Assessment of NOUN Undergraduate Students’ Digital Competencies and Strategies for Enhancing the Competencies for Utilization of Electronic Resources in Learning

Abstract

The increasing integration of digital technologies into higher education has made digital competencies essential for effective learning, particularly in open and distance learning (ODL) environments where students depend extensively on electronic information resources. The National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), a major ODL institution with over 700,000 students and more than one hundred and twenty (120) study centres distributed across Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones, provides access to electronic books, journals, databases, institutional repositories, electronic courseware and other digital library services. However, the availability of these resources does not necessarily guarantee effective utilization, as students require appropriate competencies to access, search, retrieve, evaluate, organize and use digital information effectively and ethically. This study assessed the digital competencies of NOUN undergraduate students and identified strategies for enhancing these competencies for improved utilization of electronic resources in learning. The study was anchored on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and adopted a mixed-methods research approach. Data were collected from undergraduate students across the six geopolitical zones, with 396 valid responses used for the quantitative analysis. Data were analyzed using mean and standard deviation. The findings revealed a high overall level of digital literacy competency among the students (M = 3.47, SD = 0.57). The highest-rated competencies were the ability to use the Internet for academic purposes and search for academic information online (M = 3.56 each), while the ability to evaluate the credibility of online academic resources recorded the lowest mean (M = 3.33) and was rated moderate. The findings also showed strong agreement with the proposed enhancement strategies, with regular digital literacy training recording the highest mean (M = 3.67), followed by the provision of user-friendly electronic platforms (M = 3.64) and continuous librarian support (M = 3.61). The study concludes that sustained digital literacy training, practical information literacy instruction, e-resource-oriented orientation, user-friendly electronic platforms, improved Internet infrastructure and continuous librarian support are essential for strengthening students’ digital competencies and promoting effective utilization of electronic resources in the ODL environment.