Modeling Digital Literacy as a Pedagogical Ecosystem: The Interplay of Digital Skills, Ethics, Safety, and Culture in Secondary Education
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.64780/jole.v2i1.202Keywords:
Digital literacy ecosystem, pedagogical pathways, digital skills, digital ethics, digital safety, digital cultureAbstract
Background: Digital literacy has evolved beyond technical competence into a multidimensional construct encompassing skills, ethics, safety, and culture, yet empirical studies often remain fragmented and descriptive, limiting their pedagogical relevance in secondary education contexts.
Aims: This study aims to model digital literacy as a pedagogical ecosystem by examining the interplay among digital skills, digital ethics, digital safety, and digital culture in shaping students’ literacy practices.
Methods: A quantitative approach was employed with data collected from 93 secondary school students using structured questionnaires. Descriptive and inferential analyses were conducted to examine the distribution and interrelations of the four dimensions within a unified conceptual framework.
Results: The findings indicate that students demonstrate generally high levels across all dimensions, with digital skills functioning as the foundational driver, while digital ethics, safety, and culture operate as integrative components that shape responsible and critical engagement with digital environments. The interplay among these dimensions suggests a coherent ecosystem rather than isolated competencies.
Conclusion: This study advances a pedagogical ecosystem model of digital literacy, emphasizing that effective literacy development requires the integration of technical, ethical, and socio-cultural dimensions within educational practices. The findings highlight the need for instructional designs that move beyond skill acquisition toward critical, responsible, and context-aware digital participation. By reframing digital literacy as an interconnected system, this study offers a theoretically grounded and pedagogically relevant contribution to literacy education, particularly in preparing students for complex digital societies.
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