Digital literacies in higher education

This qualitative research project sets out to examine the real nature of digital literacies for today's undergraduates. These students are often referred to as 'digital natives', spending time text messaging, chatting online, surfing the net and using social networking sites like Facebook. Such activity has lead to claims of a crisis in student literacy, including the suggestion that students are no longer able to engage effectively in traditional academic tasks such as essay writing. The use of the web is also blamed for an inexorable rise in plagiarism. At the same time e-learning now plays a central role in the delivery of the curriculum; for example, students now access web-based course resources, participate in online discussion, download lecture notes and presentations, produce their own visual presentations and keep learning blogs. They also have to complete electronic records of progress and personal development plans.
The research, which will include interviews and observation with students, will take place in three different HE institutions. It will provide an in depth study of undergraduate literacy practices in a digital age, exploring the part that digital texts play for students in and around their studies and the implications of this for learning and knowledge.