Developing digital academic skills in preservice teachers: performance and metacognitive perspectives

The purpose of this research was to evaluate an instructional change in an academic literacy course that transitioned from traditional print- to digital-based instruction. The learning outcomes of 71 preservice teachers who attended the digitally-modified course were compared to the learning outcomes of 55 students who attended the same course with print-based instruction. Results showed that the print and digital cohorts developed comparable academic literacy skills, with higher confidence ratings in the digital cohort for both reading and writing performance. Interestingly, the digital cohort was calibrated in their self-evaluation of writing quality, but not in their assessment of reading comprehension. Taken together, this study emphasises the importance of incorporating strategies for deep processing of digital materials and tools to facilitate digital academic writing skills in teacher education. In addition, future teachers should be made aware of the metacognitive biases that accompany digital learning.