Connecting digital literacy in higher education to the 21st century workforce

Abstract

The remarkable advancements in technology have affected the way people engage, work, and learn. Digital literacy, also known as virtual learning, has the potential to improve lifelong learning. Workplace skills evolve at such a rapid pace that no school system can keep up with the continual need to alter how we work and live. Most crucially, our society's profound changes require young people to acquire new abilities. Malaysia has a long-term vision that calls for sustainable and productivity-driven growth that can only be accomplished with digitally literate employees. Although to some extent Malaysia education system has been initiating, there is very limited research that focuses on what drives digital literacy. There is no proper framework or guidelines that can be used as a blueprint to prepare the young graduates in the 21st-century workforce. The purpose of the study is to examine the drivers of digital literacy that can be taught in higher institutions and apply in today's digital workplace. This research focused on young adults as a unit of analysis and a quantitative method was used to collect the data. A total of 300 young individuals responded through self-administered questionnaires. The finding of the research showed that critical skills, operational skills, visual learning style, collaborative learning style and learning system enhance digital literacy. Finding further recommend that digital literacy improve both academic performance and employability. From this research, solutions can be proposed to both academicians and employers in achieving the digital literate graduates for the 21st-century workforce.