Digital Literacy Online Learning under COVID-19 Lockdown

Abstract

The 2020 pandemic outbreak changed the lives of people globally in different ways: psychological, social, economic and educational. New terms have entered the use of daily language: social distancing, self-quarantine, the digital divide, etc. In the field of education, the outbreak of COVID19 forced schools worldwide to close, parents to work at home, and students to attend virtual classes. We now talk of online teaching, distance learning, hybrid learning, and remote learning transition. This paper aims at studying whether these changes mark digital literacy via studying Lebanese high-school students’ perception of online learning under COVID-19 lockdown. A questionnaire of 10 items aiming to identify the students’ educational psychological, social and emotional reactions to the online experience was distributed to EFL Lebanese high-school students in different areas in Lebanon. One hundred and twenty four students reacted to the questionnaire. Fifteen of these were interviewed to share an open-ended discussion on the second academic year of online learning. Based on the findings, the conclusion was made on whether we are living in the age of digital literacy.