Students’ Classroom Use of Information and Communication Technologies: Implication on their Digital Literacy Skills in Tanzanian Universities

Abstract

The current literature does not adequately account for the best ICT use practices and graduates’ digital literacy skills the Tanzania’s school system embrace. This paper provides some evidence about the academic use of ICT for learning and its implication on the level of digital literacy skills among students at University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) and Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA) in Tanzania. The paper is a product of a typical qualitative study carried out to assess University’s ICT environment for students’ learning. The study used a multistage sampling approach to select a total of 654 students from undergraduate programmes in the selected Universities. Data was collected by using Questionnaires, Documentary review and Focus Group Discussions and analysed by using descriptive, thematic and contents analyses. The findings indicated that, students struggle to use ICTs for learning and their work outputs manifest some weaknesses which suggest a low level of digital literacy skills for learning. The highlights that, unless universities amplify their support for digital literacy skills among students and instructors, the use of ICTs for learning will be a cause of students’ disengagement in learning.