Computer-based functional literacy: how digital literacy projects can transform the third-world workforce

Abstract

Because of the cost-benefit of computer-based training (CBT), large multinational corporations now have the ability to train workers all over the world. Programs such as Tata Consultancy Services' computer-based functional literacy (CBFL) show that CBT is also an appropriate method for teaching literacy. In developing countries where American corporations are seeking to hire native workers, the governments and these corporations should combine their efforts to use CBT both to impart literacy -where needed - and to train the workforce. Technical writers can use CBFL concepts to make manuals or CBT more accessible to people in cultures where literacy does not predominate.