Digital literacy among junior and high school students in crisis times

Abstract

In March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic required schools around the world to transition to online learning. This sudden change forced students who never experienced online learning to study a full curriculum with this method and rely on unfamiliar technology. The study uses the context of online learning during the pandemic as a case study to explore the implications of crisis times (e.g. natural disasters, environmental or public health crises) for digital literacy (DL) among students. Findings reveal that parental support was a crucial factor during a pandemic crisis. The more parental support students receive, the higher their digital literacy, their self-efficacy, their attitude toward technology, and their perceived achievements. Previous findings indicated that during routine students with high digital literacy reported positive attitudes toward using technology in education, compared to those with low digital literacy. However, our findings found that students with more positive attitudes toward technology reported higher digital literacy.