EXAMINATION OF DIGITAL LITERACY SKILLS OF UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS ACCORDING TO VARIOUS VARIABLES

. The purpose of this research was aimed to determine the digital literacy skills of undergraduate students studying in different departments of the university according to the variables of gender, type of faculty, and daily internet use. In order to achieve this goal, 388 undergraduate students studying at the Faculty of Education, Faculty of Health Sciences, and Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences at İzmir Democracy University were determined as participants. The “Personal Information Form” prepared by the researchers and the “Digital Literacy Scale (DLS)” developed by Bayrakcı & Narmanlıoğlu (2021) and consisting of six sub-dimensions were used as data collection tools. According to the findings of the research, it was determined that the digital literacy levels of the students were moderate. When examined according to the gender variable, a significant difference was found between female and male students in the sub-dimensions of digital literacy levels. When examined according to the faculty variable, it was determined that there was a significant difference between the sub-dimensions of digital literacy levels, Daily Use, Professional Production, and Privacy and Security. As a result of the research, according to the daily internet usage variable, a significant difference was found between the General Knowledge and Functional Skills sub-dimensions of the digital literacy levels of the students according to the daily internet usage time. It is expected that the results obtained will


INTRODUCTION
At present, the frequency of use of technology and new digital trends has increased, and it continues to increase, and in the century, we live in, new skills are needed to meet today's expectations in daily and business life.Developments transform our lives and cause our skills to be shaped (Furman, 2015).For this reason, the Partnership for 21st Century Skills (P21) competency and skills framework has been prepared by gathering more than one association and company in the USA.When P21 is examined, it is seen that Information, Media & Technology Skills dimension includes a set of functional skills such as information literacy, media literacy, and ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) literacy (Partnership for 21st Century Skills, 2019).The digital literacy skill, which is included in the P21 skills, is expected to follow continuous change without being constant simultaneously with the speed of technology (Law et al., 2018).
Digital literacy has become indispensable for every world's citizen and integrated part of education, health sciences, media, etc. different fields (Benson, & Kolsaker, 2015;McDougall, Readman & Wilkinson, 2018).It is important to have digital literacy skills to find, create, share, and use the right information effectively with different technologies (Hamutoğlu et al., 2017).On the other hand, the widespread use of digital devices has resulted in an increased need for acquiring digital literacy skills.
The concept of digital literacy was first used by Paul Glister.According to Gilster (1997), digital literacy is a special mental skill associated with being able to reason rather than just pressing keys.Eshet-Alkalai (2004) defines digital literacy as "the ability to survive in the digital world".According to Acar (2015), digital literacy is about the safe, legal, and moral use of these technologies, while contributing to the personal development of the individual with these technologies, solving the problem in any context of life, supporting social participation and production, and providing the embodiment of all these.In their research, Bayrakcı and Narmanlıoğlu (2020) define digital literacy as the competence to use digital technologies effectively in social, economic, and cultural areas and to be aware of possible risks.This definition includes the following statements: Social Dimension; e.g.Based on this information, the basic skills that a digitally literate person should acquire are listed below: being able to use a computer at the beginner level and to be able to access it in daily use; to scan, produce and evaluate information with the aim of research and content learning; to protect himself/herself properly against possible phishing and personal rights violations in digital environments; to use and develop technological tools competently to solve problems and create creative ideas for various problems that may arise (Ng, 2012).
Various studies have been carried out with the understanding of the importance of digital literacy both in Turkey and in the world.For example, United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund-UNICEF (2017) emphasized the necessity of digital literacy course education.In Turkey, the Movement to Increase Opportunities and Improve Technology Project was developed in 2012 by the Ministry of National Education regarding the inclusion of technology in the learning-teaching process (Direkçi et al., 2019).At the same time, the "Turkey Competences Framework" was prepared for students, and "Digital Competence" was determined as one of 8 competencies (Ministry of National Education, 2018).At the same time, digital literacy courses started to be taught in pilot universities in 2019 (Council of Higher Education, 2019).On the other hand, various studies have been conducted on the importance of digital literacy.For example, Ahmed and Roche (2021) examined the effect of digital literacy skills on the academic achievement of undergraduate students at a university in the United Arab Emirates.As a result of the research, it was determined that general device ownership and access status had a positive effect on students' digital literacy skills.At the same time, they found that students with high digital literacy contributed to their academic success.In addition, it has been determined that it gives the students the opportunity to meet new tools within the scope of the study and that the students do not hesitate when starting to use these tools.Timur, Timur and Akkoyunlu (2014) found in their study that the digital literacy levels of the participants increased as the time they spent on social networks increased.Göldağ (2021), on the other hand, found that students with high digital literacy skills had positive results as their computer ownership, daily computer use, and digital device usage levels increased.In another study by Lokmic-Tomkins et al. (2022), they focused only on the digital literacy skills of nursing students.The study group consists of nursing undergraduate and graduate students.As a result of the research, it was found that nursing students are frequent internet and social media users.In addition, despite the positive attitudes towards digital technology and the widespread presence of digital technology in students' lives, it has been determined that there are deficiencies in students' confidence in using digital technology and the software necessary for learning.In the study conducted by Morgan et al. (2022), the digital literacy skills of 324 undergraduate students studying in the business department of a university in Western Australia were examined.They concluded that students' cognitive dimensions regarding the use and access of digital information, and their competence in etiquette (copyright, ethics, etc.) were low.On the other hand, it has been determined that the students have a high level of proficiency in the sub-dimensions of professional online behaviour, online communication, and cyber security.The main goals of these projects and studies are for digital individuals who can adapt to the world where digitalization increasing and ensure the development of digital literacy (European Union, 2021; Partnership for 21st Century Skills, 2019).

Purpose and Importance of the Research
The study is important in terms of determining the digital literacy levels of undergraduate students and their deficiencies, if any, and preparing support education and programs according to the results to be obtained.In the literature review, although studies were carried out in the determined faculties, no other study was found that evaluated the three faculties together.The study aimed to examine the digital literacy levels of undergraduate students and these digital literacy levels in terms of gender, type of faculty, and daily internet usage time variables.In this context, answers to the following questions were sought within the scope of the research: • What is the digital literacy level of university students?• Do the participants' digital literacy scores show a statistically significant difference in terms of the "Gender" variable?
• Do the participants' digital literacy scores show a statistically significant difference according to the "Types of Faculty" variable?
• Do the digital literacy scores of the participants show a statistically significant difference according to the "Daily Internet Usage Time" variable?

Research Model
This research was carried out in accordance with the relational research model, which is one of the quantitative research models.The relational research model is based on determining whether there is a relationship between two or more variables or the degree of influence of one change on the other (Karasar, 2006).One of the most important purposes of such studies is to understand important behaviours by revealing the relationships between variables if any (Fraenkel et al., 2012).The reason for using this method in the study is that the relationships between the variables in the research will be examined.

Study Group/ Population-Sample
The study group of the research consists of 388 undergraduate students studying in different departments of Izmir Democracy University Faculty of Education, Faculty of Health Sciences and Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences in the 2021-2022 academic year.The demographic characteristics of undergraduate students included in the study are presented in Table 1.
Table 1.Demographic information of the study group When the demographic characteristics of the undergraduate students in the research group are examined, it is seen that 70.9% (275) of the 388 participants were female and 29.1% (113) were male.44.8% (174) of the participants are education faculty, 29.9% (116) in health sciences, faculty, and 25.3% (98) are economic and administrative sciences faculty students.

Data Collection Tools
In the study, the "Personal Information Form" prepared by the researchers and the "Digital Literacy Scale (DLS)" developed by Bayrakcı and Narmanlıoğlu (2021a) were used as data collection tools.

Personal Information Form
In this form prepared by the researchers, there are questions about the variables of gender, faculty type and daily internet usage time for undergraduate students.

Digital Literacy Scale (DLS)
"Digital Literacy Scale" developed by Bayrakcı & Narmanlıoğlu, (2021a) was used.The related scale was developed as a scale with 29 items and 6 sub-dimensions.It was prepared in the type of a 5-point Likert Scale.[(5) Strongly agree, (4) Agree, (3) Undecided, (2) Disagree, (1) Strongly Disagree].The validity and reliability studies of the scale were conducted as a pilot application to 451 undergraduate students and graduates.The validity and reliability results of the scale were tested and approved by using confirmatory factor analysis with the data obtained from the application to 1287 participants.

Data Analysis
The data of the study were analyzed using the SPSS 28.0 software package for statistical analysis.Arithmetic mean, frequency, percentage, t-test, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used to analyze the data.

RESULTS
The findings of this study, which was conducted to examine the digital literacy levels of undergraduate students, are presented in terms of gender, faculty type and daily internet time variables.
The descriptive analysis table of the undergraduate students' Digital Literacy Scale sub-dimensions is presented in Table 2.
Table 2. Descriptive statistics of Digital Literacy Scale sub-dimension scores When the Digital Literacy Scale sub-dimensions are examined, the Ethics and Responsibility sub-dimension has the highest average, while the lowest average is in the Professional Production sub-dimension.The reason why the lowest average was in the Professional Production sub-dimension could as the lack of faculties with computer or software knowledge among the participants.When the averages of the other sub-dimensions are examined, they are listed as Daily Use, General Knowledge and Functional Skills, Privacy and Security, and Social Dimension.
A t-test was conducted to determine whether there was a significant difference in the digital literacy levels of undergraduate students between male and female students.The findings are presented in Table 3.In table 3, t-test results on the sub-scales of the Digital Literacy Scale according to the gender of the students are seen.As a result of the study, a significant difference was found in the sub-dimension of Ethics and Responsibility in favour of female students.On the other hand, a significant difference was found in the sub-dimension of Daily Use, General Knowledge and Functional Skills, and Professional Production in favour of male students.No statistically significant difference was achieved between the Privacy and Security and Social Dimension sub-scales of the Digital Literacy Scale and the gender of students.
One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) Test was conducted to determine whether there was a significant difference in the Digital Literacy Scale sub-dimension scores of students according to the type of faculty.The findings are presented in Table 4.
One-way analysis of variance was administrated to determine whether there was a significant difference between the type of faculty of students and digital literacy scale subdimensions scores.As seen in Table 4, the digital literacy scale sub-dimensions scores showed a significant difference according to the type of faculty of students.The analysis results suggested that there was a statistically significant difference among the Digital Literacy Scale sub-dimensions of Daily Use (F2;381= 4.812, p<0.05),Professional Production (F2;382=3.475,p<0.05), and Privacy and Security (F2;382=10.316,p<0.05) with the type of faculty.Scheffe test was used to determine between which groups the differentiation occurred.According to the Scheffe test results, there is a significant difference between the Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences ( = 25.53) and the Faculty of Health Sciences ( = 23.56) in the Daily Use sub-dimension, the Faculty of Education ( = 4.41) and One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) Test was conducted to determine whether there is a significant difference between undergraduate students' digital literacy scale subdimension scores according to their daily internet usage times.The findings are presented in Table 5.
According to Table 5, a significant difference was found between the general knowledge and functional skills sub-dimension of the digital literacy scale scores (F3;380) = 3,293, p<0,05) of the students participating in the research according to their daily internet usage times.According to the results of the Scheffe test, which was conducted to determine between which groups the differentiation is, this difference is between the students who use the internet for 10 hours or more daily ( = 22.34) and the students who use the internet for 6-9 hours ( = 18.42) and 3-5 hours ( = 18.70).No significant difference was found according to the other sub-dimension levels.Table 5. ANOVA test analysis results according to the digital literacy scale sub-dimensions scores of undergraduate students and their daily internet usage time 1-2 hour(s).B-3-5 hours.C-6-9 hours D-10 hours and more

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS
In this study, it was aimed to examine the digital literacy levels of undergraduate students in terms of different variables.According to the study's findings, when the students' average scores in the digital literacy scale sub-dimensions are examined, the average digital literacy score total of the participants is 107.39.The arithmetic mean score of the scale, which is formed by dividing by the number of items in the scale (n=29), is 3.70.Bayrakcı and Narmanlıoğlu (2020) stated that the range of 3.63-4.17points in the scale study he developed within the scope of his doctoral thesis is medium level.In this context, it is seen that the students participating in the research are digitally literate at a reasonable level.In other words, the students participating in the research seem to continue to adapt and learn in the digital age.At the same time, they are generally at a level that can solve non-continuous, relatively easy problems on their own (Bayrakcı, & Narmanlıoğlu, 2020).This finding can be explained by the commitment of the Z generation to online environments, their communication habits through social media channels, and the high level of digital literacy as a result of students' spending more time on digital technology during the COVID-19 pandemic process.In the literature, it is seen that both the same and different results were obtained with this study (Lokmic-Tomkins et al., 2022;Morgan et al., 2022;Onursoy, 2018).For example, Göldağ (2021) examined the digital literacy skills of university students in his study.A digital literacy scale was applied to 265 students in the study.As a result of the study, it was concluded that the digital literacy levels of the students were moderate.In other studies, the digital literacy skills of undergraduate students were found to be high and low.For instance, Adeoye, and Adeoye (2017) examined the digital literacy skills of undergraduate students in Nigeria in their study.In the study, they applied a demographic information form and digital literacy scale to 525 students.As a result of the study, they concluded that the students' digital literacy levels are high.The results of the "Digital Literacy Scale" that Bayrakcı and Narmanlıoğlu (2021b) administered to 1287 undergraduate students and graduates showed that the participants had high digital literacy skills.In other studies, the digital literacy skills of undergraduate students were found to be medium and low (Göldağ, 2021;Lokmic-Tomkins et al., 2022;Morgan et al., 2022;Onursoy, 2018).
As a result of the research, according to the gender variable; Ethics and Responsibility, General Knowledge and Functional Skills, Daily Use, and Professional Production subdimensions were found to differ significantly by gender.Accordingly, it was concluded that the average of female students in the Ethics and Responsibility sub-dimension was higher than male students.It is seen that this result of the research is compatible with the study of Kul (2020).There was a significant difference in favour of male students in General Knowledge and Functional Skills and Professional Production sub-dimensions.In some studies, in the literature, it has been observed that the digital literacy levels of male students are higher than female students (Bayrakcı & Narmanlıoğlu, 2021b;Boyacı, 2019;et in, 2016;Göldağ, 2021;G ngör & Kurtipek, 2020;ar dy, 2005;o rne, 2007;İnan Karag l et al., 2021;Korkmaz, 2020;Markauskaite, 2006;z erba & Kuralbayeva, 2018;z oğlu, 2019;Yazıcıoğlu et al., 2020;Ye il dal, & Kaya, 2021;Zogheib, 2006).In other studies, it was found that gender was not effective in digital literacy (Karasu, & Arıkan, 2016;Maden, Maden, & Banaz, 2018).
According to the faculties of the students participating in the research, a significant difference was found between Daily Use, Professional Production, and Privacy and Security, which are sub-dimensions of digital literacy scale scores.These differences are between, In the Daily Use sub-dimension, the students of the Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences ( = 25.53) and the students of the Faculty of Health Sciences ( = 23.56).In other words, the students of the Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences have a higher ability to such as use e-citizenship, cloud technologies, online broadcasting, and digital transactions than the students of the Faculty of Health Sciences.This finding of the study seems to be compatible with the study of Morgan et al. (2022).In the Professional Production sub-dimension, a significant difference was found between the students of the Faculty of Education ( = 4.41) and the students of the Faculty of Health Sciences ( = 5.03).In other words, such as the software and coding digital skills of the students of the Faculty of Education are higher than the students of the Faculty of Health Sciences.The result of the study was found to be compatible with other studies (Timur et al., 2014;Yazıcıoğlu et al., 2020).In the privacy and security sub-dimension, there is a significant difference between the students of the Faculty of Education and the students of the Faculty of Health Sciences, and the students of the Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences.In other words, the students of the Faculty of Education and the Faculty of Health Sciences have a higher ability to such as protect personal data, avoid phishing, set privacy, and create strong passwords than the students of the Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences.It is seen that this result of the research is compatible with other studies in the literature (Garcia-Martin, & Garcia-Sanchez,2017;Kozan & Bulut z ek, 2019;zden, 2018;Yılmaz et al.,2019).
As a result of the research, according to the daily internet usage time variable, a significant difference was found between the general knowledge and functional skills subdimension of the digital literacy scale scores of the students.This difference is between the students who use the internet daily for 10 hours or more ( = 22.34), and the students who use the internet for 6-9 hours ( = 18.42) and 3-5 hours ( = 18.70).It is seen that the result of the research is compatible with the study of Göldağ (2021).

•
Training can be given to university students on the use of digital tools in their professional life.
• Workshops can be organized for students to improve themselves in all dimensions of digital literacy and to increase their digital literacy levels.
• In addition, studies can be planned for the development of students by determining their technological education needs.
• A comparison study can be made with the students of other faculties.

•
In addition to existing courses such as information technologies in undergraduate education of students, it is recommended that courses such as digital literacy and digital technologies can be opened in all universities as soon as possible.

Table 3 .
T-test results of undergraduate students' Digital Literacy Scale sub-dimension scores by gender *p <0.01 and *p < 0.05 Faculty of Health Sciences ( = 5.03), in the Professional Production sub-dimension, and the students of the Faculty of Education and Health Sciences and the students of the Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences in the Privacy and Security sub-dimension.No significant difference was found according to the other sub-dimension levels.
1-Faculty of Education 2-Faculty of Health Sciences 3-Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences