
What if you advocated for researching your learner’s needs as a starting point?
Your students are the experts of their own lives!
TIP
Developing an accurate assessment of your learner-workers’ needs is critical to developing programs that will actually help them.
A good way to do this is to ask them directly, to understand the challenges they face.
Yes, let’s make sure we understand what’s happening with our students. How could we explore this?
We could send out a survey...
We could pull together a group interview with some of the students that have dropped classes.
I don’t know - I feel like we’ll learn more face to face.
This can be a sensitive subject, and demands a human touch rather than an emailed survey.
I did a group interview like this in my last job. It’s not that hard to set up - let’s do it.
I did a group interview like this in my last job. It’s not that hard to set up - let’s do it! And let's make sure that we get the right voices in the room.
What questions do you think would be valuable to ask?
Let's ask them what aspects of their classes have been the most challenging.
Let's ask what things in their lives got in the way of their classes.
That’s good.
We could also ask what they think caused them to stop coming to class.
OK. And let’s ask about what kind of help they might need.
Yes, and whether they’re able to get that help.
That’s a good start for questions. This will be interesting!
TIP
In the SkillRise Framework, you can find a set of questions to help you conduct interviews to better understand the experience of different learners.
The team sets up a group interview with four students who had dropped a course in weeks six and seven.
Taiyo
Jason
Mariana
Amanda
The team has asked you to run the group interview. Good luck!
The students are settling in with the snacks and drinks you’ve provided, waiting to start.
Taiyo jumped in first...
Well, my work schedule is pretty hard to work around. Things came up, and I ended up missing classes.
After I missed a few, it was hard to understand what was going on in class.
And sometimes teachers go over the information too quickly and I can't quite understand them.
Me too! Especially with math. I think I need a little more time with the problems than some people do.
Amanda continued…
You know, I live out in Taylorsville and there's only one bus with a wheelchair lift that goes out that way.
My boss doesn't always let me out on time, and if I miss the 4:35 bus, the next bus doesn't come until 5:10.
By that point class has already started. No use in even going.
Jason spoke quietly…
I have lots of family stuff going on. I needed to take care of my aunt sometimes, and I missed classes.
Then when I came to class, it was hard to understand what was happening.
And I hated having to ask for help.
Me too. It’s hard when you don’t even know what to ask.
Yeah. And some teachers are helpful, but others make you feel like you should already know everything.
I mean, you don't know what you don't know!
Mariana described her situation.
There's just so much to do and so many places to be! The only time I have to study is when I'm on the bus or after my son goes to sleep.
I really could probably handle one class right now, but it’s just such a hassle getting back and forth and making everything work for just ONE class!
Amen. It’d be nice to be able to do the class somehow when you can’t make it there.
Yeah. I always feel like I'm trying to be in two places at once with caring for my son and going to school.
An hour later, all the snacks were gone, AND the group interview concluded.
After the interview session, your team gathers to discuss what you have learned.
So, everybody: What kinds of challenges did we hear about?
Well, it sure wasn’t their fault that they fell behind.
No kidding. They can’t quit their jobs, or ignore their families. And once they’re behind, they’re out of luck.
You jump into the conversation.
I don't know how to deal with these barriers. They're major.
So what are their biggest challenges once they’re behind?
They’re facing some big challenges, and it’s hard for them to avoid missing some classes.
Yes, and it’s easy to get behind to the point that they’re not ready for what’s being covered in class.
Uh-huh. And they can’t follow along or participate in class, so it feels like they can’t get it.
They could ask for help…
Think about what the students said: It’s easy to feel embarrassed about falling behind and not want to speak up.
Those are some real challenges... So what do we think they NEED - that we’re not giving them now - in order to help?
When they miss classes, they’re having a hard time catching up. I think they need an easy way to get resources they missed.
I think they need workshops on study skills, so they don’t fall behind in the first place.
What about a way to get help without feeling judged?
So, What do you think?
An easy way to access class resources would be helpful.
Workshops on study skills would work well.
Getting them help without judgment might really help.
Easily-accessible resources WOULD be good…
And I think we really need to make it judgment-free.
Ok, let’s work with both of those needs.
You’re right, reducing the judgment they feel could help...
But the help needs to be easy for them to access too...
Ok, let’s work with both of those needs.
I don’t know, one issue with focusing on study skills is that it assumes that the students’ skills are the issue.
Remember what Mariana said - the issue might be missing a class because their boss kept them late. How do we help when that happens?
Red Flag
Be aware that the problem can be about systems, rather than your students.
Choose another option
And, Sharon, I’m not sure a study-skills workshop would be the most helpful.
We're assuming that the students are lacking skills here - that they're the problem.
But what if there's something on our end that we're not getting right?
This connects to...
Digital Citizens are willing to challenge systems, procedures, or technologies that promote biases or perpetuate racism and inequity.
From what the students have said, this current course structure is not very equitable:
Students who face more obstacles to getting to class find themselves at a disadvantage. Without good tools to catch up easily, this presents a major barrier to equitable opportunity access.
The team can help by addressing the two needs they have highlighted: Make all course resources available anytime and anywhere in a way that minimizes any feelings of embarrassment for students who will have different levels of digital literacy.
The team gets back together the next week...
This connects to...
So, this is progress. We've identified some student needs around content access and support.
Now we need to figure out how we can best address them. How should we tackle this?
This connects to...
Solution Seekers explore and utilize independent perspectives, creative thinking, and resourceful approaches to define problems and discover smart solutions.
I’m not sure we have the experience to come up with the best solution on our own.
Yeah, maybe we could reach out to other adult ed organizations we know, and see how they have tackled similar problems.
TIP
DRAW ON PROFESSIONAL LEARNING NETWORKS
Find a professional learning network where you can share ideas with people in similar roles at similar organizations.
I recently joined an online community of educators from adult ed organizations around the state. I can ask them how they have tackled this problem.
That sounds great. It’ll be better than just scheduling more meetings! Let’s see what we learn!
Vera reached out through her online network and got suggestions from three organizations.
The team reconvened and Vera updated everyone on what she had found.
OK, I heard from Hawthorne's Supermarkets, Maple Valley Employment Office, and South Lakeland Neighborhood Center.
They each are approaching things differently, so there are several ideas for us to think about.
Let me walk us through them.
Hawthorne's Supermarkets offers a promotion pathway training program to develop store managers as an employee benefit.
They serve about 50 employees each year.
Their Resources: $ $ $ $ $
Their Solution: A blended class model is adopted company-wide, and employees can participate in a given training asynchronously online or synchronously in-person at their choosing.
Hawthorne’s blended class model has been effective for them, especially since their students are employees who have to fit things in around their work schedules.
Maple Valley offers a high school equivalency test prep program that operates in conjunction with a workforce development center.
They serve 500 students per year.
Their Resources: $ $ $
Their Solution: An online resource hub is built for all classes. It contains all the materials and videos, as well as teacher walk-throughs for all the lessons so that students can review anything when they have missed a class.
Their students are really busy with work, family, and job searches. It’s understandable that they miss some classes. It helped to have all the materials and class recordings curated in an easy-to-find place.
South Lakeland Community Center runs adult enrichment classes at night, including classes in literacy, technology skills, and financial management.
1000 students/year
Their Resources: $ $
Their Solution: At the start of each class, they email each student .PDFs of their lesson materials as a .ZIP file, so that they can review the materials whenever they like.
They said they were glad they knew that students had at least one way to get all the materials.
Take a look at each of the three organizations and their solutions.
Which one do you think might work best for our students and our center?
TIP
You're more likely to succeed if your vision aligns with your organization's mission and available resources - staff capabilities, financial resources, and more!
Instructions
Tap the left and right arrows to view the three different solutions.
In addition, review the details about North Lakeland CC to find the option that you think is best for Vera and your team. .
When you’ve chosen the solution you think will fit best, tap
OPTION 1: We should move to a blended class model for the whole program, so students can choose to participate in any lesson asynchronously online, or in person - like they’ve done at Hawthorne’s.
OPTION 3: The simplest solution will be to email class materials to students as a .zip file to give them access to everything, like South Lakeland did.
Resources Required: $ $
RECOMMEND THIS SOLUTION
What made that stand out to you as the best fit?
Students can do their work at any location. Takes the transportation out for students when that’s a challenge.
Students can study at any time that works for them.
Students studying online still have access to the teacher and classmates.
Students can do their work at any location. That really helps solve the transportation challenge our students face.
This is a huge project. It takes a lot of time and requires a lot of digital skills from the teachers and the students. It would need a lot of upfront work.
All right, let’s pursue this solution.
Let’s take a look at how the project went.
18 MONTHS LATER
This project presented a big challenge to your center’s resources. It was hard to fund a team large enough build it out properly, and teachers could only devote so much time, so some corners had to be cut.
But in the end, the project did yield a respectable ten percent increase in retention.
Why do you think this will be a good fit for us?
Students can access all materials and recordings without feeling embarrassed.
Teacher walkthroughs give students something closer to what they missed by missing class.
This feels like something our Center can pull off.
Yeah, students will be able to access all the materials any time. It’s all available!
One concern is that our students will need to have the digital skills to take advantage of the resource hub - to search for the right resources for the right classes. Not all of them do.
OK, let’s go in this direction.
Let’s take a look at how the project went.
18 MONTHS LATER
Some students who struggle with digital literacy have trouble using the Hub, but for the most part it’s helpful for students, and retention rates do improve. In addition, the college adapts digital literacy support services based on the challenges students report over time.
Why do you think this will be a good fit for us?
This fits into our existing infrastructure, with less work.
This has lower technical requirements, fewer barriers.
Students just have to find the email, and everything is there in the zip file.
The good thing is that students can access all the materials any time. It’s all available.
But there’s no help or guidance. Plus, it requires students to have a computer, be able to download, and know what to do with a .zip file.
OK, we'll try this approach.
Let’s take a look at how the project went.
18 MONTHS LATER
Students who struggle most told you the .zip file was hard to access, the materials weren’t all that helpful without teacher support.
But students with stronger digital literacy skills were well served by this option, and retention rates did increase.
That was interesting...
Would you like to explore how the other options might work out?
YES
NO
After the project is completed, the team is out having coffee together...
Hey, did I tell you, I got the new retention figures yesterday, and it looks like our project is helping. Numbers are up.
That’s good!
I’ve been most happy to see how it’s affecting students individually. I ran into Jason the other day...
Things at home are still busy, but he’s back taking a class.
He’s been able to keep up with his course work, and he’ll be getting his high school equivalency this fall.
I feel good about what we’ve been able to do together.
We learned about some real issues our students face.
And we were able to address some of them and make a real impact on retention.
As part of this team, you:
Did research to understand learners’ needs,
Drew from a community of practice to find options to address those needs,
And chose a solution that met your goals and fit your team’s capabilities.
Thanks for exploring ways to put learners first with us!
SkillRise offers resources to support these practices and many others related to lifelong learning and digital skills.
