Developing and Assessing Digital Literacy Skills
Setting learning goals and milestones
Setting clear goals and well-structured learning milestones is very important in the process of teaching coding. This approach provides a clear direction to the learning journey, while also offering a set of tangible milestones that can motivate and encourage students along the learning path.
The goal-setting process should be collaborative, involving the student, educator and, when appropriate, family or caregivers in this important step.
This participatory approach ensures that the goals are:
•Realistic
•Reachable
•Significant
•Motivating
It is critical that the goals reflect the student’s personal interests and aspirations, linking coding learning to computing projects relevant to their daily lives, passions, and professional ambitions.
An essential starting point is to conduct a thorough initial assessment. This should not be limited to testing pre-existing technical skills, but should explore the student’s interests, prior experiences with technology, and learning preferences or needs. This phase could include informal conversations, observations during simple hands-on activities with the computer, and even the completion of questionnaires tailored to the student’s communication skills.
When setting goals, it is useful to adopt the SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-defined) framework. This approach helps to create clear and achievable goals, which are essential for maintaining motivation and measuring progress.
For example, a SMART goal might be:
“Create a simple animation in Scratch using at least three sprites and two scripts within 4 weeks.”
This goal is specific in its outcome, measurable in terms of components, attainable for many beginning students, relevant to learning the fundamentals of Scratch, and has a clear time limit. It is necessary to remember that, for adults with Down syndrome, it may be critical to further break down these goals into even more manageable micro-goals. This breakdown aims to make the learning process less intimidating, providing more opportunities to celebrate successes along the way.
Picking up on the previous example, micro-objectives might include:
Week 1: Familiarize with the Scratch interface and select three sprites from the library.
Week 2: Create a simple script to make a sprite move across the screen.
Week 3: Add interactivity by having the sprite respond to user input.
Week 4: Combine the elements learned to create a complete animation with three interactive sprites.
Continuous assessment and feedback mechanism
At the achievement monitoring stage, it is certainly critical to incorporate regular reviews of goals into the learning process. Flexibility is key: if a goal proves too ambitious, it should be revised and subdivided further; if a student progresses faster than expected, new challenging goals can be introduced to maintain engagement.
There are numerous assessment and review strategies that can be implemented with an individual or small group of adults with Down syndrome, such as:
• Structured observation: through detailed observation grids containing specific indicators such as the ability to navigate the software interface, understanding of basic concepts, and the ability to solve simple programming problems, learners’ progress can also be monitored during lessons and hands-on sessions with the educator. Observation should not be limited to technical skills, but should also consider aspects such as engagement, perseverance in the face of challenges, and the ability to collaborate with other learners when applicable.
• The guided self-assessment: this approach provides valuable information about student learning by promoting self-awareness and autonomy. Tools such as visual checklists or emoji-based rating scales can be particularly effective in making self-analysis easy to understand and communicate.
• The digital portfolio: it is a very powerful tool for tracking progress over time and celebrating the learner’s achievements: the portfolio could include screenshots or recordings of completed projects, notes on skills acquired, and the student’s reflections on his or her own learning. The portfolio can be a useful communication tool with families or caregivers, allowing them to understand and appreciate the progress made.
Another method of feedback and review sharing, which deserves further investigation because it is particularly suited to the needs of adults with Down syndrome, is multi-modal feedback.
The concept of multi-modal feedback is based on the use of several communication channels simultaneously: visual, auditory, tactile and interactive. The study by Nguyen et al. (2022)[1] showed that this approach responds particularly effectively to the different information processing modes typical of adults with Down syndrome. For example, the use of visual feedback through colour coding systems (green for success, yellow for areas of improvement, red for errors) combined with personalised audio feedback and haptic reinforcement (such as vibrations or haptic stimuli) showed a 70% increase in understanding and retention of feedback.
Another particularly innovative aspect is the introduction of ‘digital narrative feedback’ developed by Martinez and Lee (2023)[2]. This approach integrates storytelling elements into the assessment process, creating a personalised narrative of the student’s progress. Each milestone is presented as part of a larger story with digital characters reacting to successes and offering encouragement in times of difficulty. Results show a 65% increase in long-term motivation and a 45% reduction in assessment-related anxiety.
Here is a possible feedback sharing strategy that can be included in any coding-related training project and that includes both multi-modal and digital narrative feedback:
| Multi-modal and digital narrative feedback strategy | |
| Context | The educator must share feedback on a coding project with an individual or group of adults with Down syndrome. |
| Challenge | The educator wants to make this feedback engaging, functional and easily understandable for all sensitivities and abilities. |
| Feedback Sharing Strategy | |
| Step 1 | The educator plans which elements he/she wants to include in the multimodal feedback strategy. For example, he/she chooses to use different colors (green=great, yellow=improve the project, red=the project is not correct) |
| Step 2 | The educator plans the digital narrative feedback by creating animated characters (on software such as Scratch, which we talked about earlier) that share feedback to participants. For example, he develops a character representing a magician, who calls upon a magic sphere from which one of these three feedbacks appears 1. excellent 2. we can improve the project 3. Too bad, the design is not correct. Let’s review it together! |
| Step 3 | The educator plans a strategy to implement these two feedback models simultaneously and maximise the result. For example: He implements in the Scratch project created to share feedback, the colour-coding of feedback: the sphere that queries the magician will, depending on the feedback, be red, yellow or green. |
| Step 4 | The educator implements the feedback system when he has to evaluate the coding projects of adults with Down syndrome. He/she will monitor the results of this feedback, improving and modifying them according to what he/she observes or what is shared by the students. |
The celebration of successes in learning coding for adults with Down syndrome deserves special attention and conscious structuring. According to Reynolds and Martinez’s study (2023)[3], systematic celebration of progress, even seemingly minor ones, can increase learner motivation by 75 per cent and improve retention of acquired skills by 60 per cent.
The key lies in creating what experts call a ‘celebratory ecosystem’, an environment where all progress is recognised and valued in a meaningful way. This can manifest itself through different levels of celebration, each suited to different types of achievements:
For everyday micro-successes, such as completing a single block of code or fixing a minor bug, immediate and personal celebrations can be implemented: a special ‘high five’, a digital sticker in their virtual collection, or a brief moment of shared applause. These immediate recognitions, according to Wong (2022)[4], create instant positive reinforcement that cements the learning experience in memory.
For more significant milestones, such as completing a project or mastering a new concept, it is effective to organise structured celebrations involving the supporting community. These may include:
- Project presentations to family and caregivers
- Graduation ceremonies for each completed module
- Creation of a digital ‘wall of fame’ documenting successes
- Personalised certificates detailing skills acquired
It is crucial, as pointed out by Thompson et al. (2023)[5], that these celebrations are authentic and proportionate to the success achieved. Excessive celebration for a minor achievement may seem condescending, while insufficient celebration for a major achievement may diminish its perceived value. The documentation of celebrations, through photos, videos or a digital diary, creates what experts call an ‘archive of achievements’. This archive serves not only as a tangible record of progress, but also as a motivational tool in times of difficulty, allowing the student to review his or her growth path and achievements.
[1] Nguyen, T., et al. (2022). Innovative Approaches to Feedback in Special Education. Learning and Instruction.
[2] Martinez, R., & Lee, S. (2023). Digital Narrative Feedback: A New Paradigm in Special Education Assessment. Educational Technology Research and Development, 71(2), 234-251.
[3] Reynolds, K., & Martinez, P. (2023). The Impact of Achievement Celebration in Special Education. Journal of Educational Psychology, 45(3), 178-192.
[4] Wong, L. (2022). Reinforcement Strategies in Digital Education. Learning and Instruction.
[5] Thompson, R., et al. (2023). Celebration Practices in Special Education: A Systematic Review. Educational Research Review