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A considerable body of research has demonstrated the pivotal roles played in digital reading by self-regulated learning (SRL) and affective learning. Yet, whether teacher support facilitates SRL and affective learning has hitherto remained unclear. This cross-cultural study adopted multilevel latent profile analysis (LPA) to establish latent profiles of adolescents' SRL and positive affect, explored how such profiles were differentially correlated to digital-reading performance, and examined how perceived teacher support predicted profile memberships, at both student and school levels. Using data collected from 34,000 students nested in 1,100 schools from three Asian and three Western educational systems by the Programme for International Student Assessment 2018, single-level LPA revealed three or four student profiles, in associations with disparate digital reading. While self-regulatory strategies were decisive in profile assignment, emotions did not vary significantly across profiles or predict performance. The least self-regulated learners often fell into a vicious circle of poor emotional well-being and low performance, but highly self-regulated and capable digital readers did not necessarily report the most positive emotions. Multilevel LPA identified two or three school profiles based on relative frequency of student profiles, in relations to different school-mean digital reading. Students' perceived teacher support significantly predicted student-profile memberships; greater support increased likelihoods of being stronger self-regulated learners. But such support did not predict school-profile memberships. East-West cultural variations existed in all the influential patterns. • Culturally-mixed three or four profiles of learners were detected; • Self-regulated learning was decisive in profile assignment; • East Asian students had high levels of reading enjoyment but low self-concept; • Highly self-regulated and capable digital readers often were not the happiest; • Increased emotional support exacerbated digital reading disparities in the West. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We identify three conceptions of digital literacy development populating the literature: digital natives, skill-based, and sociocultural perspectives. We adopt a qualitative approach to examine pre-service teachers' beliefs about digital literacy development as aligned with each of these three perspectives. While pre-service teachers were most commonly found to hold skill-based perspectives on digital literacy development, digital natives aligned and sociocultural perspectives were also well-represented. We further identify perspectives on digital literacy development uniquely appearing in students' responses. These include pre-service teachers' conception of digital literacy development as autonomously developed, technology driven, or project based. We further examine the contexts within which pre-service teachers situate digital literacy as emerging; these include both formal and informal settings. The article concludes with a discussion of implications for instruction. • Pre-service teachers' beliefs about digital literacy development are investigated in reference to the extant literature. • Pre-service teachers' beliefs reflected digital natives, skill-based, and sociocultural perspectives. • Additional conceptions of digital literacy development were identified (e.g., technology driven). • The contexts within pre-service teachers situate their digital literacy development were further examined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent technological advancements have changed how literacy is perceived, and it is no longer confined to the interaction with print text. The evolving definition of literacy has been reflected in the increasing number of teachers who are incorporating technology into their reading instruction. However, less is known about the extent to which these technology-integrated instructional practices are supported by reading theories. The purpose of this study is to systematically review how technology has been implemented in reading instruction and to explore how transitions of instructional practice from traditional classrooms to digital settings have been grounded in reading theories. The present study reviewed articles published over the past twelve years in flagship practitioner journals to examine the connections and the gaps between theory and practice. Our review uncovered that technology has served in reading instruction primarily in three ways: 1) to increase reading motivation, 2) to present information in multi-modalities, and 3) to promote collaborative learning. Consistent with other domains of reading instruction, social theories were found to be the prominent theoretical bases supporting technology-integrated practices; dual-coding theory has also emerged in recent years as the theoretical basis for technology use in reading instruction. However, most of the theories were rarely referred explicitly. Implications for researchers and practitioners were provided based on the gaps between theory and practice revealed in the current review. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study is to identify factors that influence teachers' levels of digital citizenship, defined in terms of individuals' thinking, skills, and behaviors with regard to Internet use. Variables included: (1) teachers' individual backgrounds (age, gender, years of work experience, years of teaching experience, subject, and teaching level); (2) Internet use (where to obtain information, the main purpose of using the Internet, and use of SNSs for teaching); and (3) psychological characteristics (Internet self-efficacy and Internet anxiety). The study unfolded in four phases. First, an in-depth literature view identified a need to study classroom teachers' perception of themselves as digital citizens in relation to use of the Internet. Next, 348 in-service classroom teachers were recruited from high need, hard to staff U.S. school district and completed a validated survey. Then, descriptive, correlation, and multiple regression analyses revealed three findings: (1) teachers demonstrated relatively lower levels of two Digital Citizenship sub-factors, Internet Political Activism and Critical Perspective ; (2) there was a strong relation between Internet self-efficacy and Digital Citizenship; and (3) three variables (years of work experience, use of SNSs for teaching, and Internet self-efficacy) significantly influenced teachers’ perceptions of digital citizenship. Last, this study offers recommendations to equip educators with knowledge, skills, and behaviors as digital citizens in the current digital and global age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study presented in this paper consisted in defining a Teaching in a Digital Environment (TIDE) capacity construct and developing a performance-based test to measure Chilean teachers' ability to teach students how to solve information and communication tasks in a digital environment. The test was applied to a sample of 828 in-service teachers in Chile, together with a characterization questionnaire. Results showed that very few Chilean teachers mastered all the tasks and that only one third were able to provide students with orientations in solving information and communication tasks, revealing that the majority are not playing a mediation role in a digital environment. In relation to explaining variables, science and younger teachers with more years of teaching experience performed better in the test. Nevertheless the low explanation provided by the variables included suggests that variables that have previously accounted for teachers ICT integration are not as good in predicting TIDE capacity. This shows the relevance of developing mixed methods research that together with quantitative data provides qualitative data to help explain this capacity in greater depth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study constructs a science teaching belief system to examine pre-service science teachers' scientific epistemological beliefs (SEBs) and conceptions of teaching and learning (COTL). The aim of the study was to investigate the structural relations among pre-service science teachers' SEBs, COTL and digital literacy skills and to determine the reasons for these relations. First, quantitative research was conducted to examine the structural relations among the variables, using structural equation modeling analysis on the data gathered from 979 pre-service science teachers. Next, qualitative research investigated the reasons for these relations. Thus, the study has a sequential explanatory research design. The findings of the study showed that pre-service science teachers' SEBs affected their constructivist conceptions positively. On the other hand, their SEBs were related to their traditional conceptions negatively. In addition, pre-service teachers' COTL contribute more positively to their digital literacy skills if they hold constructivist conceptions. The previous experiences of pre-service science teachers were also found to affect their beliefs and digital literacy skills. The findings contribute to the educational literature by focusing on the relationships among pre-service science teachers' SEBs, COLT and digital literacy, which is one of the most important 21st century skills, in the context of pre-service science teachers' belief systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Technology integration in school is an increasingly important equity issue, but little is known about how technology is used for teaching the 7 million K-12 special education students in the US (NCES, 2019). Though special education is often overlooked in technology integration research, what does exist suggests that technology use in schools often exacerbates opportunity gaps for students with disabilities (Ciampa, 2017; Dolan, 2016; Shaheen & Watulak, 2019). The rapid shift to remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic offers an opportunity to better explore enablers and barriers to technology-enabled learning for special education (SPED) because of the widespread reliance on technology for teaching and learning. Using in-depth interviews (N = 20) with special educators during remote learning, the present study seeks to (1) describe important enablers and barriers for SPED teacher use of technology in K-12 before and during remote learning, (2) understand how structural, teacher, and student-level factors influence SPED teachers' opportunities for teaching with technology, and (3) highlight emerging problems for SPED populations in technology-enabled learning. Results suggest that the most prominent enablers and barriers for technology use in special education are structural (e.g., decision-making around teacher training and technology resources, structures for student digital literacy training), but manifest at the teacher and student levels. SPED teachers described significant barriers to providing accessible technology-enabled instruction, largely due to school-based structures for resource allocation, student digital literacy training, teacher training, decision-making for technology, SPED job roles, and home-school communication. Recommendations are made for providing high-quality digital learning for all students, especially students with diverse learning needs. • Special education technology integration is limited by district and school structures. • SPED students lacked access to devices, internet, software and digital literacy skills. • SPED teachers need more technology training and time to use technology. • Special education is often left out of school decision making about technology. • Home-school communication practices should be inclusive of language and device access. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this research is to examine elementary and middle school teachers' readiness as online learners on the basis of the Teacher Readiness for Online Learning Measure (TROLM). This paper draws on three years (spring 2012–spring 2014) of data from an online course on Internet literacy and ethics for practicing teachers. Two sets of samples (128 and 248 teachers) facilitated this study's exploration and confirmation of the TROLM model's constructs. Results of exploratory and confirmatory factory analysis support an 18-item scale comprising four factors: communication self-efficacy, institutional support, self-directed learning, and learning-transfer self-efficacy. This study found that male teachers exhibited statistically significantly greater readiness in the dimension of learning-transfer self-efficacy than did female teachers. Teachers with a master's degree assigned a heavier weight to the dimensions of communication self-efficacy and learning-transfer self-efficacy than did teachers with a bachelor's degree. This study made two additional findings: the fewer teaching years a teacher had, the higher the teacher's communication self-efficacy tended to be; and the more teaching years a teacher had, the higher the teacher's self-directed learning tended to be. Suggestions for further research are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the diffusion of easy-to-use Web 2.0 tools, such as podcasts, blogs and wikis, e-learning has become a popular mechanism for individual training. While individuals use these tools in the hope that their training will improve their performance, this relationship is not a given. This paper proposes that an individual's level of digital literacy affects her performance through its impact on her performance and effort expectations. To explain the influence of digital literacy on the intention of individuals to continue using e-learning and their performance, we integrate the concept of digital literacy with the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) and test our model using survey data from New Zealand accountants working in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The results indicate that these relationships were significant: digital literacy on users' performance and effort expectations, performance expectations on users' intentions to continue using Web 2.0 tools, and continuance intention on performance. These findings suggest that individual digital literacy facilitates the use of e-learning, and should be considered when examining the impact of the latter on performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides evidence that helps understand the digital divide in education. It does so by comparing the effect of economic, social and cultural status (ESCS) on the digital skills of Chilean students compared with mathematics and language. This comparison is made using national standardized tests. The marginal effect of a group of variables measuring student ESCS was compared both as a whole and separately using multivariate linear regression analysis. The results show that the marginal effect of ESCS as a whole on students' digital skills was equal to the effect on mathematics and greater than the effect on language. Furthermore, the results show that the parents' level of education was the most relevant factor of ESCS for explaining student performance on the digital test, more so than for mathematics and language. These findings challenge the belief that the Internet would reduce economic, social and cultural inequalities in new generations. Instead, they reveal that the gap among Chilean students tends to perpetuate or widen when comparing performance in mathematics and language with performance in the digital domain. At the same time, by comparing national test results, this paper offers empirical evidence for the existence of a second digital divide in the field of education, a concept which is widely discussed at a theoretical level but with little empirical support to date. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social media platforms such as Facebook enable adolescents to collaborate on academic activities, but this kind of participation may require a set of higher-order Internet skills. This study explores the factors that predict informal academic collaboration on Facebook, such as seeking help, discussing schoolwork, and finding class-related resources. Based on survey data collected from high school students ( N = 690), we found that academic performance, perceived support from ‘actual’ Facebook friends, higher order Internet skills (especially information seeking skills), and instrumental support from Facebook friends predicted academic collaboration on Facebook. In light of these findings, theoretical and practical implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Educators in the 21st century increasingly argue for the importance of information and communication technology (ICT) literacy and ask how it can be acquired formally and informally for students' effective participation in this highly technology-dependent society. There are, however, insufficient empirical measures to assess students' ICT literacy. In this study, a three-factor, 17-item perceived ICT literacy scale (3F-PICTLS) assessing information literacy (information), internet literacy (communication), and computer literacy (technology) was developed and validated using a stratified random sample of 826 junior secondary school students from 36 schools in Hong Kong. Results indicated that the scale demonstrated good reliability and validity. We discussed the pedagogical and educational contributions of the scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The growing prominence of the Internet, and other digital environments, as educational tools requires research regarding learners' digital literacy. We argue that two critical aspects of digital literacy are the ability to effectively plan and monitor the efficacy of strategies used to search and manage the wealth of information available online, and the knowledge to appropriately vet and integrate those information sources. Therefore, digital literacy requires effective self-regulated learning (SRL) skills, and availing epistemic cognition (EC). Although numerous researchers and scholars have examined the role of SRL in online learning (e.g., Efklides, 2011; Lee & Tsai, 2010; Williams & Hellman, 2004; Winters, Greene, & Costich, 2008), there is a need for additional empirical research on how SRL and EC interact, and relate to learning in digital environments. In this study, we used a powerful, but little-used data collection methodology, think-aloud protocol (TAP) analysis, to investigate the relations among SRL, EC, and learning gains with 20 college students who studied vitamins on the Internet. We also contributed to the literature by exploring alternative techniques for preparing, analyzing, and representing these data, accounting for the strengths and challenges of TAPs. We found that, on average, participants did increase their understanding as a result of learning with the Internet, and that a data-driven approach to understanding relations among SRL, EC, and learning yielded the most powerful representation of these phenomena. Our study has implications for future research on digital literacy using TAPs, as well as the relative contribution of SRL and EC, as aspects of digital literacy, to online learning. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper examined the effects of a blogging centered curriculum on the development of Internet self-efficacy of students taking a general education class. The class used a hybrid model (in class and online) that both integrated and strongly encouraged blogging on a community style, open source blog. The curriculum was designed to both create a more distributed educational structure and to develop greater autonomy and participation in student activity. It was hypothesized that as students engaged in increasingly complex Internet activities they would develop greater strength in Internet self-efficacy in organization and differentiation of information and reaction to and generation of information. 367 undergraduate students participated in the current study. A pre-, post-test format was used to measure whether there were significant changes in strength of Internet self-efficacy, with the inclusion of a control group of a more traditionally-structured class. The results showed that a blogcentric course has impacts on the increases in students' Internet self-efficacy, particularly for reactive/generative self-efficacy. The findings are discussed in light of potential implications on the future direction of education. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In this study, the information and strategic Internet skills of Dutch secondary students were measured in a performance test. Participating students were asked to complete assignments on the Internet. The findings reveal that the levels of both information and strategic Internet skills have much room for improvement. Of the variables that influenced these skills, the level of education was most important, whereas the years of Internet experience and the number of hours spent online weekly did not have any effect. Among the most important specific information and skills related to problems the secondary students experienced were defining proper search queries, evaluating the information found, maintaining focus, or taking the appropriate steps to reach the final goal. Overall, the secondary students' performance calls into question whether they possess a sufficient level of information and strategic skills for using the Internet for homework or school projects. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In recent years, there has been much debate about the concept of digital natives, in particular the differences between the digital natives'' knowledge and adoption of digital technologies in informal versus formal educational contexts. This paper investigates the knowledge about educational technologies of a group of undergraduate students studying the course Introduction to eLearning at a university in Australia and how they adopt unfamiliar technologies into their learning. The study explores the ''digital nativeness'' of these students by investigating their degree of digital literacy and the ease with which they learn to make use of unfamiliar technologies. The findings show that the undergraduates were generally able to use unfamiliar technologies easily in their learning to create useful artefacts. They need, however to be made aware of what constitutes educational technologies and be provided with the opportunity to use them for meaningful purposes. The self-perception measures of the study indicated that digital natives can be taught digital literacy. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Today''s students are often portrayed in the literature as enthusiastic and wholehearted users of the Internet for school purposes, in contrast with today''s schools, in which the situation is of high ICT access and low use. Via interviews with 25 post-primary students, this study examined student attitudes toward using the Internet for school purposes, revealing the reasoning behind patterns of after school ICT use and underlying perceptions of learning, the teacher''s role and the desired role of ICT in schooling. Students were revealed to be ambivalent: they considered the Internet to be easy to use, reducing workload and “fun”, but at the same time “unreliable”, not “serious” enough, and not containing what they “need to know”. Thus, they primarily used it for “unimportant” assignments such as routine homework. Students described their learning goal as getting required “material” into their heads and saw the teachers as an (almost) exclusive authority regarding this required body of information, in line with schooling''s information-focused agenda and teacher-centered practices. They were also less than enthusiastic about the integration of ICT into their curriculum. Although there is no apparent disconnect between school and students, it is argued that school should change in order to capitalize on the affordances of ICT and to better prepare students for life in the knowledge age. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In investigating how to best support the learning of digital competences at school, it is paramount to take into account the concrete reality (cultural, technological, and institutional) that teachers face in their daily struggle to prepare students for the information society. Hence case studies are needed to inform us on the complex relationship between educational aims, technological tools and contextual features in fostering digital literacy. This contribution describes a project ran in a class of an Italian lower secondary school during a course on digital literacy. The project, realized in collaboration with the local children’s library, consisted in the digitization of a text written in late XIX century. The results highlight various educational outcome of the activity. These include both technological progresses, such as improvement of students’ digital competences and refinement of their skills in the use of a word processor, but also cultural and civic benefits, related to opportunities for reflection on the evolution of language and culture, and the sharing of the final product with a large community. The roots of this success are analyzed, in order to suggest general criteria for using digitization activities as an effective method in digital literacy education. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Learning often involves complex cognitive and motorical processes, and while most learners cope adequately with these challenges there are always some that struggle. When new kinds of knowledge are introduced there is a possibility that some learners will find this new knowledge hard to acquire, and thus manifest a dysfunction. Today the new knowledge can be found within the digital domain. Some learners need more time and more efforts to master the different aspects of digital literacy, some of these even need special attention from friends, teachers or others. Is it possible that this group of learners is experiencing some kind of dysfunctions? It is likely to think so, there are a variety of different learning dysfunctions related to many learning domains, and when a new domain is established it would not come as a surprise that a new form of dysfunction is discovered. This article seeks to answer the question: “Do digital dysfunctions exist?” The answer is given as indicators more than as solid proof. In this study a group of 144 pupils is reduced through a triangulation of qualitative and quantitative methods, and ends up with three cases where there are obvious lacks of digital literacy without any obvious reason. The study also deals with definitions on “digital literacy”, and tries to point out what construct the term “digital literacy” in the study material. This construct is then used for measuring digital literacy. The key findings of the study are: Firstly, indications of digital dysfunctions are found within the sample we studied. Secondly, it strengthens the assumption that digital literacy may be independent of other basic literacies from school subjects like mathematics, reading, writing, and esthetic topics. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Gender and age differences in the effects of e-learning, including students’ satisfaction and Internet self-efficacy, have been supported in prior research. What is less understood is how these differences are shaped, especially for higher aged adults. This article examines the utility of family support (tangible and emotional) and Internet self-efficacy (general and communication) in predicting middle aged (aged 50–64) and older adults’ (over the age of 65) perceived effects of e-learning. A total of 290 adult participants aged over 50 who were registered in community college and senior learning center courses completed the measure of perceived family support, Internet self-efficacy and the effects of e-learning. By using structural equation modeling (SEM) and model invariance analysis, the results indicate that emotional family support plays a main role in predicting the effects of e-learning, mediated by general and communication Internet self-efficacy. Emotional family support has both direct and indirect influences on adults’ perceived effects of e-learning. Tangible support significantly predicts adults’ perceived effects of e-learning, mediated by Internet self-efficacy. Compared to male adult learners, female adults rely more on tangible family support for increasing their Internet self-efficacy. Similar patterns were presented by older participants. The similarities between women and older adults imply that the gender issue is not specifically related to sex itself, but relates to the complexity of the social context of these disadvantaged learners. The findings provide researchers, adult education practitioners and e-learning program planners with a direction towards understanding e-learning for middle and older aged adults. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The present study intends to explore the role of collectivism and group potency at group level in predicting individual Internet self-efficacy (ISE) and individual e-learning outcomes for people aged over 45. Group learning has been widely discussed in the research into online formats. However, less study has been carried out about how collectivism and collective group potency affect individual learning decisions, especially using the technique of Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM) for cross-level analysis, which provides the solution of case dependency between group members. This study examines the mediation effects of ISE between peer support and e-learning outcomes. It also explores the contextual effects of group potency, and the moderation effects of collectivism and group potency at an individual level. The results show that ISE fully mediates the relationship between peer support and learners’ persistence in e-learning, and partially mediates learners’ perceived learning and satisfaction. It is noteworthy that the findings do not support direct group-level contextual effects of group potency. Instead, the results suggest that group potency moderates ISE-perceived learning and ISE-satisfaction relationships. On the other hand, collectivism also moderates the relationship between peer support and ISE. This study highlights the group-level effects of group potency, and suggests that adult educators design and deliver e-learning courses with an emphasis on facilitating group processes. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper investigated the gender differences in junior high school students’ Internet self-efficacy and their use of the Internet. A total of 1080 eighth graders were randomly selected from all junior high school students in Taiwan. The Internet Self-Efficacy Scale (ISES) was developed and used to examine students’ Internet self-efficacy in two dimensions: online exploration (explorative ISE) and online communication (communicative ISE). A survey including the ISES instrument was administered to all the subjects and finally 936 valid questionnaires (from 466 males and 470 females) were returned for data analyses. No significant gender difference was found in students’ total ISE and explorative ISE; however, a significant gender difference was found in students’communicative ISE. Surprisingly, the girls had significant higher communicative ISE than had the boys. In addition, there was no significant gender difference in students’ Internet using experience and computer ownerships; however, there were significant gender differences in their Internet using purpose and intensity. In spite of the boys showed a significantly higher Internet use intensity than did the girls, the boys were more exploration-oriented Internet users and the girls were more communication-oriented Internet users. And this orientation played a significant role in their Internet self-efficacy. These results suggested that the gender gap may no longer exist in young students’ confidence in using the Internet. However, boys and girls used the Internet for significantly different purposes suggesting that the Internet played different roles for boys and girls in Taiwan. With a large scale examination by using a valid and reliable instrument, this study provided representative results for further related studies. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The Finnish high school system in rural areas is facing challenges because of a decreasing number of the students. This situation places new emphasis on online learning. Online learning offers new possibilities for high schools to provide equal learning opportunities for their students. This paper explores students’ readiness to adapt their studying habits in the networked high schools by outlining their beliefs about online learning. Beliefs are assumed to direct people’s actions, in this case activities concerning studying online. Three hundred second year high school students from Eastern Finland who had not had the experiences of learning online were studied. The findings suggest that students polarize into negative, neutral and positive groups based on their beliefs concerning online learning. Results also indicate that students’ knowledge about the possibilities of online learning is quite superficial. In contrast to theories about collaborative learning practices, students see online learning rather differently. Students with negative and neutral beliefs especially see online learning merely as a static “warehouse” of materials and study-alone learning tasks instead of offering possibilities for collaborative knowledge building. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This study used international student achievement data from the OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2018 to identify the profiles of school digital inclusion (SDI). In digitally inclusive schools, students who live in the digital era benefit from digital technology and a digitally enhanced educational environment without alienation and exclusion. We compiled profiles of SDI by conducting a latent profile analysis on data from 27 countries. Multinomial logistic regression analyses were conducted to examine whether a school's socioeconomic status and type could predict its likelihood of fitting a particular profile across SDI subgroups. Schools were categorized in terms of low-, medium-, and high-level digital inclusion. Socioeconomic status and type of school were significant predictors of profile membership. Based on the results, the practical implications for promoting SDI include digital infrastructure as a prerequisite, teachers' confidence in using digital technology and instructional competence, and the digital skills of teachers and students. • School digital inclusion is a school's capability of ensuring students' educational experiences with digital technologies. • We compiled profiles of school digital inclusion by conducting latent profile analysis using PISA 2018. • Schools were categorized into low-, medium-, and high-level digital inclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital literacy (DL) is an important capacity for students' learning in a rapidly changing world. However, tension exists between the theoretical conceptualizations of DL as a multidimensional construct and empirical studies reporting unidimensional DL scores. Also, little is known about how DL may vary among different age cohorts, and whether and at which age do performance gaps emerge with respect to gender. The focus of this research is to develop a test appropriate for measuring DL performance at different ages and a comprehensive DL assessment framework has been adopted for this purpose. Using data from three age cohorts of students (one from primary schools and two from secondary schools), the dimensionality of DL and performance differences are examined. Comparisons of unidimensional and multidimensional item response models suggest the measured DL to be a unidimensional construct. The results also show that secondary school students obtained higher levels of DL compared to primary school students. A gender gap in DL is found among secondary school students. There is also a need for further research to understand through longitudinal studies the emergence of the gender gap in DL performance. • Digital literacy (DL) has been conceptualized as a multidimensional construct. • A comprehensive DL assessment using the DigComp framework was developed. • Empirically, DL can be conceived of as a general, unidimensional literacy. • Secondary students show better DL performance than primary students. • Gender differences in DL performance exist only among secondary students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Educationalists' and policymakers' curriculum work on digital literacy in England has overlooked the expertise of digital specialists such as information, IT and media professionals. Given the lack of evidence, this article draws on semi-structured interviews with experts in the United Kingdom, enhanced by a diary methodology and a conversational approach to the think aloud method, to explore how they engage with and evaluate online content. In doing so, it addresses what digital literacy entails and how to promote it across the national curriculum for England. It is argued that the ability to evaluate online content involves not only reflections on the nature and origin of information, contextual knowledge and the use of multiple sources, but also functional and critical digital skills and knowledge about the internet and the digital environment. Relatedly, it is argued that the Citizenship and Computing curricula should be revised to promote digital literacy as a cross-curricular subject. • This study explores how digital experts in the UK engage with and evaluate online content. • As a result, it reflects on what digital literacy entails and how to promote it across the national curriculum for England. • Digital literacy relies on reflections on information, contextual knowledge and the use of multiple sources. • In addition, it requires functional and critical digital skills and knowledge. • The Citizenship and Computing curricula should be revised to promote digital literacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]