story by Claire Miller | photo by David Hoffman
Cherie Wheatley was working at the University of the Virgin Islands when the COVID-19 pandemic began.
As the university shifted to online learning, Wheatley reached out to family members about using Zoom to stay connected – particularly for her 101-year-old grandmother, who she visited every Sunday until the pandemic hit.
“They were willing to learn the technology, but it was hard at first. They didn’t know how to log in or unmute themselves,” she explained. “It was tough, but they learned.”
This experience inspired a research project focused on the baby-boomer generation and how they adapted to using digital technologies during the height of COVID-19.
Like her family members, the individuals in her study learned to use programs like Teams and Zoom to connect with family members and virtually attend church. Eighty-two percent adopted online banking practices after in-person banking wasn’t available anymore.
“Grandchildren became a source of teaching and advising,” Wheatley added. “Baby boomers went from technology being frustrating to a tool for empowerment and social connection.”
Wheatley was one of several presenters at the Adult Literacy Research Center’s 2025 Conference, which took place on Oct. 20 and focused on the theme, “Enhancing General and Health Literacy in the Age of Misinformation.”
Donald Hamelberg, Georgia State's vice president for research and economic development, gave opening remarks at the conference, which featured multiple oral and poster presentations from faculty and students at Georgia State University, The Ohio State University, the University of Pittsburgh, North Carolina State University and the University of the Virgin Islands.
Attendees and presenters came from various disciplines at Georgia State – including learning sciences, middle and secondary education, public health, nursing, psychology and law – as well as different settings, such as the Georgia Office of Adult Education and the Georgia Department of Education. Their topics ranged from reading comprehension instruction for adult learners and patient-health provider communication to interpreters’ experiences in emergency rooms and using artificial intelligence to learn more about diabetes diagnoses.
Gal Kaldes, a postdoctoral researcher in the Adult Literacy Research Center (ALRC), gave a poster presentation on her work investigating how standardized reading assessments might be biased for adults in adult literacy programs, and how they perform differently on these tests compared to children.
“I hope that my work can influence change in how we test the reading skills of adult literacy learners and that they can have better opportunities as a result,” she said. “We need to showcase their strengths instead of always focusing on their weaknesses.”
The conference’s interdisciplinary nature is a reminder of the ways adult literacy can have an impact on several areas of a person’s life.
Regents’ Professor and ALRC Director Daphne Greenberg hopes the conference inspires people from different research areas to continue finding ways to work together.
“This conference brings to the forefront the critical importance of studying adult literacy and the prevalence of low adult literacy rates,” she said. “It’s important to bring interdisciplinary researchers together and get a new generation of people interested in doing this work.”