Empowering Newcomers to Succeed: Service Delivery Improvements Through the Development of Digital Tools

In this project, Norquest College "developed a series of self-assessment tools to streamline access to services in the settlement sector. The resources have also been designed to help measure digital literacy skills among newcomers, settlement service practitioners and LINC instructors."

This webinar recording provides a useful overview of the project, findings, and outcomes:

Resources created by the project include:

• A self-assessment tool designed for Newcomers that allows them to get a better sense of which service delivery modality is best suited for them based on their needs and goals. This assessment is available in French, English, Tigrinya, Somali, Mandarin, Spanish and Ukrainian.
• A version of the self-assessment tool for Newcomers designed to be completed with the support of a settlement service worker to help them understand which service delivery modality is best for them based on their needs and goals.
• A digital literacy assessment tool for settlement workers and LINC/CLIC instructors. The assessment includes five different categories:
  • Information and data literacy
  • Communication and collaboration
  • Digital content creation
  • Safety
  • Problem solving
• An online asynchronous training module that provides settlement workers with knowledge of how different service delivery modalities can impact newcomers based on their needs and goals. The module is self-paced and takes approximately 60 minutes to complete.

You can download a literature review they conducted that synthesizes current and past research on how service delivery modalities impact different types of learners and a final report with their findings.

Highlights from their findings:

• Overall, service providers agreed that the assessment tools were easy to use and that the questions were easy to understand. In addition, they agreed that the assessment tools helped them better understand their own digital literacy.
• About 79% of Newcomers expressed that the assessment tools were easy to access online and that they understood the purpose of the assessment. The tools provided recommendations on the best service delivery modality for each respondent based on their personal circumstances and goals. Approximately 75% of those who tested the tools strongly agreed that the result of the assessment was accurate.
• Overall, Newcomers were satisfied with the assessment tools. Over two-thirds (67%) indicated that they were likely going to follow the suggested modality given to them (i.e., in-person, online, or blended learning). Almost the same number of respondents (64%) indicated that they were likely to use the assessment tools again in the future.
• The assessment tools were found to be helpful to Newcomers, and about 61% of those who tested them indicated that they would recommend the tools to their friends and family.

Recommendations and Further Research

• Additional research is needed to understand the impact of different service delivery modalities. While our tools were developed based on existing knowledge, it should be noted that this remains very limited, especially in relation to adult language learners. A longitudinal study that examines and validates our assessment tools would be necessary to understand the long-term impacts.
• Research on service delivery modalities and digital literacy among learners often covers results from post-secondary institutions and rarely focuses specifically on the needs of newcomers and/or adult language learners. Additional research is needed to understand how different digital literacy tools impact this demographic.
• Additional training, resources, and time is needed among settlement practitioners and LINC instructors to support them in adapting to emerging technologies and to assist them in acquiring the skills they need to support newcomer clients.