📱 ABE Digital & Life Skills
A respectful, self-paced Adult Basic Education course in digital and everyday life skills — built for grown-ups, from the ground up. Twelve real lessons take you from turning on a device all the way to email, staying safe online, handling bills and forms, and finding work with confidence.
📚 About This Course
This course is for adults who want to feel at home with phones, tablets, and computers — whether you're just starting out, filling in gaps, or catching up with how much of life has moved onto a screen. It's for you, and it treats you like the capable adult you are.
Everything here is practical and real: the tasks come from actual adult life — messaging family, sending an email, spotting a scam, paying a bill, booking an appointment, filling out an online form, and applying for a job. No jargon left unexplained, no talking down. Just clear, useful skills, one step at a time.
What You'll Be Able to Do
- Use a phone, tablet, or computer with confidence
- Get online, browse the web, and search for what you need
- Protect yourself with strong passwords and scam awareness
- Send and receive email, texts, and video calls
- Install and use apps, and manage your settings
- Create accounts and fill out online forms
- Handle bills, banking, and government or health services online
- Search for a job and apply online
Who This Course Is For
- Adult learners building digital confidence at their own pace
- Tutoring and classroom programs — every lesson includes paired and group options
- Tutors and teachers looking for a ready-made, sequenced digital-literacy syllabus
💡 You belong here
If technology has ever made you feel left behind, that says nothing about your ability — these tools are genuinely confusing at first, and they change constantly. All you need is a device to practice on (your own, a friend's, or a free one at the public library) and a willingness to take one step at a time.
📖 The 12 Lessons
Work through the lessons in order — each one builds on the last.
Module 1 · Digital Basics
Get comfortable with the device, get online, and learn to stay safe.
Module 2 · Communicating Digitally
Reach people the ways modern life expects — email, messaging, and video calls.
Module 3 · Digital Life Admin
Handle the paperwork of modern life online — accounts, money, and services.
Module 4 · Everyday Life Skills
Find what you need, find work, and pull your digital life together.
🗺️ Where This Fits
Digital & Life Skills is one course in a growing Adult Basic Education program. Here's where it sits alongside the others:
| Course | Focus | You can… |
|---|---|---|
| Reading & Writing | Foundational literacy | Read everyday texts, write sentences & paragraphs, handle forms |
| Math & Numeracy | Everyday math | Handle money, measurement, time, and basic calculation |
| Digital & Life Skills | Modern basics | Use a phone, email, and online forms with confidence |
| GED / HSE Prep | High-school equivalency | Prepare for the high-school-equivalency exam |
| Workforce Readiness | Getting & keeping a job | Find work, apply, interview, and succeed on the job |
| Financial Literacy | Managing your money | Budget, bank, save, handle credit & debt, avoid scams |
| Civics & Citizenship | Civic life & the path to citizenship | Understand U.S. government & rights, navigate your community, prepare for naturalization |
| Career Exploration & Pathways | Choosing & planning a career | Explore careers, research the job market, and plan an education-to-career path |
| CDL Pathway Bridge (IET) | Reading & math for trucking | Build the skills to succeed in CDL training and a driving/logistics career |
| Healthcare / CNA Bridge (IET) | Reading & math for caregiving | Build the skills to succeed in CNA training and a healthcare career |
| Manufacturing & Trades Bridge (IET) | Reading & shop math for the trades | Build the skills to succeed in trades training/apprenticeships and a career |
| Workforce Digital Skills | Job-ready digital skills | Use office software, email, spreadsheets, video meetings & online applications |
| Health Literacy | Understanding & using health information | Read labels & forms, navigate care & insurance, and talk with your doctor |
| College & Career Transition | Reading & study skills for the next step | Read & study at a college level and transition to postsecondary study |
New to reading, writing, or math too? The ABE Reading & Writing and Math & Numeracy courses pair well with this one.
🧭 How to Study This Course
- One lesson at a time, in order. Don't rush. It's a marathon, not a sprint.
- Practice on a real device. Every lesson has hands-on steps; doing them for real is where it sticks.
- It's safe to explore. Tapping around to see what happens is how everyone learns — you won't break it.
- Keep the journal. Five minutes of reflection after each lesson doubles what you remember.
- Ask for help. Libraries and adult-education centers have people and free devices. Using them is smart, not weak.
🧠 A word before you begin
If technology has left you feeling behind, that's okay — it moves fast and it's confusing on purpose. You are not behind, and you are not "too old for this." Add the word yet to your doubts: "I can't do this yet." Let's begin. 🌱