Exploring 21st Century Digital Literacy Skills among the Prospective Teachers for Holistic Learning

Abstract

The research study presents the status of 21st century digital literacy skills among prospective teachers including media literacy, ICT literacy, and ability to access, assess, and share information. The investigations on the perception levels of digital literacy skills with the demography of prospective teachers, their gender, locality, educational qualification and specialized subject have highlighted. The reflection of prospective teachers on their teacher education curriculum emphasizing the techno-pedagogical integration, technology enabled hands on experiences opportunities and adaptability as per changing educational needs have also explored for holistic learning. Kerala, is being recognized as model state in the country effectively implementing the ICT curriculum for school education. As a sample for data collection, the 860 prospective teachers of five districts of northern part of Kerala have taken. The Multiple sources of data, including a Likert scale and a closed ended questionnaire have used to gather data. The various descriptive and inferential statistical techniques and tests such as independent sample t-test, ANOVA, and percentage analysis have used to calculate and interpret the obtained data. The findings revealed that the prospective teachers have an average level of digital literacy skills. It has also been reported that present curriculum for teacher education does not provide enough opportunity for fostering the digital literacy skills. The findings have also discussed in the light of the relevant literature.