North Carolina published statewide digital skills standards that identify key online abilities and knowledge for residents, joining a number of states that are hoping to strengthen digital literacy. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
North Carolina published statewide digital skills standards last month that identify key knowledge and abilities for residents and will soon launch an online course, joining a number of states that are hoping to strengthen digital literacy.
The North Carolina Digital Skills Standards, published by the state’s information technology department, is a framework that can be used to help residents understand basic digital skills. Next, an online learning course will be developed and “digital navigators” will be trained to help residents across the state.
North Carolina’s standards focus on six key areas: creating and maintaining an online identity, practicing balanced and cautious technology use, building digital relationships, ensuring internet safety, understanding online information and developing skills for advanced systems and emerging technology, such as artificial intelligence.
“This is important because it elevates the issue statewide,” said Grace Tepper, a senior writing associate at the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, an Illinois policy group focused on communications and the internet.
“Even if you have access to the internet, there are still many, many ways in which the majority of people are still learning how to use these tools that are available to them,” she said. “They just may not be able to access it because of a lack of digital skills.”
As online skills have become more necessary for health care, education, banking and more, many states have been building similar frameworks to help government agencies, school districts, business owners, nonprofit organizations and other groups identify ways to improve digital literacy.
In 2023, New Jersey became the first state to enact legislation requiring information literacy instruction in K-12 schools under the state’s Student Learning Standards. And this year, education departments and nonprofit groups in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas updated their state guidelines for supporting digital literacy.
In the United States, 92% of jobs definitely or likely require digital skills, according to a 2023 report from the National Skills Coalition, a nonprofit organization that advocates for skills training.
In May, President Donald Trump eliminated Digital Equity Act grants, a federal initiative that was created under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021. The $2.75 billion program aimed to close the digital divide by expanding broadband access and supporting computer skills training.
Many states had spent years planning how to use the federal funds, including some proposals to establish statewide digital skills standards, Tepper said. Now, the challenge for each state is figuring out how to keep going on their own, she added.
“A lot of states are implementing their own programs,” she said. “They look a lot different — they’re not as comprehensive as what they would have done under the Digital Equity Act. But no matter what happens, states will keep working. They’ve put themselves in good positions to do what they can with what they have.”
Stateline reporter Madyson Fitzgerald can be reached at [email protected].
This story was originally produced by Stateline, which is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network which includes NC Newsline, and is supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity.
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