A Collective Approach to Providing Digital Skills Training Among U.S. Public Housing Residents

Abstract

Addressing the digital divide would support access to essential activities such as healthcare, employment, and education among under-resourced communities in the United States (U.S.). However, half of the adults in the U.S. lack confidence and preparedness to use digital tools for learning. We developed and piloted an intervention to train public housing residents as intermediaries to provide digital support to their community members to address this gap. Collaborating with community partners, we developed a cohort-based basic digital skills training program consisting of online courses and offline social learning support. We trained nine public housing residents and present best practices of collective training and the challenges the trainees faced. Preliminary results suggest an increase in trainees’ self-efficacy in basic digital skills. Our approach aims to increase digital literacy and minimize barriers to online learning among traditionally-excluded populations. Our work extends prior interventions that only provide device and Internet access.