First-year higher education students’ acquisition of digital content creation literacies in discipline-specific settings

Mayisela, Thabisa

First-year higher education students’ acquisition of digital content creation literacies in discipline-specific settings

Doctoral Thesis

2019

Abstract

Digital knowledge production involves the processing and presentation of digital information and content through the implementation of digital literacy practices in technical, cognitive and social-emotional dimensions. As such, this thesis addresses the question: How and why do first-year higher education students acquire digital content creation literacies in a discipline-specific setting? Firstly, this thesis contributes to the conceptualisation of digital literacy as a social practice through theorizing the complex and evolving nature of digital literacy practices in disciplinary-specific contexts in higher education. Secondly, the thesis develops a theoretical explanation to how higher education students acquire digital content creation literacies within their discipline-specific settings. Drawing on the New Literacies Studies’ theoretical approach, first-year students’ digital literacy practices, in particular content creation literacies, are explored in relation to sociocultural factors, and enablers and contradictions influencing their practices in disciplinespecific settings. Additionally, Gee’s (2008) principles of literacy and Discourse acquisition inform the analysis of student acquisition of digital literacy practices. An adaptation of Ng’s (2015) digital literacy framework is applied as an analytical tool for categorising students’ digital literacy practices and is further complemented by Engeström's (2001) second generation Activity theory framework when analysing the students’ digital literacy practices involved in assignment writing (the digital literacy event). Using a case study design with a mixed methods approach, quantitative (a questionnaire) and qualitative (focus groups, interviews and student assignments) data is obtained from a total of 103 and 27 students respectively. A key finding of this thesis is that discipline-specific learning and assessment activities (LAAs) instantiate individual and collaborative digital content creation and also drive the desire for students’ acquisition of digital literacies for content creation. However, there are some ‘actual processes’ (Maxwell, 2012) that are not directly perceptible, such as student experience in using Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), age, volition, gender, course culture, historicity of practice and student histories of learning with ICT that influence student digital content creation practices. By the same token, this thesis highlights the importance of students owning or having technology access at university as lack of access is a constraining factor for their engagement in their LAAs. The main contribution of this thesis is the finding that, when LAAs, which foster the acquisition of digital content-creation literacies are part of the curriculum, students can acquire the respective literacies through self-teaching, scaffolding from peers or senior students, trial and error, and engaging in practice within their disciplines, implying that there is no need for overt instruction as is the case of digital skills training isolated from the context of practice. The implication of this finding is that universities need to annually review firstyear students’ prior digital literacy skills and practices to inform the responsive adaptation of the LAAs. Additionally, universities require a deliberate strategy for collaboration between their academics, library staff, writing centre staff and professional development units on the integration of digital literacies for learning into the curriculum.

Keywords

Education

Reference:

Collections

PhD / Doctoral

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