The reasons first year students at online universities Struggle to Achieve Proficiency in Digital Literacy Skills Despite the Availability of Instructional Support programs.

COMMITTEE MATCHING FORM Student Name: Student ID: Student Specialization: Doctoral Study Option: EdD Dissertation Approach to the Study: Qualitative Methods Working Title Title of Study: Barriers to Digital Literacy Skill Development in First-Year Online University Students Problem Statement The problem that will be addressed through this study is that first-year students at online universities often fail to develop digital literacy proficiency despite the presence of institutional instructional support programs. Evidence of the Problem Evidence 1: Budiman and Syafrony (2023) carried out a quantitative research that included 319 first-year students enrolled in online English writing programs in a distance university in Indonesia. Even though most students were taking up orientation programs, designed to introduce them to digital tools, their digital literacy scores, in general, including the sense of data literacy and data creation, were low. These deficiencies had a direct impact on their participation in online learning processes, such as utilizing discussion forums and turning in assignments. The authors discovered that merely basic exposure to platforms was not sufficient for the acquisition of operational digital literacy, and they suggested a more focused and skill-centered intervention. Evidence 2: In a study by Öncül (2020), the digital literacy of first-year university students in Turkey was examined with the help of a three-part diagnostic test, which included a self-report survey, ...