The Effects of College Students’ Digital Literacy on their Acceptance Intention of EduTech in Online Learning Environments: The Mediating Effects of Social Presence

Objectives The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of college students’ digital literacy on their intention to adopt EduTech with the mediating effects of social presence in online learning environments. Methods For this purpose, the online survey using Google Docs was conducted for 107 college students who took online classes with digital devices at two universities A, B in Busan, South Korea. Based on the survey results, this study explored the relationships among digital literacy, social presence and acceptance intention of EduTech of college students’ by conducting hierarchical regression analysis of Baron & Kenny(1986) and the Sobel test(1982) to analyze the data. Results The main findings of this study are as follows: First, in the online learning environments, there was a significant positive correlation among college students’ digital literacy, social presence, and acceptance intention of EduTech. Secondly, in the online learning environments, it was revealed that the influence of college students’ digital literacy on their acceptance intention of EduTech is mediated by their social presence. Conclusions These research findings suggested the need to explore the teaching-learning strategies for enhancing various digital related competencies of college students through the customization of curricular and extracurricular subjects based on individual learners’ level of digital literacy. Also, it is emphasized that it is necessary to develop instructional strategies to facilitate the effective utilization of EduTech. Lastly, the study also proposes future research directions based on the limitations of the research.