New Epistemologies in a Digital Age: Ways of Knowing Beyond Text-Based Literacy in Young Adult Learners Within An Ontario College Context

The purpose of this study was to examine how young adult learners acquire and construct knowledge in a digital age within a post-secondary context. The research questions were: 1) What digital devices and technologies/tools do young adult learners use for learning and why? 2) How is the digital age (particularly the widespread use of the Internet) impacting knowledge acquisition and construction in young adult learners? 3) How should post-secondary educational curricula and practice be designed or re-designed to support young adult learners? A mixed methods (convergent parallel design) study was conducted involving 63 student participants (18 to 24 years of age) attending a large urban community college in Ontario. Analysis of the data revealed five key themes: 1) participants identified and used go-to digital devices and tools (i.e., digital devices and tools participants preferred and opted to use first); 2) participants used a multiplicity of media, modes, and literacies in their learning; 3) participants valued the affordances of old and new educational practices and thus felt to be in a state of transition; 4) participants’ use of multiple media, modes, and literacies led to positive sum outcomes (i.e., increased capacity for learning); and 5) the mix of media, modes, and literacies used by participants resulted in more natural learning (i.e., learning that was more in keeping with participants’ natural ways of engaging in and perceiving the world around them). Another key finding was that although there were commonalities among participants, there also existed a great deal of individual difference in terms of the ways participants preferred to learn in a digital age. Interpretation of the findings resulted in a re-conceptualization of meta-literacy. In the context of this study meta-literacy was defined as the set of literacy types that meet the following criteria: 1) use a dominant invention/technology; 2) are disseminated via a dominant medium; 3) are represented by a dominant mode; 4) appeal to a dominant sense (or senses); and 5) provide for the ability to consume and produce meaningful communicative artifacts via a dominant medium and mode. Orality, traditional literacy, and digital literacy were identified as literacy types meeting the above criteria. It is recommended that meta-literacy, in conjunction with other relevant frameworks, be considered in the design or re-design of college curricula.