Digital Resilience in the American Workforce (DRAW)

[DRAW] logo with tagline: Digital Resilience in the American Workforce

Building Skills and Literacy for Economic Advancement

February 2025      

Technology is integral to nearly every aspect of our daily lives, including the way we learn and work. Therefore, everyone must develop digital resilience—the awareness, skills, agility, and confidence necessary to be empowered users of new technologies, actively participate in society, and adapt to the labor market’s ever-changing demands for digital expertise. 

To ensure that learners achieve digital resilience, educators must develop programming that integrates and applies digital skills content that’s immediately relevant yet forward-looking and designed for use in multiple contexts.      

Yet research shows that nearly 32 million Americans struggle to use a computer, and half of all Americans say they are not confident using technology to learn. Moreover, many adult education instructors have not been trained in best practices for offering digital literacy instruction to learners. Limited availability of technology and opportunities to develop digital skills create challenges for many learners and workers. These gaps can hinder workforce participation and economic mobility, as more than 8 in 10 mid-level jobs require digital skills.

To help adult education practitioners improve their ability to support learners who struggle to fully engage in tasks that demand use of digital technologies, JFF and World Education, with support from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education, launched an initiative called Digital Resilience in the American Workforce (DRAW). Through DRAW, we:

  • Support professional development that enables teachers to be strategic and learner-focused in their lesson planning and instruction.
  • Support adult education programs in designing effective, flexible technology-enabled education.
  • Provide Adult Education and Family Literacy Act (AEFLA) formula grantees with models, guidance, and resources for supporting programs that sustain and expand digital literacy efforts.
  • Identify and curate existing resources for assessing and developing digital literacy skills and resilience.
  • Co-create additional resources to fill gaps identified in the landscape scan.
  • Develop a digital library to pull resources together in user-friendly, flexible formats with actionable strategies that support all adult learners, including those learning English at beginning levels.

DRAW will provide the field with flexible, evidence-based, and piloted strategies and materials that help teachers build the digital literacy and digital resilience of adult learners. These efforts help to ensure that adult learners can obtain the technical skills necessary for postsecondary education and training, employment, civic engagement, and economic self-sufficiency.

 

Current Partners

JFF      
World Education, Inc.      

Pilot Partners

JFF      
World Education, Inc.      
Safal Partners      
Performance Excellence Partners      
Rock Creek Video Production