Developing Digital Literacy in Digital Natives: A Quantitative Study of Digital Literacy and Niswonger Online Students

This non-experimental, quantitative study was completed to determine if Tennessee high school students who take an online, asynchronous course better their digital literacy through the environment of online learning. The study focused on the pretest and posttest scores of Niswonger Online students during the spring and summer semesters of 2021. It grouped the high school students by location, high school size, grade level, and courses taken to assess differences in digital literacy. Finally, it evaluated overall student growth in digital literacy scores after completion of an online high school course.Data from a pretest and posttest of Niswonger Online students were used to assess growth in digital literacy scores after completing an online course. There were six Research Questions that guided this study with six significant findings: 1. Students who were excited about taking the online course had significantly higher levels of digital literacy on the pretest. 2. Students from small high schools (fewer than 1200) scored significantly lower on the pretest than students from larger high schools. 3. Students from rural high schools scored significantly lower on the pretest than students from urban or suburban high schools. 4. There was a significant difference in the means (lower) of Sophomore pretest scores in comparison to other grade levels. 5. There was a significant difference between the average growth scores of students in World Languages and Social Studies and World Languages and Career and Technical courses. 6. On average, students who completed the Niswonger Online course scored significantly higher on the posttest than on the pretest. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]