“Supporting Their Feeling That They can Actually Achieve Things” A Design to Develop the Digital Literacies of First-year Students

Abstract

In recent years, online learning has become ubiquitous in tertiary and higher education institutions; yet many teachers are not sure how to design more blended approaches to enhance the learning process. This qualitative interdisciplinary research took place in two iterations of a first-semester undergraduate course in the Bachelor of Teaching (ECE) at a tertiary institution in Aotearoa New Zealand. Based on the experience of two teachers and their students, this paper explores online opportunities for a design to support students with developing digital literacies and, in particular, digital information literacy (DIL), for their ePortfolio assessment. The paper outlines the development process to highlight the steps required to meaningfully integrate technology features at course and curriculum levels.

Research instruments included questionnaires and focus groups with students, and interviews, conversations, and reflections with staff. The paper shows that the development process—based on preferred teaching strategies—resulted in an innovative plan to increase practice, reflection, and feedback opportunities, using online tools in the institution’s learning management system. The article identifies opportunities and challenges that will apply in other tertiary and higher education learning situations, including similar national and international contexts where educators can draw on the findings to apply in their own settings.