Unraveling the attributions of digital literacy skills and knowledge gap in Ghana’s higher education: Undergraduate students voices in a phenomenological study

Abstract

Any undergraduate student lacking the knowledge and skills for digital technology will find it challenging to succeed academically and thrive in the 21st -century higher education setting. This study employed a novel conceptual framework built from ecological theory to investigate the attributions of the knowledge and skill gap in digital literacy among Ghanaian undergraduate students. A phenomenological qualitative design with a purposive sampling technique was implemented to collect data from 16 undergraduates in a large public university in Ghana in a four-months period. The findings show several factors responsible for students’ digital literacy knowledge and skills gap. Undergraduates have ascribed these reasons to various macro and micro factors. The students attributed their skills gap to personal, parental, institutional, and government factors, pointing to the need for concerted action from national and international policymakers and educators alike. This paper argues that university lecturers, administrators, the Ministry of Education, and policymakers in Ghana should collaboratively redesign comprehensive, persuasive, and integrated digital literacy approaches to benefit undergraduate students at all levels.