Are employees ready for eLearning? Simply providingaccess to tools and training might not be enough to spur participation ineLearning, according to a study by Pew Research Center.
Managers often turn to eLearning to train new hires,temporary or seasonal workers, or employees in high-turnover jobs, like fast food,retail, and customer service. Using eLearning is especially appealing when theobjective is to teach employees processes—how to do the basic tasks of theirjobs.
But, although growing numbers of American adults have accessto—and regularly use—digital tools like smartphones and Internet connections,many are not “digitally ready” to learn online, according to the study. Just 16percent of American adults have taken an online course—for personal orprofessional learning—in the past year. Only 12 percent of those earning lessthan $30,000 per year, the very employees likely to be in high-turnover orseasonal jobs, have done so.
A new look at the digital divide
The Pew Research Center study, Digital Readiness Gaps, which waspublished in September 2016, looked specifically at who does and does not usetechnology for learning. It provides a new window on the “digital divide,”showing that access is not everything. According to the study, access totechnology, and even comfort with some tools, such as smartphones, does notnecessarily translate to readiness or willingness to use those tools forpersonal or professional eLearning.
The study found digital readiness gaps that might surprisethose who hire and train employees. For instance, the “digitally ready”grouping—which describes adults who are confident in their online skills,familiar with the world of educational technology, and who “display littlehesitation about finding information online that they trust”—includes only 17percent of US adults, according to the weighted sample. Of that small group,only a quarter are aged 18 to 29, individuals who are generally regarded as“digital natives,” since they grew up in a world of ubiquitous technology.Nearly twice as many of the digitally ready—48 percent—are in their 30s and40s.
Defining digital readiness
Pew researchers looked at five factors to assess digitalreadiness:
- Confidence in using computers
- Ability and comfort in getting new technology towork without help
- Use of digital tools for learning
- Ability to determine whether online informationis trustworthy
- Familiarity with contemporary “educationtechnology” or “ed-tech” terms
For each factor, they placed respondents on a continuum fromvery confident or familiar to not at all confident.
The digital readiness study did not address the fullrange of ways that people use technology or online resources, although Pew hasstudied other aspects of digital skills and usage. It focused narrowly onreadiness for and use of eLearning. The operational definition of digitalreadiness that the researchers used included assessment of each participant’s:
- Digitalskills—ability to get online, surf the Internet, and share online content
- Trust—respondents’belief about whether they could decide whether content they found online couldbe trusted and their ability to safeguard personal information online
- Use—thedegree to which respondents use digital tools to carry out tasks online
The respondents were also asked to describe their interestin learning and personal growth by characterizing how well certain statements,like “I think of myself as a lifelong learner” or “I am not the type of personwho feels the need to probe deeply into new situations or things,” describethem.
Researchers used a technique called “cluster analysis” toplace each respondent into one of five groups, based on similarities in theiranswers to key questions.
Of the five groups, two were considered “relativelyprepared” to engage in digital learning. In addition to the “digitally ready”group described above, those who were described as “cautious clickers” are alsoconfident in their digital skills. They are less familiar than the digitally readywith ed-tech terms and less likely to use online tools for learning; they arealso less likely than the digitally ready to seek out learning offline, such asreading, joining a book club, or taking courses.
Researchers categorized three additional groups as“relatively hesitant” and less likely to use digital tools for learning. Ofthese:
- A small group, only about 5 percent of Americanadults, are labeled “traditional learners.” These individuals actively pursuelearning activities, but are unlikely to do so online because they do not fullytrust online information.
- Members of the group least likely to engage inonline learning, the “unprepared,” have poor digital skills and limitedwillingness to trust online information.
- Finally, members of a group that includes abouta third of American adults, the “reluctant” group, have some digital skills butlittle awareness of ed-tech concepts and low propensity to seek any type ofpersonal learning. “Reluctant” adults are unlikely to use digital tools forlearning.
Two groups at the middle of the preparedness spectrum, the“reluctant” and the “cautious clickers,” together comprise nearly two-thirds ofadults (64 percent). These individuals do have solid digital skills, but theyare unfamiliar with educational technology concepts; in addition, they mightlack confidence in online information and they tend to have little desire tolearn.
Could familiarity breed engagement?
Researchers identified five ed-tech concepts that theyconsidered “key resources that are becoming available thanks to innovationonline.” They asked respondents whether they were familiar with each concept;while respondents had varying degrees of familiarity with the concepts, noindividual concept was familiar to a majority of those polled. The fiveconcepts or resources are:
- CommonCore standards—57 percent had little or no awareness of these educationstandards for math and English K-12 education
- Distancelearning—61 percent had little or no awareness of learning activitiesconducted in places other than physical classrooms
- KhanAcademy—79 percent were unfamiliar with or not very aware of this onlinelearning resource that offers free video lessons in math, science, humanities,and language
- MOOCs—80percent lacked awareness of massive open online courses
- Digitalbadges—83 percent were unfamiliar with the concept of digital badges thatcertify mastery of a skill or an idea
The study’s authors acknowledge that a person’s familiaritywith digital education terms in general—or with these specific terms andconcepts—might not correlate with that individual’s level of digital skills.However, familiarity did seem to indicate whether a person was likely to haveused the Internet for personal learning.
Not surprisingly, those who were more confident in theirdigital skills and who had smartphones or high-speed Internet connections athome were more likely to have used the Internet for personal learningactivities. A more interesting finding, though, was that respondents who werefamiliar with at least one ed-tech concept were far more likely to have engagedin eLearning: Of this group, 32 percent had taken at least one online course,versus 16 percent of all adults. And 64 percent of adults who engaged in anypersonal learning (online or off) and were familiar with at least one ed-techconcept had used the Internet for some type of personal learning. Onlinecourses were counted separately from other online learning, such as seeking outand reading how-to or hobby-related magazines and articles.
Many adults who indicated that they do not use the Internetfor personal learning had done some professional learning activities online,though they were more likely to have engaged in eLearning activities other thantaking an online course—reading professional journals online or watching aninstructional video, for example.
A gap in digital readiness can have important consequencesfor managers and eLearning designers and developers. The study suggests thataccess to and comfort with technology, while essential, is not sufficient toinduce engagement in eLearning, except in individuals who are stronglymotivated to learn for their own personal development. For the reluctant andunprepared—individuals who lack digital skills and also mistrust theinformation they find on the Internet—more is needed. This is where thefamiliarity with ed-tech concepts might be significant. Cautious clickers, whoare less motivated to learn, also lack exposure to ed-tech concepts.
The study results also suggest that improving exposure torelevant ed-tech concepts among these groups of learners could be a way to boosttheir confidence in their skills, as well as offer them a means to evaluate thetrustworthiness of information. Without that level of comfort and confidence,engaging those groups of learners in any online learning could be a steepchallenge.
