Normalisation in Flux: Teachers' and Learners' Digital Literacy in the Japanese University Context

Although subsequent research suggests a more nuanced reality, Prensky's (2001) concept of the digital native remains a compelling and influential metaphor, continuing to shape thinking in education and beyond. This paper addresses self-reported digital literacy of 54 teachers and 477 learners in Japanese tertiary education. An online survey was administered to measure how often both groups use particular types of tools and perform certain tasks, and how comfortable they feel using technology. For initial analysis, some items were grouped into constructs labeled work, creative, and social. The researchers found that teachers appear to be both more comfortable and more frequent users of technology. This is particularly apparent with "work" applications. According to the data, students report lower levels of comfort even for those tools which they use as frequently as teachers. In this paper, the authors speculate on why this might be and discuss implications for classroom practice. [For the complete volume, see ED578177.]