As part of the International Ethics Project (https://internationalethicsproject.wordpress.com/) we conducted a survey of digital literacy in an international sample of physiotherapy students. These are the preliminary findings of that survey.

1. Digital literacy of
physiotherapy students
A barrier to international e-learning?
Michael Rowe UWC, South Africa
Dirk Vissers Antwerp, Belgium
Shofiqul Islam Savar Dhaka, Bangladesh
Jan Taeymans Bern, Switzerland

2. Background
The creative use of emerging technologies, combined with
innovations in teaching practices and continuing education,
has a significant role to play in health professions education
that is aimed at addressing the health challenges of the 21st
century (Frenk et al, 2010; WHO, 2013)
Integration of technology & pedagogical design can facilitate
the development of critical thinking, promote self-directed
learning & collaboration, enhance communication & change
power relationships between teachers and students (Rowe,
Bozalek & Frantz, 2013; Rowe, 2016)

3. International Ethics project
https://internationalethicsproject.wordpress.com/

4. IEP collaborators
University of the Western Cape, South Africa
Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Brazil
Universidade Estadual de Maringa, Brazil
Luisa Patricia Fogarolli de Carvalho, Brazil
Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo, Brazil
University of Antwerp, Belgium
University of Cape Town, South Africa
University of Dhaka, Banglades
Ahfad University for Women, Sudan
Bern University of Applied Sciences, Switzerland

5. Study aim
To determine the digital literacy of an
international sample of physiotherapy students in
preparation for the implementation of the blended
module in professional ethics.

6. Methods
Instrument design: Modified version of the ECAR Study of
Undergraduate Students and Information Technology (http://ht.
ly/5lto3014N6i)
Piloted for content validity and test-retest reliability (Kappa and
weighted Kappa tests showed good reliability)
Students who would not be in the IEP course from UWC and
Antwerp, surveyed one week apart
Most of the survey items had Kappa values between 0.5 – 0.6
(indicating moderate agreement); 0.7 – 0.8 (indicating strong
agreement); or >0.8 (indicating almost perfect agreement)

7. Methods (cont.)
Setting and sample: Administered questionnaire to a sample
of 246 predominantly first-year PT students in Antwerp,
Belgium (n=120), Bern, Switzerland (n=52), Dhaka, Bangladesh
(n=38) and Cape Town, South Africa (n=36)

8. Results | Devices
There was a significant difference (p<0.001) between
universities in owning a laptop and tablet, and access to Wi-Fi
on campus.
These students primarily used a smartphone (65%) and a
laptop (29%) to connect to the internet (p<0.001 across
groups). A laptop was considered most important for their
academic success by 81% of the respondents, followed by a
smartphone (41%), a desktop (12%) and a tablet (8%).

13. Results | Learning environment
Most students reported that they preferred learning in
environments that included some online components (69%;
p>0.001 across groups), and although there was a significant
difference between universities, most students indicated that
they would prefer lecture capture to be used more
frequently (50%).
Only a minority of the total sample had ever written a blog
post (8%), edited a wiki (6%), or subscribed to RSS feeds
(6%), all of which could be considered important skills for
learning in online or blended environments.

16. Conclusions
We found differences in baseline digital literacy across
different departments that highlighted some of the possible
challenges inherent in the implementation of distributed online
courses
These different levels of digital literacy have an important
influence on decision making around open online course
design
We should avoid making assumptions about students’ level of
digital literacy when using digital technologies for academic
tasks and learning

17. Thank you
mrowe@uwc.ac.za
mrowe.co.za/blog
@michael_rowe