The importance of digital literacy
“Digital literacy” has become a buzz phrase in our world, but true digital literacy is something every business wants for its employees.
Being digitally literate is the ability to not only complete basic software functions, but also to understand why you use software for certain functions. The more literate your workforce is, the more productive and engaged they will be.
In this post, we will detail three methods to build organization-wide digital literacy.
1. Contextual learning
Contextual learning is a constructivist theory that states that true learning takes place when information is presented in a way where students can construct meaning based on their experiences.
A good analogy is learning to ride a bike. You are going to have more success learning contextually – on a bike with your instructor beside you to guide and support you, rather than watching your instructor ride the bike and explain how they do it.
Being able to find an answer at the moment of need without leaving the application or task they are working on is real life “contextual learning”. By embedding learning tools like Content Panda into applications and offering employees quick answers, full application training, or walking them through a specific process – learning experiences happen where the work gets done.
2. Multiple learning pathways
People learn in many ways. Providing employees with contextual learning experiences will not be effective in developing digital literacy if multiple learning pathways are not at hand.
The VARK methodology describes the four ways people learn:
- Visual
- Aural
- Read/Write
- Kinesthetic
Fleming and Mills (1992) suggested these four sensory modalities are used for learning information that reflected the experiences of students and teachers.
We believe in giving employees different ways to learn by offering help and support content in-context and training on-demand via all the modalities of the VARK methodology.
Visual and Aural – On-demand video-based training and quick how-to videos embedded inside our application tours, tooltips, and dialogs.
Full application video-based training 
How-to video to complete a task quickly
Read/Write – Tool or task descriptions and links to more in-depth support documents found inside our application tours, tooltips, and dialogs.
Kinesthetic – Clicking the panda to surface help, support, and training inside of an application means employees don’t have to go somewhere else to learn and then try and recreate it on their own.
3. Content and Context
Many recent marketing blogs have likened the human attention span to that of a goldfish, (about 8 seconds). This may be true in some applications, but we still seem to binge-watch six to eight hours of a Netflix series if we are sufficiently hooked. Content and Context draws attention span, and if said content informs, educates, or entertains, attention spans are much longer than eight seconds.
When content is in-context and helpful in the moment of need, a short attention span doesn’t even factor into the conversation. When you have a question and can self-service, we find that even the goldfish among us are willing to stay longer if the content is presented well by an authority or trusted source.
When we apply our attention to solving a problem or completing the task at hand, we are more likely to process information and store it for next time, especially if we also know we can readily access it again if we forget.
All Together Now
With the addition of in-depth, high-definition training video tours inside Office 365 applications alongside our popular in-context help and support tooltips and dialogs, Content Panda is a complete solution for increasing digital literacy across the board.