Setting the Stage

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Why build a distance and/or digital education program?

In the United States, adult education programs enrolled 1,261,601 learners during program year 2023–2024 (National Reporting System for Adult Education, n.d.). Yet this is only a fraction of the estimated 39 million adults in the United States who have foundational literacy needs and/or lack a high school diploma (National Association of State Directors of Adult Education, 2024). Traditional barriers—such as lack of transportation or competing responsibilities from work and family—have prevented these adults from participating in adult education classes. The pandemic exacerbated these issues and added more challenges.

In 2020, the sudden onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the rapid pivot that programs had to accomplish to provide Emergency Remote Instruction (see Moore & Hodges, 2023) highlighted the need for equitable access to flexible, technology-rich adult education programming. Programs with some expertise and resources in place prior to the pandemic were able to keep more learners engaged in learning than those that had not set up distance education. Those with lending initiatives in place were able to ensure that at least some learners had access to laptops and hotspots, and if they had integrated digital literacy instruction into their academic skills development were able to leverage learners’ skills and comfort to keep them engaged in academic learning (Belzer et al., 2020).

Additionally, the COVID-19 pandemic made clear that distance and/or digital learning would be a permanent feature of adult education. Recent research on instructional shifts during the pandemic suggests that among both teachers and learners, many expressed a preference for more flexible distance options once they grew comfortable with the technologies employed (World Education, 2020). Similarly, Moe and Rajendra (2020) note that blended models with the flexibility to adjust for future surges in the pandemic would be the new norm. 

This heightened demand to provide technology-rich instruction creates opportunities for learners to build technology skills while simultaneously building foundational academic skills, a strategy proven to support learning (Jacobson, 2012; Rosin et al., 2017). Technological advancements and the proliferation of augmented reality, gamification techniques, and GenAI, introduce a new urgency to this demand. Implementing a quality distance and/or digital education plan is an appropriate response to the reality described above.

WIOA and Distance and Digital Education

Indeed, distance education is a named and prioritized initiative spelled out in the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) (2014), the federal legislation defining allowable programming in federally funded adult education. The Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education (OCTAE) fact sheet Integrating Technology in WIOA (2015) shows exactly how:

• States are required to provide technical assistance for integrating technology into programs, and federal policy allows for the following activities: “the development and implementation of technology applications, translation technologies, and distance education, including professional development to support the use of instructional technology” (p. 1).
• Recipients of Adult Education and Family Literacy Act (AEFLA) funding must be chosen based on, among other things, how well they “effectively use technology, services, and delivery systems, including distance education, in a manner sufficient to increase the amount and quality of learning and how such technology, services, and systems lead to improved performance”; and furthermore, that their “activities are delivered by well-trained instructors, counselors, and administrators…who have access to high-quality professional development, including through electronic means” (p. 1).

Access to Technology

Not all learners have devices and internet connections.  The Pew Research Center (2024) reports that only 57% of adults in households earning less than $30,000 a year and 65% of adults with educational attainment of high school or less have home broadband. To put this in perspective, according to recent American Community Survey (U.S. Census Bureau, 2022) data, this represents about 7% and 26% of all U.S. adults, respectively. 

Furthermore, the Pew Research Center (2024) has found that smartphone dependency among all U.S. adults—that is, individuals with phones serving as the primary source of internet—is 15% but increases to 24% among those with a high school diploma or less. The Pew Research Center (2024) also reports there is a wide gap between the percentage of U.S. adults who do not have broadband at home but own smartphones when looking at both income and race, with those who make less than $30,000 a year and people of color being much more likely to rely on a smartphone for online access than other demographics. These findings, as a whole, suggest that there are adult learners who have access to the internet and devices, but that programs need to make sure they offer access options for those who do not, and that any technology-enabled instruction needs to be mobile-friendly. 

Necessary Digital Skills

Learners need digital skills in order to meet the demands in their everyday life as a family member and citizen, as well as their academic and career goals. An analysis of the U.S. labor market found that 92% of jobs required digital skills (National Skills Coalition, 2024). Including instruction to build digital skills not only helps learners meet their skills while participating in your adult education program, it also provides valuable transferable skills that learners will use in many aspects of their lives. 

Important Terminology

Teams need to choose an instructional approach that will serve as the foundation for your work as you plan. The approach needs to align with the goals you have for offering technology-rich and flexible programming. Are you trying to address limitations in the content that you currently teach (i.e., extend, remediate, or fill in gaps for what is being taught)? Or, are you trying to address who is taught (i.e., attempting to retain existing learners or reach a new group of learners)? Different approaches suit different goals.

It helps to have a shared language to describe the work ahead, so we have provided definitions for different approaches. Although most of the definitions were constructed in the years before the pandemic, using them as a starting point can make your current plans and ideas more concrete. Consider these definitions with flexibility, so that you can make connections to what you are currently offering in your program.

Distance and Digital Education Definitions

Digital Education

Digital education is the use of digital tools and technologies to deliver instruction and enhance learning. For the purposes of this Handbook we include the different instructional modalities known to be offered in adult education settings and defined below as examples of digital education.

Distance Education (DE)

Distance education is defined in the National Reporting System (NRS) guidelines as follows:

Formal learning activity where students and instructors are separated by geography, time, or both for the majority of the instructional period. Distance learning materials are delivered through a variety of media, including but not limited to, print, audio recording, videotape, broadcasts, computer software, Web-based programs, and other online technology. Teachers support distance learners through communication by mail, telephone, e-mail, or online technologies and software. (National Reporting System for Adult Education, 2024, p. 48).

We use the term to refer to programming a bit more broadly. Distance education describes all aspects of programming that allow a learner to continue learning beyond the walls of a classroom. The chapters that follow are organized by these aspects of distance education: recruitment, assessing readiness, orientation, instruction, assessment, and administration.

Distance Learning (DL)

Many programs use the term distance learning instead of distance education. However, in this Handbook, we consider distance learning as the term to describe what a learner is doing. It is the learner’s perspective; what they are doing, not what the program is offering (Askov et al., 2003), to support learning when they are separated by time for the majority of the instructional period (according to NRS guidance).

Blended, Hybrid, HyFlex and Supplemental Modes of Learning

These approaches integrate a mix of instructional models. Murphy et al. (2017) arrived at useful definitions based on their study of digital learning in adult education programs across the country. They explored the use of different online learning curricula in 13 programs by 105 instructors with 1,579 adult learners. Based on their observations on the use of the curricula, they came up with the following: 

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Using Language That is Most Effective to Your Context

These definitions are more refined than our early conceptualization of modalities in adult education like blended learning, characterized simply as regular classroom instruction combined with distance learning, where distance is added to intensify or accelerate instruction (Petty, 2005; Porter & Sturm, 2006). It is ultimately up to local programs and/or state leaders to use the language that is most effective in their context.

We recognize that these definitions infer that digital resources are central to the defined modalities; however we know that limitations on access to broadband make a narrower view of distance education inaccurate. There are many examples of programs, such as some in Texas, that use paper packets so that learners living in places without broadband access can continue to learn. Furthermore, rigidly defining modalities by the timing of delivery of different modes of instruction can limit opportunities for learning. With that in mind, we present these definitions with an understanding that they may be attributed to programs that have very different characteristics.

Getting Started

References

Askov, E., Johnston, J., Petty, L., & Young, S. (2003). Expanding access to adult literacy with online distance education. National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy. https://www.ncsall.net/fileadmin/resources/research/op_askov.pdf

Beatty, B. L. (Ed.). (2019). Hybrid-Flexible course design: Implementing student-directed hybrid classes. EdTech Books. https://doi.org/10.59668/33

Belzer, A., Leon, T., Patterson, M., Rhodes, C., Salas-Isnardi, F., Vanek, J., Webb, C., & Wilson-Toso, B. (2020). COVID-19 rapid response report from the field. ProLiteracy. https://www.literacynewyork.org/documents/Covid-19/COVID-19-Report.pdf

Bergson-Shilcock, A., Taylor, R., & Hodge, N. (2023, February 6). Closing the Digital Skill Divide. National Skills Coalition. https://nationalskillscoalition.org/resource/publications/closing-the-digital-skill-divide/

Cherewka, A., Hart, S., Vanek, J., & Yamashita, J. (2024). Distance and digital education definitions and reporting practices: What we have and what we need. World Education. https://worlded.me/WhatWeHaveWhatWeNeed

Jacobson, E. (2016). Expanding notions of professional development in adult basic education. In M. Knobel & J. Kalman (Eds.), New Literacies and Teacher Learning: Professional Development and the Digital Turn (pp. 173–194). Peter Lang. https://doi.org/10.3726/978-1-4539-1823-4

Moe, M., & Rajendran, V. (2020, May 6). Dawn of the age of digital learning. Medium. https://medium.com/gsv-ventures/dawn-of-the-age-of-digital-learning-4c4e38784226

Moore, S. L., & Hodges, C. B. (2023). Emergency remote teaching. In EdTechnica: The Open Encyclopedia of Educational Technology. EdTech Books. https://doi.org/10.59668/371.11681

Murphy, R., Bienkowski, M., Bhanot, R., Wang, S., Wetzel, T., House, A., Leones, T., & Van Brunt, J. (2017). Evaluating digital learning for adult basic literacy and numeracy. SRI International. https://www.sri.com/publication/evaluating-digital-learning-for-adult-basic-literacy-and-numeracy/

National Association of State Directors of Adult Education. (2024). NASDAE adult education fact sheets 2022-23. Tableau.com. https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/nasdae/viz/NASDAEAdultEducationFactSheets2022-23/ProgramYear2022-23

National Digital Inclusion Alliance. (n.d.). Definitions. https://www.digitalinclusion.org/definitions/

National Reporting System for Adult Education. (n.d.). Table 6: Participant status and program enrollment. U.S. Department of Education. Retrieved August 2, 2024, from https://nrs.ed.gov/rt/reports/aggregate/2022/all/table-6

National Reporting System for Adult Education. (2024). Technical assistance guide for performance accountability (p. 48). https://worlded.me/NRS-TA

Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education. (2015). Integrating technology in WIOA. U.S. Department of Education. https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ovae/pi/AdultEd/integrating-technology.pdf 

Petty, L. I. (2005). Improving distance education for adult learners state policy for distance education programs for adult learners. University of Michigan. https://worlded.me/AdultEdNonClassroom

Pew Research Center. (2024, January 31). Internet, broadband fact sheet. https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/fact-sheet/internet-broadband/

Porter, P., & Sturm, M. (2006). Crossing the great divides: Distance learning and flexible delivery in adult basic education. AlphaPlus Centre. http://en.copian.ca/library/research/divides/divides.pdf

Rosen, D., Simpson, D., & Vanek, J. (2022). Guide for design and implementation of hybrid–flexible (hyflex) models in adult education. EdTech Center @ World Education. https://edtechbooks.org/hyflex_guide

Rosin, M., Vanek, J., & Webber, A. A. (2017). How investment in technology can accelerate collective impact in adult learning. World Education. https://worlded.me/InvestInTech

U.S. Census Bureau. (2022). ACS Demographic and Housing Estimates. American Community Survey, ACS 5-Year Estimates Data Profiles, Table DP05. Retrieved August 8, 2024, from https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDP5Y2022.DP05?q=population by age&g=010XX00US

Workforce innovation and opportunity act, Pub. L. No. H.R. 803 (2014). https://www.congress.gov/113/bills/hr803/BILLS-113hr803enr.pdf

World Education. (2020). What we learned: Adult education’s response to emergency remote teaching and learning contents. https://worlded.me/WhatWeLearned