Examining Junior and High School Students' Digital Literacy in Times of Covid-19

EasyChair Preprint 9127

Abstract

Covid-19 pandemic brought a disruption in education that no one could have predicted.  The current research examined junior and high school students' digital literacy (DL) and their Zoom preference in the digital learning platform during the outbreak of the COVID-19 in 2020. The research took place between March 2021 and May 2021 and included 251 Israeli students. Students filled in six online questionnaires: DL, parental support, personality traits (Big 5 Model), self-efficacy, attitude towards technology, Zoom preference and demographic details (age, gender and perceived achievements). Findings revealed that parental support is a critical predicting factor of each of the research variables. The more parental support students received, the higher their DL skills, their self-efficacy, their attitude towards technology, and their perceived achievements were. Finally, parental support also predicted students' preferences for digital learning. The parabolic correlation revealed that students with both high and low DL levels preferred the Zoom platform. Previous studies indicated that high academic success influence students' preference of online learning. Presumably, high academic success is associated with high DL level. This finding supports ours accordingly; students with high DL level preferred the Zoom platform. In addition, other studies found that students with lower academic success tend also to opt for online courses. During routine, this finding may be explained by the convenience of course scheduling and access to course content. However, during Covid-19 crisis we can assume that students with low DL level enjoyed staying behind screens, but not necessarily for learning purposes.

Keyphrases: העדפת הזום, למידה מקוונת, מיומנויות אוריינות דיגיטלית, משבר הקורונה, תמיכה הורית

@booklet{EasyChair:9127,
  author    = {Ayelet Ayalon and Noa Aharony},
  title     = {Examining Junior and High School Students' Digital Literacy in Times of Covid-19},
  howpublished = {EasyChair Preprint 9127},
  year      = {EasyChair, 2022}}