Teaching Digital Skills Day
On April 8, 2025, CLN hosted a day of virtual learning focused on teaching digital skills! CALP staff from across the province joined in to rethink and transform how we teach digital skills to adults. It was a great day!
What did we learn?
Presenters modeled and shared skills-based approaches to teaching digital skills that build confidence and independence. We learned that task-based instruction, where learners memorize step-by-step instructions, often leaves people stuck, dependent on coming back to learn and memorize more steps for each new task.
Skills-based instruction, on the other hand, starts with learners doing the task with instructors teaching language, navigation and critical thinking skills as part of the process. This builds independence because the skills are transferable and learners gain confidence to apply these skills in new settings and on different devices. We saw this approach used for teaching real-world practical scenarios like spotting phishing attempts and scams or how to navigate the world of downloading documents. It was exciting to learn and see these strategies in action!
You can learn from Teaching Digital Skills Day too!
We recorded the sessions and want to share them all with you! Keep reading as we walk you through each component of the day, just like you were there!
Reflect
Introduction
Rationale for Skills-Based Instruction
Flipping Blooms Approach
Spam Calls & Passwords & Scams - Oh My!
I Think I Downloaded Something...But Where the Heck Did it Go?
Resources
Reflect...
What tasks have you done so far today that involved using digital devices?
(Your phone, laptop, tablet, desktop, etc.)
What if your "usual" device was not available, and you had to use a different device (Apple vs. Android)?
What difference would that make for you?
Introduction
“Everyone is learning digital skills, no one knows everything, and technology will inevitably have problems…positive growth and learning…comes from persisting through challenges and issues.” (page 7 of the Digital Divide Practitioners Tool)
The goal of instruction is to support tasks: What do learners want to be able to do? Guiding Principles from the Digital Divide tool suggest:
- Keep learners at the center
- Focus on learning, not technology
- Embrace digital skills as foundational learning
- Be flexible!
Rationale for Skills-Based Approach to Learning
Based on what the learner(s) wants to know how to do, instructors can teach how to accomplish tasks while also building learners' tech confidence and skills.
*Teaching step-by-step instructions is no longer practical or reliable with the rapid changes to digital devices, tools, and online spaces. Throughout the Teaching Digital Skills Day, participants explored ways to build skills that can be transferred from one device to another, one software platform to another, helping build confidence in navigating new online environments.
Focusing on practical, everyday digital tasks addressed in CALP programs, presenters modelled and explained how to teach digital skills using strategies that:
- Take the pressure off you to be an expert
- Empower learners to navigate digital spaces with less stress
- Build skills for the everyday digital demands in learners’ lives
The Flipping Blooms Approach
Nicole Levesque, from Literacy for Life (who was part of the Tech Talk training development team), describes the philosophy and approach of skills-based learning (or the “Flipping Blooms” approach) when teaching Digital Skills in the video below.
Flipping Blooms: Explanation
In the video, Nicole described “Flipping Blooms”. Below is an image of what we're talking about, along with a brief explanation of what it means:
Bloom's Taxonomy is a framework for categorizing educational goals, developed by a committee of educators chaired by Benjamin Bloom in 1956. The taxonomy divides learning objectives into three broad domains: cognitive (knowledge-based), affective (emotion-based), and psychomotor (action-based), each with a hierarchy of skills and abilities. These domains are used by educators to structure curricula, assessments, and teaching methods to foster different types of learning.
In 2001, this taxonomy was revised, renaming and reordering the levels as Remember, Understand, Apply, Analyze, Evaluate, and Create. This domain focuses on intellectual skills and the development of critical thinking and problem-solving abilities.
(from source).
By “Flipping Blooms”, the skills-based approach turns this approach to learning on its head, so to speak, by using the creating or "doing" aspect of learning as the foundation on which the other aspects of learning build.
Spam Calls and Password and Scams - Oh My!
In this session, Kara Manso and Audrey Gardner tackle the real-world tech frustrations that learners face. Through two live demonstrations, they highlight strategies for building confidence, problem-solving and critical thinking skills in the digital world.
I think I downloaded something...but where the heck did it go?
In this session, Monica Leong dives into downloads. She helps to uncover where they hide and explores ways to use—and share—simple strategies to diminish the download drama!
Resources
Here are some of the resources that were used throughout the day by presenters:
Flipping Blooms Taxonomy Image
Labour Education Centre: Basic Digital Literacy Learner Website