Supplemental Resources

This appendix includes supplemental resources by topic—accessibility, educator and staff well-being, digital equity and access, digital literacy, digital tools, OERs, and standards—to support the implementation of concepts and strategies introduced in the guide. Programs exercise local control when selecting digital resources and tools. Inclusion in the Guidance should not be considered an endorsement by the CDE.

Accessibility

Accessibility Resources

A resource collection from OTAN that provides infographics, webinar recordings, and other resources to help educators meet accessibility requirements and design more accessible learning materials.
https://otan.us/resources/accessibility-resources/

National Center on Accessible Educational Materials

The Accessible Educational Materials Center from CAST helps individuals and programs acquire, create, use, and coordinate accessible educational materials and tools for learners with disabilities.
https://aem.cast.org/

Educator and Staff Well-Being

Adult SEL Self-Assessment

A personal self-reflection tool from CASEL designed for educators to assess their strengths and areas for growth related to SEL competencies.
https://schoolguide.casel.org/resource/adult-sel-self-assessment-ost/

SEL Center

A WestEd project in partnership with the US Department of Education, the SEL Center maintains a list of resources including action guides, informational articles, and multimedia resources focused on various SEL topics—including SEL for adults.
https://selcenter.wested.org/resources

Educator Resilience and Trauma-Informed Self-Care

A self-assessment and planning tool from the Center on Great Teachers & Leaders at the American Institutes for Research to support educators in identifying areas of strength and growth related to self-care.
https://gtlcenter.org/sites/default/files/Educator-Resilience-Trauma-Informed-SelfCare-Self-Assessment.pdf

Digital Equity and Access

Affordable Connectivity Program

Provides discounted monthly internet access (and one-time device discounts) for qualified individuals or households through funds from the Federal Communications Commission. Eligibility includes households at or below 200 percent of the Federal Poverty Guidelines, participation in certain assistance programs (e.g., Medicaid), participation in tribal-specific programs, participation in the National School Breakfast/Lunch programs, and Federal Pell Grant recipients.
https://www.fcc.gov/acp

Closing the Digital Divide

A California initiative that provides funding and support to help learners obtain digital devices needed to access learning including laptops and tablets, modems and routers, and Wi-Fi hotspots.
https://www.cde.ca.gov/eo/in/digitaldivide.asp

Digital Equity Act

A component of the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act that includes $2.75 billion in federal funding to address issues of digital equity and inclusion. This includes funding for digital-skills training for low-income populations, improving accessibility of online social service programs, and empowering rural communities to measure broadband access and adoption.
https://www.digitalequityact.org/

Emergency Connectivity Fund

Provides eligible schools and libraries with funding for laptops and tablets, modems and routers, Wi-Fi hotspots, and broadband connectivity to support their communities through funds from the Federal Communications Commission. Funding can be used to support educators and school staff, learners, and library patrons. Eligibility includes schools, libraries, and consortia that are eligible for support under the Federal Communication Commission’s E-Rate program or Library Services and Technology Act.
https://www.fcc.gov/emergency-connectivity-fund

EveryoneOn

A national nonprofit organization that provides affordable access to digital devices, high-speed internet, and digital skills training to low-income families.
https://www.everyoneon.org/

Total Cost of Ownership Tool

The CoSN Total Cost of Ownership tool helps school leaders measure and understand the complete costs of technology systems.
https://www.cosn.org/tco/

Digital Literacy

Digital Literacy Initiatives

Resources funded by the US Department of Education, Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education to help adult learners be successful in developing digital literacy skills.
https://lincs.ed.gov/state-resources/federal-initiatives/digital-literacy

Digital Literacy Framework for Adult Learners

The Maryland Department of Labor created a Digital Literacy Framework for Adult Learners to identify the following seven elements of digital literacy relevant for adult learners: technical, civic, communicative, collaborative, computational thinking, investigative, and productive.
http://labor.maryland.gov/gedmd/digitalliteracyframework.pdf

Digital Navigator Playbook

A resource for implementing digital learning programs, including information on program goal-setting, defining activities and services, measurement and evaluation, and designing an implementation plan.
https://digitalus.org/digital-navigator-playbook/

Northstar Digital Literacy Skills Assessment

Northstar, a program of Literacy Minnesota, provides digital literacy skills assessments and online learning modules in three main areas: essential computer skills, essential software skills, and using technology in daily life.
https://www.digitalliteracyassessment.org/about

Promoting Digital Literacy for Adult Learners

A resource guide for educators to improve the effectiveness and quality of digital literacy programs for adult learners.
https://www.barbarabush.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Digital-LiteracyResource-Guide-for-Adult-Learners-.pdf

Digital Tools

Criteria for Evaluating Workforce EdTech Tools

A rubric from EdTech Center @ World Education for evaluating edtech tools for adult learners based on the following criteria: effectiveness, accessibility, ease of use, digital literacy, language and culture, affordability, engagement, quality and effective content, logical flow, user-centered design, user support, data privacy and security, and vendor reliability and support.
https://workforceedtech.org/tool-evaluation-criteria/

Flipgrid

A free, video-based digital discussion board. Educators create grids with discussion prompts or questions for learners, with the option to include example videos, links, and supplemental resources. Learners then post their responses as video recordings in the corresponding grid. Depending on the specific grid’s setup, learners can also respond to each other’s posts through likes, text comments, or videos. Users can sign up for free with a Google or Microsoft account.
https://info.flipgrid.com/getting-started.html

Padlet

A digital bulletin board tool that enables users to add text, links, multimedia, and upload files. There are multiple formatting choices (e.g., displaying information in a canvas, grid, or stream layout) for displaying information in a meaningful way based on the activity or content. Boards can be private, public, or shared with a specific group with options for moderation. Users can sign up for free with an Apple, Google, or Microsoft account.
https://padlet.com/

Voicethread

An interactive collaboration tool that enables users to create multimedia presentations online. Voice threads can include files, images, videos, and embedded files. VoiceThread presentations can be shared with a group or individuals via link and allow for comment threads within the presentation.
https://voicethread.com/

Open Educational Resources (OERs)

Adult Education CK12

In partnership with OTAN, CK-12 created customizable FlexBooks, interactives, and personalized, adaptive practice exercises for adult educators and learners. Current offerings support ABE, ASE, and CTE programs.
https://www.ck12.org/pages/adult-education/

Adult Education Open Community of Resources

With over 300 resources and 500 members, this OER Commons group shares highquality, high-interest learning materials for adult learners with low literacy levels preparing for the GED, family literacy, ESL, upskilling, and more.
https://www.oercommons.org/groups/adult-education-open-community-of-resources/45/

Digital Skills Library

An open repository managed by the EdTech Center @ World Education that contains free learning resources to help adult learners develop digital skills for personal, civic, educational, and career goals.
https://digitalskillslibrary.org/

EdReady

A learning platform that provides resources and support for adult education programs and standardized assessments including CASAS, GED/HSE, TABE, and college readiness.
https://aedemo.edready.org/home

Google Applied Digital Skills

A series of 100-plus video-based lessons that help adult learners gain practical digital literacy skills for life and work. Lessons are designed for beginner computer users and include project-based lessons to help learners apply what they learn in each lesson. Google Applied Digital Skills may be completed as an individual, or educators with a Google account can create a class to assign lessons and monitor learner progress.
https://applieddigitalskills.withgoogle.com/en/learn

HippoCampus

A website with multimedia content designed for middle to high school content levels, including animations and simulations, on general education topics. Educators may assign learners specific content to complete, or learners can use the site as an individual.
https://hippocampus.org/

LINCS Learner Center

Connects learners with online resources on learning English, reading, math, and science; obtaining US citizenship; and developing job skills. Resources are offered in English and Spanish.
https://lincs.ed.gov/learner/

MERLOT

Originally created through the California State University Center for Distributed Learning, the Merlot collection contains tens of thousands of free resources including bookmark collections, discipline-specific content, learning exercises, and multimedia resources.
http://www.merlot.org/merlot/index.htm

Microsoft Digital Literacy Certification

Free LinkedIn Learning courses on the following topics: working with computers, accessing online information, communicating online, safe and responsible online participation, creating digital content, and collaborating and managing digital content. Resources are offered in Arabic, English, and Spanish.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/digital-literacy

Northstar Online Learning

The full Northstar Online Learning program is only available to certified Northstar locations, but several digital literacy online courses are available to the public for free. Topics available for free at the time of publication include basic computer skills, email, Microsoft Word, and career search skills.
https://www.digitalliteracyassessment.org/features#nsol

USA Learns

A free website hosted by the Sacramento County Office of Education that helps adults learn beginning and intermediate English online. Self-paced courses include thousands of educational videos and hundreds of lessons on listening, speaking, reading, and writing in English. The website also includes content on Life Skills in English and a US citizenship course.
https://www.usalearns.org/

Standards

College and Career Readiness Standards (CCRS)

Standards for adult education intended to prepare adult learners for success in college, career and workforce preparation, and citizenship. Subject areas include literacy and mathematics, and standards align with the Common Core State Standards.
https://lincs.ed.gov/publications/pdf/CCRStandardsAdultEd.pdf

California Standards for the Teaching Profession (CSTP)

Standards for California educators at all experience levels and for varying contexts and roles. Includes six standards of learner engagement and support, creating and maintaining effective learning environments, understanding and organizing subject matter for learning, designing learning experiences for all learners, learner assessment, and developing as a professional educator.
https://www.ctc.ca.gov/docs/default-source/educator-prep/standards/cstp-2009.pdf

Comprehensive Adult Student Assessment Systems (CASAS)

An organization that provides resources for adult education programs, mainly through research-based assessment systems that measure individual learner and programlevel outcomes.
https://www.casas.org/about-casas/faqs

DigCitCommit

A proactive approach to digital citizenship with five competencies: inclusive, informed, balanced, engage, and alert.
https://digcitcommit.org/

ISTE Standards

Competencies for effective learning, teaching, and leading in the digital age with standards for students, educators, education leaders, and coaches.
https://www.iste.org/iste-standards

ISTE Educator Standards

A learner-centered framework for educators to design effective and meaningful learning experiences with purposeful technology integration to empower learners.
https://www.iste.org/standards/iste-standards-for-teachers

National Standards for Quality Online Learning (NSQOL)

A framework and flexible guidance for education programs to improve online teaching, online programs, and online courses.
https://www.nsqol.org/

SkillRise Profile of a Lifelong Learner

A resource from the ISTE SkillRise program designed to help define, measure, and advance the digital and lifelong learning skills required for adult learners to succeed in today’s workforce (and beyond). The profile includes the following qualities: lifelong learner, empowered worker, solution seeker, mindful colleague, and digital citizen.
https://skillrise.org/profile