Some Aspects of Digital Literacy in The Context of Higher Education

The phenomenon of digital literacy, or literacies, has been the focus of research for already several decades. However, it is still unclear whether the competence of operating and creating in the virtual reality should be mastered individually or formed with the assistance of academics. Moreover, the integral components of digital literacy are still subject to discussion. These aspects motivated the author to seek the students' understanding of the notion and the degree of responsibility they believe should be applied when using the materials obtained in the internet. As the initial step in the research that is to be developed further, a group of students, as well as a limited group of teachers, were given a discourse literacies test checking their understanding of the notion and conscientious use of online resources. The results confirmed the author's hypothesis that, firstly, definitions of digital literacy vary from person to person, and, secondly, digital competence for both advanced and medium users mostly implies being able to process the data obtained in the digital area and neglecting the skill of being critical and cautious with regard to online resources. Thus, the problem remains to determine who should make young people aware of online etiquette and how it should be done in the context of higher education, if we presume that growing a fully fledged specialist is the responsibility of an educational institution. This constitutes both food for thought and an incentive for further research.