Success in using new digital skills- observations of adult behavior

By Anulekha Roy, November 27, 2016

As a volunteer in a community outreach initiative organized by a charity, I taught basic basic digital skills to adults. Participants were immigrant women from minority ethnic backgrounds. In the sessions they learned to send emails, surf the web, did virtual courses in spoken English and searched for jobs online.

The sessions were designed to be flexible based on the learner needs. For example, one participant learned to send emails while another to look for jobs online. After several months of conducting these sessions, I noticed only some of the participants were applying the new digital skills in their day-to-day activities. What were they doing to change? I observed these participants who had success had some behaviors in common. These were:

Regular attendance in the learning sessions

Overcoming the small and daily disruptions

Prioritizing a new skill to learn and putting timelines to accomplish it

Regular attendance in the learning sessions: Regular attendance helped to maintain a routine in the effort. It provided the time needed to make steady progress in learning the new skills. For example, one participant attended only one hour out of the two-hour sessions each week. She had to go home and take over child care from her husband, who then went to work. Very conscious of the hour lost, she was always on time and rarely missed a session. In class, she concentrated completely on learning the material. As a result, she was the first in her cohort to start emailing. She was also the first to make doctor’s appointments and search for jobs online.

Overcoming the small and daily disruptions: It was crucial to learn the new skills. Most participants took care of small children and housework. Many times, their plans to attend a session was disrupted at the very last minute before leaving home. For example, one person had a small child and was pregnant again. She frequently missed the sessions because of last minute disruptions at home. She couldn’t walk all the way to the venue of the sessions. Every time she came, she needed to repeat the material already covered, before learning something new. This slowed down her progress. She stopped attending when the baby was born. In contrast, those who managed to overcome the last-minute daily disruptions made progress and started to use the new digital skills.

Prioritizing a new skill to learn and putting timelines to accomplish it: The participants could feel their progress and got the incentive to continue. For example, two of the participants had to pass the mandatory English exam in a year, to continue to live in the country. They decided to focus on learning the material available online. The  prioritization led to their learning to search the web, download resources from websites and practice speaking English. They prepared during the sessions and regularly did homework. After spending focused time and energy for six to eight months, they felt ready to take the exam.

In conclusion, I observed that the adult participants made choices in their behavior, and had success in learning the digital skills. They put in consistent effort to bring about the change. The community surrounding them influenced their decisions. For example, they saw others find jobs online. Each participant had a wish-list of what they wanted to do online. This included finding a job, learning to speak English, etc. Since the participants could communicate with the instructor in their native language, it made them feel comfortable to ask questions. They repeatedly asked the meaning and pronunciation of English words and learned to use online translation. My understanding of their culture and economic context gave me the knowledge to make the sessions interesting for the participants.

#classroom #participation