2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Although the term “Digital Divide” was coined some 25 years ago, most steps to address this problem have focused on inequalities in physical infrastructure or financial barriers. A Pew study found that 34% of older Internet users have “little to no confidence in their ability to use electronic devices to per- form online tasks” and 73% of older adults cannot set up new devices without assistance. Mentoring and training for those with less digital experience can help to resolve these problems, but is often restricted to specific geographical areas, such as our outreach program BASIC. We want to design a system that can bring quality human tutoring to digital learners regardless of their physical location.
Since 2011, our group has run an outreach program that pairs technologically savvy students at our institution with community members seeking help in navigating computing technology. Wider-scope problem solving strategies, more transferable between tasks, are emphasized in our program. Strategies allow users to explore (understand the full space of affordances available to them) and tinker (understand how their actions affect the system state) in a safe, methodical way. Exploration and tinkering are enabled by a set of certain attitudes on the user’s part, including confidence, creativity, attentiveness, and perseverance. Together these strategies and attitudes provide a foundation for lifelong, independent learning. Social Cognitive Theory provides guiding principles for our community program: Tutors model problem solving and exploration, work with learners to articulate goals, and put the learner in the driver’s seat as much as possible to build self-efficacy.
Using a design-based methodology, we are developing a sociotechnical framework that blends digital technology and human interaction, providing digital technology instruction. We want to: (1) Reach learners whenever they need help, (2) Connect learners to tutors directly through common digital devices, and (3) Make the personal, interactive nature of a community-based tutoring program available anywhere.
Contact with human tutors is invaluable in helping individuals overcome obstacles, build skills, and gain confidence in the use of digital technology. Public libraries and other institutions can provide shared physical spaces to facilitate this kind of learning, but there are limitations: learners may have difficulty accessing these spaces, and the technology issues they face may be inextricably situated in their homes, offices, or other locations. The Illuminated Devices project seeks to complement in-person tutoring with online assistance that meets learners where they live and work. Each Illuminated Device is an iPad with a custom portal application that facilitates communication with a human tutor, providing a broad view of user activity across hardware and software applications, and conveying tutor input to learners in a way that minimizes distraction and maximizes flow. The Illuminated system allows tutors to record learner progress and to confer with one another on technical issues. The poster provides an overview of our design and implementation and includes a system walkthrough.