SPEAKER 1: You can [AUDIO OUT] by going to support@aztecsoftware.com. So that's the other way of getting a hold of our people. So the other thing that I can share with you is just that our Aztec of family of companies is continuing to grow. So we're here to help you with any of your needs for your adult students. 

We have our Life Skills Education program. Of course, we have our Aztecs Software Computer-based program. A few years ago we purchased Paxen and Steck-Vaughn. And so a lot of those Steck-Vaughn materials that I used with my students for numbers of years and you have also, those are actually owned now by Aztec and part of our library of learning materials. And then we also have our Aztec's PassAssured program, which is an online-based program to help students prep for the National Pharmacy Tech Training Program. 

On Monday, we do have a webinar that's going to explain a little more information about that. That'll happen at 12 o'clock. If you go to our website, aztecsoftware.com, you can register for that webinar. And Mitch Rosin is actually going to present that webinar about our PassAssured program, which is our big toe or big jump into the CTE realm for the Aztec company. So we're really excited about that. 

So let's look at today and what we're going to be talking about. We're going to look at persistence and adult students. We're going to talk about 21st century skills. And then we're going to talk about those skills that matter, and we'll talk about what that is specifically in regards to the links, materials that are available. I'm going to give examples along the way about what that looks like for my class, my students, and with those Aztec products. 

But let's first start by talking about persistence and our adult students. Oh, and one other thing before I forget, if you have any questions, please by all means, you can put them in the chat pod. You can raise your hand. You can come off a mic once I pause for a breath and have you come in and share that information or share that question with us. We're a fairly small group, so I'm always gain for the more engagement, the better. 

So let's start by looking at persistence and adult students. So in the 16-plus years that I've taught adult students, we've always had the same struggle, and I'm sure it's probably the same for most adult education sites, and that's how do we get our students to stay and actually meet their educational goals. So what I did is I went and pulled the 2020-2021 total number of students enrolled in ABE/ASE programs in the US and the territories from the WIOA website. 

And the number of students who had both a pre and post-test, or paired score, was 43%. And for California, that percentage was 46% for that same year. And so this probably looks similar I would say, I would assume. Looks fairly similar for your site, maybe a little bit lower or a little bit higher. 

But it is I think advantageous for us, as educators, be we instructors, or even classified staff, or administrators, or CAEP directors, to go in and look at that site and see what that paired score percentage is and how do you compare with the rest of the state and even with the nation as well. And what we're really going to do is then keep that in mind as we try to figure out how we're going to help those students make those academic goals. 

Our students leave us for one or more of the barriers listed on the left side, but they come to us with so many reasons that are going to pop up on the right side of the screen. In many instances, our students leave and it's out of their control, and it's out of our control. They have time constraints. They have child care or family care issues. They have health reasons. 

This year alone-- and I started teaching this semester's class in the middle of August. And from the middle of August until now, which is the middle of October, I have had four of my students give birth. 

SPEAKER 2: Can I ask-- really quickly, I have a question in the chat. Will this benefit ESL? 

SPEAKER 1: So we are going to be talking about making the needs of students of all students who stop in and stop out. And so I would say, definitely, it will benefit ESL as well. Thank you for pausing. 

SPEAKER 2: So sorry to interrupt. 

SPEAKER 1: OK, not a problem. So like I said, I've had four students who have given birth in the last two months, out of my 40 students, 40-plus students. I have 40 on my roster, but I probably lost about 15 or so since the beginning of the year. So I've had four students who've given birth. Two of them have ended up in the emergency room for over a week because of those births, or in the hospital for over a week. 

They're still hanging in there. But for them to come into class and to work, it's something they can't control. They cannot control their health right now. They cannot control the health of some of their family members. But a lot of times, what we'll see is we'll see our students who stop coming for a lack of persistence, and a lot of times, that's caused by that lack of motivation. 

So when we're thinking about persistence in our adult students, it's really important to think about the needs of our adult learners and how best to meet them. And I always go back to Malcolm Knowles, who was the father of andragogy, which is how adult students learn. That's that adult student learning theory. You can see that quote from him up at the top. Andragogy is the art and science of helping adults learn versus pedagogy with our counterparts in K-12. 

So he defined five different assumptions about adult learners. Our students, for the most part, they like to work maybe not independently all the time, especially like, Susanna, for your ESL students. They want some handheld. But a lot of our students don't really ever want to feel like they're being babied, or they're being slowed down, or they're being handheld, or they're doing things that are like K-12, or elementary, or primary. 

They want to be doing work that is right for them, that's geared towards adults. And so it's really important to keep that in to-- take that into consideration. I had a friend who was teaching ESL on a satellite class on an elementary school campus, and each year she would have her students go and perform puppet shows for the kindergarten classes. And some of the students really, really liked it. But we did have some other students who would stop going to her class, and then would actually call the office and would end up on the on-campus classes if they could come. Because they felt like those activities weren't beneficial to them. 

So it is really important that you're doing activities, or you're including activities, that the students feel connected to, they feel like they're working, that they can practice and do those things at home as well. It's really important that we take our students' life experiences into consideration. And this includes how they learn and what they learn. So I'll give you an example-- and I swear this is my notes, I'm not just tagging this because of Suzanna's questions. [LAUGHING] 

When I taught ESL, I had a lot of students who would just copy everything down. They would copy, copy, copy. They'd copy down what I said, they copied down what I wrote on the board, they would copy down-- sometimes they would copy down, like, I would give them a handout and then they would copy out what was in the handout into their notebooks. And so I repeatedly would say, I need you guys to put your pencils down, I need you to pay attention up here, I need you to follow along as to what I'm saying. Because I'm asking questions and you can't answer or you're not answering them because you're too busy copying things out. 

And so finally we just stopped and we had a conversation. And they explained to me that the reason they copied things down is because, when they were in school, they said, students with very full notebooks, those were the students that always did well in class. And I said that's great, but this is a different kind of learning that we're doing here. And so we had a conversation about what was the purpose of the lesson that I was teaching. The purpose of the lesson was, you're going to practice your listening and then responding verbally. 

And so when we're doing that, I need you to not be focused on writing words down. I need you to be focused on the listening piece. And then I promised them, like, I'm going to make sure that you have the materials or you have time to copy down what you think is important. But then also there's going to be time where you're just going to be listening and your pencils are going to be down. 

And by honoring that life experience, it really did make that learning a little bit more solid. It did build that motivation for them to stay in class, be persistent, continue to come to class where they felt like their life experiences, their learning strategies were all being honored. And so I think that is key also. Another thing that Knowles said about adult students is that our students are going to be ready to learn when they're ready to learn. And so, if you think about adult students, they really are that example of that saying, you can lead a horse to water. 

I've had GED students who have scored way high on their practice test scores, and they are ready to test. And I can wave things at them, like, we can give you a place to test; we have a place to test; we have snacks from when you come test; this is how you schedule for testing. Do you have a problem with the money part of it? You don't? OK, great, because we have waivers for that. What can we do to help you? 

And they still won't come in and actually complete it. They're only ready when they're ready. And you know, it's true with our students with learning. We can provide them a safe place to work, we can provide them with loaned digital devices and materials, but they're only going to learn when they're ready to assume that role of student. 

And so you're going to do the best you can with what you have, but sometimes there isn't a whole lot you can do. You can make phone calls, you can email, you can do a variety of different things. But sometimes you need to say, OK, I've done everything I can, and we're going to move on to the next student. 

Our students are problem-centered. And they really need-- you know, a lot of our students really do look at school as a problem that needs to be solved. I need this diploma, or certificate, or whatever to get a job, to keep a job, or to find a new job. And usually the response is that I need to do it right now. And so that's why we always hear the same question from a lot of our enrollees. When do you think I'll be done? When do you think I'll earn my GED? When do you think I'll be ready to move out of ESL into ABE? When do you think I'll be ready to finish my high school diploma credits? 

And so what we can do, knowing that they're in that problem-centered mindset, is we can help them create short-term goals in order to reach those long-term goals. And this will really help them use that problem-centered mentality to everyone's advantage. It's going to help you as a teacher. It's going to help them as the student. And then they really will understand, like, oh, this is why this is going to help me. 

The other thing for you to really keep in mind when you're working with your students, is to share with them. Like, how is this going to help me? How is this essay thing going to help me if I have a welding job? How is this algebra going to help me if I'm a medical assistant? I had a bunch of students in my ESL class who consistently would say, like, why do we need to study this thing on getting a job? I'm never going to get a job. I'm 75, I'm retired, I don't need a job. Why am I going to be doing-- why do we have to do this? Can I go do something else? 

And so to be able to look at that problem and figure out what that solution is, is really advantageous to keeping those students in your class. I used to treat my retired students in ESL as like god's with all of the answers. Like, oh, Maria's worked 40 years, so she has all of this job information. So we're going to glean as much information from Maria about what to look for in a job, how to get a new job, how to interview for a job, what to expect in the workplace, things like that. And so Maria is the solution to my problem. 

And by looking at things and explaining, like, this is what we're going to do, or this is how we're going to do it, or rework it in a different way, then they really are going to take those lessons, and those activities, and their learning to heart. And be more in tune to it. Rather than I'm just doing this to pass the test, or I'm just doing this because the teacher told me to, or I'm just doing this so I can be done. So those kind of examples or those kinds of ways of looking at things and sharing that information with those students really does benefit everybody. 

The last piece is that our students usually are at school for a very legitimate reason. They're at school because they want to gain new skills. For the most part, that's usually why they're there. And those skills are usually so they can either start a new training, or get a new job, or get a better job. Sometimes, of course, it's to appease usually a person-- maybe a parent. I've had a couple of students who are 18 and right out of high school and haven't finished their high school diploma. And they're either there for their high school diploma or their GED. 

So they're just doing this, because their parents said they had to go to school or they weren't going to stay in the house anymore. We've seen that sometimes with probation. I've had a couple of students who've gone through our programs because they wanted to get a high school diploma or a GED, so their child would get off their back and get a high school diploma and GED and not use them as an excuse for not doing it themselves. But whomever or whatever it is, it really helps to motivate the student to stay in class if the instructor understands what that reason is. Takes an interest in that reason, and then, if necessary, maybe guides them to other reasons that the student can also have a connection to. 

So if you do have that 18-year-old student who's, like, I'm just doing this so my mom doesn't kick me out. You can say, OK, well, you know, that's a really good reason. I mean, at least you'll have it done. But also, what are you going to do once you're done? Because mom and dad probably want you to do something after you get your high school diploma. They don't want you to just stay home now that you've done it, you're probably going to have to go get a job. What are you interested in? How can I help you? 

And those are things, again, that are really going to help you motivate those students, because you're building that connection with them. Malcolm Knowles also defined six principles about andragogy or adult learning theory. And these are what we have listed. So one of them is that adult students really like a cooperative learning environment. And so my GED students are currently all working independently and mostly from home, but they are collaborating with me. 

So when I text, or email, or speak to them, I always talk about "our" next step. And hey, you've come so far, here's what "we" need to do next. You know that cooperative climate is a lot easier to work in, of course, if you are on campus. But there are ways for you to work with your students if they are working in that hybrid setting, that remote setting, distance learning, for it still to feel collaborative and cooperative. 

It's also really important for adult students to have their needs assessed, so they can work on what they need to work on. I think this is very important for all of our students. Just because you were placed in an ESL class because of one or two CASAS tests, doesn't mean that we shouldn't also be assessing some additional skills that perhaps aren't included or aren't a part of those CASAS tests. For our ABE, and our GED, and our high school diploma students, it's really important to assess what their specific needs are. 

For a high school diploma it can be really, really tricky. Because we just look at, OK, you need 10 credits of algebra, you need 10 credits of a life science, and you need 10 credits of English. Let's go. But it is also really important to assess their needs to determine if the curriculum that you're looking at for them is appropriate or not. I really appreciate with Aztec that they do have so many assessments built into the programs, so that I can assess them at, like, a large scale-- which class level should I put you in? And on a smaller scale-- is this the right unit for you to be studying in, are you beyond this unit, are you below this unit, or is this where we should start? 

The other thing to think about in regards to these principles about adult students is that we look at those assessments, and then, from those assessments, we develop those learning objectives. So if you have students that are working independently, this really helps to make sure that they're all working in the right place. So once you do have those assessments done, you can say, OK, so now your objective is going to be here based on that assessment. 

With students and people that are working in large groups and they are working in class, and you're working whole group or large group, it can be a little bit more difficult, because you have learning objectives for the entire class. But then you would also have learning objectives for your individual students as well. And so it is really important to step back and look and see, like, OK, how can I, under the guise of this larger learning objective, make sure we meet the needs of all the students where they're at within this larger objective. 

And then once those objectives are identified, then you can certainly go in and design sequential activities to meet those objectives. And again, I think this is really crucial for student success, and that student success is going to build that persistence and that motivation to be persistent. I had a student who was struggling with proportions. She'd passed three of her GED tests, because we had done that number two-- we had assessed the student's needs. So the student had passed all of the other GED tests, and we went in and we were going to start working on math. 

But I needed to go do some assessments to determine whether or not the GED level math was the right level for that student to work on, because on my campus, our students are placed in our class based solely on their reading CASAS score. And so it doesn't really tell me where they are with math. And once we determine, like, OK, so we're going to work on math. You passed the other three. We're so excited. Let's keep moving. 

Then I realized, OK, she's struggling with proportions. Why is she start struggling with proportions? She's struggling with proportions, because she doesn't understand fractions. She doesn't understand fractions, because she doesn't understand division. And when I talk to her about division, she said she didn't know why we put a one in the number when we subtract. So we had to go all the way back to regrouping with subtraction, and then work our way forward. 

And that would be true, again, for our academic students. A lot of times it's true for ESL students. There might be some gaps in there either with writing, in particular, or speaking. Also I had a lot of students of mine that could either really write very well, but had a hard time speaking, or could really speak very well, but had a hard time writing. And so trying to figure out then, based on those outcomes from those assessments, what those learning objectives are and what sequential activities would be beneficial to meeting those objectives. 

And then when we look at working collaboratively with the learner with materials and resources. For people who know me-- I don't see anybody in the room whose name I remember, so you're all new to me, yea! But I am all tech-based. I love tech stuff so much, you know, hence I work for Aztec. My students are working on computers. We're working through Aztec. I use the system as much as possible with my students. 

But I also realize that with some of my students, the computer is not a great place for them to start. And so it's keeping that in mind and making sure that they understand that they have some different options. Just to make sure that we get to those end learning objectives, and we'll figure out any different method, or material, or resource to get to that objective. And then lastly, it's really important to evaluate what you're doing as an instructor, or a program, or a site. 

Are our instructional materials and strategies and programs effective? What are our students saying about them? And what does the data say about them? I'm a huge proponent of looking at the data. I love the data very much. [COUGH] And looking to see what the data tells us. And so these are all different things that you can keep in mind as we're talking about student motivation, student persistence. OK. So questions so far? Feel free to put them in the chat, if you like. If not, we'll go ahead and continue, or you can raise a hand. 

OK, so what we're going to do is, we're going to keep Knowles' assumptions and principles in mind as we look at different sets of skills that have been identified as very important skills for adults to have in order to succeed in our world today. And the first set that we're going to look at are the 21st century skills, which refer to the knowledge, and the life skills, career skills, habits, and traits that are critically important for student success in today's world, particularly as students move on to college, or the workplace and adult life. 

Persistence is a skill that takes some time to cultivate. And telling students to just work more or work harder, isn't going to help them build persistence at all. As instructors, we need to give our students some guidance in building those habits and traits that will help them be successful in meeting their life and career skills or career goals. I remember as a kid being told repeatedly, go study for a test. I don't know what that means. Well, just-- you want a higher score? Just go study harder. I don't know what that means either. 

We need to give our students some guidelines to understand how to build those skills. So let's start by looking at 21st century skills as they're defined by the applied educational systems. They've identified the skills that will help students stay competitive in today's changing job market, and they group them into three different areas. So the first one is the learning skills or the four C's, and they our creativity, critical thinking ability, collaboration, and communication. And these teach students about the mental processes required to adapt and improve upon a modern work environment. 

They are currently the quote, unquote, "most popular skills" or certainly the skills being most discussed in K-12 and post-secondary circles, also by the media, because they are universally needed for any career. And when thinking about building and maintaining persistence for our adult students, we really need to make sure that our students have access to learning experiences that include collaboration and creativity, that require critical thinking, and that there are multiple ways for our students to then communicate. Both as a part of our class, but also to communicate their learning needs, and to communicate what they've learned, and to communicate outside the realm of academic needs. 

You know, for my students, my four little moms that just all gave birth in the last month, some of them reached out to me and told me, hey, Karen, I'm so sorry I didn't check in to class last week because-- and please don't drop me from class-- but I gave birth yesterday. And there wasn't a whole lot of communication that really went into that. There should have been communication before perhaps they gave birth, and maybe when they first started class. 

They should have said, hey, Karen, by the way, I'm pregnant, and I might miss class. I might be late. I might not do all of the assignments each week-- just kind of giving you a heads up. So we need to teach our students how to communicate with us. And again, for me, communication always leads to relationship. And for adult students, once you get that relationship built they are much more likely to be persistent and stay motivated, if they know they have somebody in their corner that they can communicate to about things like child care issues, or job issues, or scheduling issues, health issues, and things like that. 

The next set of skills are the literacy skills, and those are information literacy, media literacy, and technology literacy, also known as MIT. Or IMT-- I like MIT, but they said IMT here. And they focus on how students can discern facts, publishing outlets, and the technology behind them. So there's a really strong focus on determining trustworthy sources and factual information, to separate it from the misinformation that floods our internet. But for a lot of our adult students, they have really little to no experience of working with technology in any setting other than social media, and particularly in a learning setting or an academic setting. 

So it is really important that we expose them to information, media, and technology literacy. That we also have activities that guide them how to successfully just access these skills. You know, how to access that media skill, how to access those technology skills, and those information skills. Just some of those, like, tutorial type pieces are really important. I appreciate that Aztec has those built in. We have calculator tutorials that are now available both in English and Spanish. There's computer skills classes that are part of the online platform. 

And so, by having those resources available to our students, we really are reducing their effective filter. And that, in turn, will increase their persistence. Because I have had a handful of older students who get so frustrated with the computer that they will tune out and stop coming. Especially when they struggle with the computer in the beginning, and then realize, or learn, that the GED test itself, on our campus, is only available on the computer. We don't offer the HiSET paper/pencil, so I have had students drop out because of that. 

And so it really is helpful to work on those skills, and help the students to earn and learn those skills in order to be more successful and therefore more persistent. And then the final set of skills from this organization is called the life skills or FLIPS. This cracks me up. So flexibility, leadership, initiative, productivity, and social skills-- those life skills or flips. And those take a look at intangible elements of a student's everyday life. And these intangibles focus on both personal and professional qualities that, when really strong, can actually increase the student's persistence. 

They can take the initiative-- they being our students-- can take the initiative to make productivity goals. And not only for themselves, but they may also be making now new productivity goals for their school-age children. They may need to reach out to their instructor for some guidance and assistance on being flexible with daily schedule changes, and they may even need to reach out. And that might be something that, again, like I mentioned before, the instructor might need to guide that student with things like, hey, are you there? How can I help you? How can I help you engage with me? Talk to me, let me know how can I help you? Are you still interested in coming back to class? 

So those 21st century skills. And then the other piece are-- a group of skills that we're going to look at-- are the teaching skills that matter in adult education. And those come from that project also known as TSTM. And this trains teachers to integrate the skills that matter to adult students using approaches that work across critical topics. So this initiative breaks down nine skills from five topic areas and puts them in three different learning approaches. 

And then, in the orange here, you can see I've highlighted the skills that matter, specifically, for digital literacy. And as stated in the issue brief itself, learners need 21st century skills in key areas such as critical thinking, problem solving, communication, and collaboration, supported by the creative application of digital technologies, to succeed at school and work, and these skills are articulated through the anchor standards and benchmarks of the college and career readiness standards. 

Our ABE programs are well situated to support the development of digital literacy by ensuring that learners have basic digital literacy skills, and know how to nimbly leverage them to accomplish real world work and academic tests. In addition, the skills that matter across the range of content areas covered in ABE programs, will serve to support digital literacy development if they are integrated into the goals of classroom instruction. And I would say it's not just ABE programs, because when I taught ESL I totally integrated digital literacy skills as well. 

Just as an example, we used-- when I taught ESL the Stand Out program-- and, for every unit in Stand Out, I would add a digital literacy piece. So if it was the section on the home, and the household, and the budget, then when my students made their home budgets, I taught them how to use Excel. And we would put their household budget in Excel. And I taught them the basic formula for sum, so it would add everything up, and subtraction. So it would add everything up and subtract it. So things like that I would say certainly it's not just ABE, it's also ESL as well. 

Oh, and you use Burlington. I love Burlington. That's a great, great program, Suzanna. So if we look at the skills that matter for digital literacy, they look like this. So we have critical thinking, we have communication, we have processing and analyzing information, we have self awareness, and problem solving. So those are the key skills for digital literacy that are defined by that 'skills that matter' piece. And so let's look a little bit more closely at digital literacy, because I really feel like, with our students, when we're thinking about our 21st century classes, so many of our classes do include some form of technology. 

And so I feel like a better understanding of that digital literacy piece really is going to benefit those students in being more successful for the workplace. They're also going to better prepare them for those jobs. And so, in building that persistence and that motivation, if you talk to them about, like, hey, we're doing this program. And even though you don't feel like it's connected to you getting a job, by you continuing to work on a computer and use a computer, you're building those skills that will ultimately help you get that better job, or keep that better job, or move up the job ladder. 

And so by focusing on that digital literacy I think it really is key. I also think that digital and technology sometimes can be a barrier. And I spoke about that before with our students who are older. We never want that digital piece to be a barrier to their learning, and I know in some instances it can be. And so to be able to provide students with that support in that digital literacy, we're really helping in a variety of different ways. So when we talk about digital literacy we're really talking about all of the skills necessary to use technology to work with information. 

And we're also looking at what that means in regards to using that technology responsibly, and developing digital citizenship skills as well. And so there are many different parts to that digital literacy, and you can kind of see here. That looks like the same graphic, but actually there are different components. So those pieces for that digital literacy-- those are those basic computer skills, that network literacy, digital problem solving, media literacy, and then information literacy. 

And so let's think about this in terms of those basic literacy or basic skills, computer skills. So my students in class they need to know these basics in order to be successful. And sometimes my students-- when they can't even do these basic, basic skills-- they a lot of times will get frustrated and just drop out. Last semester, or last year rather, I had a student, Tony. I have class Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Tony came in for six weeks. Six weeks. Tuesday, Wednesday-- or at that time it was just Tuesday, Thursday we were coming on campus. 

So 12 times Tony needed to come in because he had a loaner Chromebook. And he needed to come in on those 12 times so I could teach him how to turn on his Chromebook, get logged in, and then find Aztec, and then get logged in to Aztec and get started. It took 12 times of us walking through those steps every single time. And Tony's kind of like me in that if he has a written list of now do this, now do this, now do this steps. It didn't really help because he got lost. 

I'm more of a visual person. I'm more of a kinesthetic learner, and so was Tony. So he needed to come in every day and have me, like, now you click here, and I'm going to point and you're going to click, and now click here, and I'm going to point, you're going to click. It took 12 times, but that was the way that made him successful. And in doing so, he's still working. He's still a current student this year and he's progressing well through his classwork. But without those opportunities to be able to have that support, I think he would have dropped out. 

So some of the other things that your students might need to be able to know how to do, are things like creating and finding files, opening and using those files, doing all sorts of different things with different programs. Because, just because you use Burlington, or you use Aztec, or you're using something else online-- Edgenuity, doesn't mean that that student isn't also going to need to know how to use email, or use calendars, or use maps, or other things like that. 

And so it's really good to be able to have those different skills available for the students to learn. I've a great story for this too. I had a student who-- I had the students-- they had to save files and they had to share with me their GED practice test scores. And so in my class, I taught them how to save the report as a PDF instead of printing it, and then attaching it to an email and sending it to me. 

And she told me during class a few months later, that she had just gotten a job. And the reason that she had gotten a job, is because she filled out the application form and then attached it to her email to the workplace, to the employer. And they said she was the only person that did that. Everybody else had to walk it in. And because she knew how to use email and attach documents, they gave her the job. So it was kind of cool. Builds persistence. 

So when we look at network literacy, this is something that will assist our students as well. They need to be connected to things. They need to understand that that connectivity really does assist them. And maybe social media might help with that connectivity. In my class, connectivity kind of looks like this-- we have our Aztec program, we have our online program, we have GED.com, they're connected to that. And then, when they communicate to me, we're using Remind, we're using email, they're coming into class meetings. Those class meetings are either through Zoom or they're in-person. So that we have our own network. 

And by having the students have all of those different means to communicate, and work with me, and work with their program, that really does build that persistence, because they can find a way to communicate with me and a way to work with a program that best meets their needs. Problem solving is also really key. Your students need to be able to problem solve online. If they can't problem solve online, then that is going to be a problem for them that they might decide, I can't problem solve this. I need to communicate or I need to just stop coming, because I can't figure out how to do that. 

Problem solving with my students also looks a little bit different. If you think about, you know, for the students-- do they need to complete the content or do they need to problem solve? And I always tell my students they need to be problem solvers. It's not just completing the content. They're coming from K-12-- if they're coming from K-12 from a year ago, five years ago, 20 years ago, 40 years ago-- it was how many assignments do I need to get finished in order to get a diploma, or in order to pass this class? 

And now what they need to do instead is, they really need to make sure that they understand the materials. They need to understand the facts. And so it's not just, did I get the right answer? There's no way to cheat the GED. You can't cheat and just get the right answer, just by going, like, it's A and then C and then B. Or that one, it's always C. If you don't know, just choose C. It's not going to work for the GED. 

So having that kind of a conversation with your students will also help them better understand what they should be expecting out of their work, and they should be expecting of themselves. So talking about those everyday literacies also will help. If you're working with your students, if you're asking them questions, having them make meaning of things, that will really additionally help them with that problem solving piece. 

Information literacy-- they need to be able to delve into that information and really understand how to use that technology to enhance their information. In doing that, that will increase their understanding of what their goals are being-- what they're being asked to do. And so it is really important that you have that conversation with your students. And let them know we're going to be using information in a variety of different ways. We're not going to just ask you to learn it and spit it back out. There's no regurgitation here. 

And so again, like I had said before, it really does help if you help your students understand that they're going to be learning a different way. The focus is going to be on the work. Sometimes you're going to need to check your question and the answer descriptions to better understand that work. In Aztec, this is what that looks like. So for a lot of the questions in Aztec, it's here's the question. Great, you got it right. Here's the answer. And I always tell my students, sometimes I get the answer right for all of the wrong reasons. So it's really important to read those responses and figure out why that answer is correct. 

And it's just another way for the student to connect with that material, for that material to be more meaningful for them. And again, that will kind of motivate them. Like, oh, I do understand this. Or, oh, I did get the answer right. Or, oh, I do know what I'm doing. Suzanna, I'm not sure where the recordings are going to be. I'm going to let Karen, the other Karen, answer that question for you. 

SPEAKER 2: Hello, everyone. The recording will be found on the conference page for CAEP TAP. So that's where you can find it, Suzanna. 

SPEAKER 1: Perfect, thank you. 

SPEAKER 2: Thank you for your question. 

SPEAKER 1: So this is really important to make sure your students have the skills to be able to get to that media, to be able to utilize the media, and then also perhaps print their own media. So by tying what they're learning to current day materials like news articles, journal articles, and other things, that this then makes those presentations and essays more fresh, but it also makes them more meaningful to the student. 

So if we look at just why is that digital literacy so important for our students. It is a critical component. I would say more of-- not just adult basic education-- but really all education for our students. I think that where we are right now, with the variety of different programs that are available out to students, that most of them have a digital literacy component so it really does support or accelerate their acquisition of the knowledge. Of course, it is a part of our CCRS and our benchmarks. It's tied to those 21st century skills. 

And students that don't have these skills, it might impede them or prevent them from not only their career path advancement, but then also their advancement in their academic goals. And by impeding or preventing those goals, that's where that lack of persistence and motivation is going to spring up. So of course, our digital skills are really important. And we need to make sure that our students have them to be well-rounded citizens, and to be able to assist or to move through our current days. 

So what's really crucial is that they understand some of these components. One of them is navigating skills or navigating systems. So here's an example of something I did for my students in regards to navigating systems. This is our Aztec-- just a screenshot of a page-- but I share it with my students. They need to understand how best to get through our system. And in teaching them how to navigate through the Aztec system, it really does take that effective filter down, so they can focus on the learning materials. 

If they get frustrated with the way that your program works, be it Burlington English, or Aztec, or Edgenuity, and they can't seem to figure out how to navigate through that learning system, you might want to find some ways to get them where they need to go. And so this is just something that I did with my students. So it shows them, like, you're going to start here, and then you're going to go here, and then you're going to take your pretest, and then you're going to go up, and you're going to look at your score. And so there are different ways that you can share that with your students. 

Another thing to look at is to make sure that they have supportive foundational skills. Whatever you have to help your students in those foundational skills-- that's OK, Karen-- especially with those digital skills. So what can you do to introduce your students to tech and to, really, your program as a whole? You need to have patience and small steps. They need to have short-term goals, things like how to learn how to turn on and log on to your computer. That was a big thing for my student, Tony. 

How to use the mouse pad if they're using a Chromebook and they don't have a connectable mouse, like a traditional mouse. I can't stand the little mouse pad thing that's on the Chromebooks. I always have to have a connectable, traditional mouse. It's just too hard for me to use and do the things I want to do. You might need to face-to-face some of the how-tos. And that was the thing with Tony. He needed to come in for 12 weeks. That was his deal. 

They might need to have help setting up an email or Remind, which is what I use for connecting my students. They might need help navigating through your online program, if it's Aztec or what have you. Sometimes this includes student written step-by-step checklists, like that piece before, or literally just a checklist, like, now do this and now do this. And you might want to have those instructions all on a website. I have a website for my students that also has class specific videos. How to use the GED practice test voucher as a voucher and not a coupon. How to share your scores with me as a PDF through an email. Things like that. 

And so by having those things available to students, it kind of lowers that effective filter. And when that filter is lowered, then your students are more likely to stay on and keep on working. The other thing that really helps is if they understand the vocabulary. And that kind of goes back to that foundational skills piece. So they need to understand these different pieces, like, what are these additional things? What does print mean? What does save as a PDF mean? What does attach to an email mean? 

And that helps them with other things as they're going on to complete or continue working in other areas. So I have this great story. I had a student that I was teaching how to send me the PDF. Send me the PDF. And then we heard that AT&T had $10 internet. And the student immediately-- she was so proud of herself. And she was a student, I also had a train for about a week on this is how we log into the Chromebook. This is how we log on to that student's Edgenuity, how we log on to Edgenuity and get started. And this is how you navigate through and this is how you send me your score reports. 

And the student, because of all of that training, said that when it came to applying for the AT&T $10 internet, she had to take a picture of her SNAP card and her ID card. And then attach them as a PDF to an email or to the system where you applied for the AT&T internet. And she said, I learned how to do it. And then a student next to her is, like, I've never heard of this before. What are you talking about? She's, like, here I'll show you. And she went over and showed her how to do everything. 

And so it was a great way to see these skills are useful. And the student said it literally herself. She said, I know how to do this because Karen had me do this on Edgenuity, but now I can do it for real stuff. So those skills, that connection, all of those things-- so great for building persistence and relationships. Again, when we look at technology, if we look at integrating technology for our classes. You know, so many of us are in blended learning classes now. 

And some of our students would like to come in and work, and some of them can't come in and work. So we want to make sure that we have ways for them to be successful. So they don't leave us. So if we look at these-- my class is very tech heavy, and there are a lot of ways that they could jump off because it's too complicated. You know, I can't understand Aztec. I'm having a hard time with GED.com. I guess I could work in a book, but I don't have transportation to come get it from you. What am I going to do? 

And so, by having ways that I can support them in getting their needs met, having conversations with them. Those are all really crucial in maintaining that relationship with the students, so the students stay in class. It is really important that we keep, or are mindful, of the different ways that we can provide access to our students. For some of our students, they might be in a Wi-Fi dead zone. I actually have that as an issue in parts of my county, where we have Wi-Fi dead zones, where they just they don't have internet access. And the Wi-Fi hot spots don't necessarily work very well. 

So it is really important to have that conversation with students so they understand that they can meet with me in a variety of different ways. I've had a handful of students, who have been super successful in meeting their academic goals by going and sitting in McDonald's-- or in front of McDonald's, for an hour or so when it's not so hot-- because they can access the Wi-Fi there. So just knowing that there are different ways to help your students become successful, sharing those tips with them, that is going to increase that persistence. 

Also making sure that they're using technology that's relevant. Making sure that they're utilizing things appropriately. This is one that I'm working on with my students and also with my children. If you don't know the phone number, but you know somebody is going to be calling you about information from a job interview, you need to pick up the phone. So you need to make sure that they understand how to use those technologies. I need to sometimes brush up on new technologies, so I need to be aware of that in order to be successful in these variety of different ways. 

This can start with direct instruction, but it doesn't necessarily have to. Sometimes it could be videos or other things. We just need to make sure that the students are supported, that they understand that vocabulary, that they have time to be able to work independently. You can't always be helping them over their shoulder. Towards the end of those 12 times with Tony, I was, like, OK, do you know what to go next? Do you know where to go next? Instead of my saying, like, now click here, now click here, now click here. 

And then again, what's really important is meeting your students where they are. And that's true for everything. For digital literacy, for their work in general. When I talk to my students we always say, like, wherever you are is where we are and that's where we're going to start. So some of your students aren't going to need all of the necessary digital literacy or the pieces that you might have available for folks, but other times they will. And so it is really important that you are meeting those students where they're at, and you're working with them on their areas of need. 

So with that, do we have any questions from the group? Are we all good? Oh, and I have Derek here. So Derek just put in the chat pod-- he's our local rep in California for Aztec-- if you do have any questions in regards to Aztec products or programs, you can certainly reach out to him here. Or you can take down his information, you can contact us-- there we go-- on our website. There's Derek's information. 

SPEAKER 3: Sorry, I hit enter too soon. There it is. Everybody-- 

SPEAKER 2: I did too, I did too. 

[LAUGHTER] 

SPEAKER 3: It's a common mistake. 

SPEAKER 2: Sorry, everyone. 

SPEAKER 3: Nice to see everybody here today. And, yeah, just feel free to reach out if there's any questions about anything at all, or if you want to dig in on a certain program that we offer. 

SPEAKER 1: OK, so-- 

SPEAKER 2: Any questions? Any questions from anyone? Very good presentation, thank you so much. Thank you, Lynn. 

SPEAKER 1: Thanks, everybody. We'll turn-- 

SPEAKER 2: We wanted to thank you-- I wanted to thank you, Karen, for your presentation and your time. And thank you also, Derek Papa, for sharing your Aztec software with us. Please don't leave without the evaluation and giving us your feedback. So, hope you all have a wonderful rest of your summit. Thank you. Shall we go ahead and end. 

SPEAKER 1: Yup. 

SPEAKER 2: All right, I'm going to end the recording here.