Analysis of Factors Affecting Digital Literacy: Technology Use and Student Engagement in Higher Education

In today's world, where technology is constantly evolving and impacting every aspect of life essential for education, employment, and daily activities. However, students often use minimal technology in their academic pursuits. This cross-sectional snapshot study takes a closer look at why this happens by examining the factors that contribute to both digital literacy and illiteracy among students in Higher Education. To better understand how technology influences academic performance, wellbeing and student engagement, a semistructured interview was conducted across various institutions and universities. The interview which included open-ended questions had responses for valuable insights about the role of technology in academic work and the reasons behind students' reluctance to employ them. The data obtained was carefully preprocessed to eliminate any prospects of error. Data on trends about technology use while learning new concepts were analyzed in detail. The responses obtained during the interviews were evaluated in line with the goals of the study using a correlation method to ensure the usefulness of the data collected. Apart from these, sophisticated data modelling techniques were deployed to cut out resultant predictions and suggestions for optimum integration of technology within educational settings. Awareness of the concepts of digital literacy, tackling the challenges to such understanding, and bettering the teaching methodologies can also assist educators, administrators, and policymakers, as does encouraging the judicious use of technology and improving student engagement within technology mediated learning.