This paper reports on a master’s study undertaken to investigate the impact of the digital divide on information literacy
(IL) training of Extended Curriculum Programme (ECP) students at the Durban University of Technology (DUT). Since
1994 the demographics of higher education institutions in South Africa have changed. Today these institutions comprise
heterogeneous groups of students, by race, economic background, digital background, etc. and consequently with different
levels of literacy, information and otherwise. The problem that this study addressed was the impact of having both digitally
advantaged and digitally disadvantaged students in the same information literacy classroom, expecting them to reach
learning outcomes without frustrating students from either group. The objective of the study was to investigate the impact
of the digital divide on IL training of ECP students at the DUT and to recommend guidelines for teaching and learning of IL
that would accommodate both digitally advantaged and digitally disadvantaged students. The study employed a mixed
method approach in its research design. Data was collected from ECP students (of 2010) by means of a questionnaire; an
interview schedule was used to collect data from Subject Librarians involved in teaching the IL module to ECP students; a
separate interview schedule was used to collect data from the ECP Coordinator. Qualitative and quantitative data
collected were prepared for analysis by means of content analysis and numerical coding, respectively and then subjected
to statistical analysis via SPSS, which produced percentage and frequency distributions to ascertain findings. The findings
of the study revealed that the digital divide does impact on IL training in ways such as: slowing down the progress of IL
lessons; basic computer skills need to be taught in the IL classroom; and that digitally disadvantaged students find it
difficult to follow online lessons while advantaged students already have the expertise to access online information. Based
on these findings the study recommended computer literacy training should precede IL training and that various creative
teaching and learning methods such as group work, online tutorials, games and interactive websites should be
incorporated into IL education to accommodate both digitally advantaged and digitally disadvantaged students in the IL
classroom

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This study investigated the impact of the digital divide on information literacy (IL) training of Extended Curriculum Programme (ECP) students at the Durban University of Technology (DUT). There are students entering the tertiary education environment in South Africa who have never used the Internet or have little or no knowledge of technology. Hence South African higher education institutions have a heterogeneous mix of both digitally advantaged students and digitally disadvantaged students. The objective of this study was to investigate the impact of the digital divide on IL training of ECP students at the DUT and to recommend guidelines for teaching and learning of IL that would accommodate both digitally advantaged and digitally disadvantaged students. The sub-objectives of the study were: to identify in what ways the digital divide impacts on the IL training of ECP students; to identify innovative teaching and learning methods to accommodate the diversity of students in the IL classroom; and to recommend guidelines for teaching and learning of IL in the ECP that accommodates the digital divide among participating students. Hence, the three population sets for the study were: DUT ECP students of 2010, Subject Librarians teaching IL to ECP students and the DUT ECP Coordinator. The study employed a mixed method approach in its research design. Data was collected from ECP students by means of a questionnaire, an interview schedule was used to collect data from Subject Librarians involved in teaching of the IL module to ECP students and lastly, a separate interview schedule was used to collect data from the ECP Coordinator. Qualitative data that was collected from the survey questionnaire was analysed using SPSS (Version 18.0) whilst qualitative data collected from the interviews and from the questionnaires was analysed thematically using content analysis. The findings of this study reveal that the digital divide does impact on IL training in ways such as, slowing down the progress of IL lessons; basic computer skills need to be taught in the IL classroom and that disadvantaged students find it difficult to follow online lessons while advantaged students already have the expertise to access online information. Based on these findings the study recommends that computer literacy training precede IL training; that various creative teaching and learning methods, such as, group work, games, online tutorials and interactive websites be incorporated into IL training to accommodate both digitally advantaged and digitally disadvantaged students in the IL classroom.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether biographical variables such as Gender, Race, Home District, School (urban/rural) and Language proficiency play any role in the Self-efficacy of Cost and Management Accounting (CMA) students and to assess whether Self-efficacy. A descriptive, longitudinal, and mixed-methods approach was used in this paper. In the current study, the quasi-experimental design used for the pre-test and post-test control groups was non-equivalent. The population targeted was CMA students. A census survey was performed. The comparative analysis between the variables revealed no significant difference. However, females, Africans, Urban Home District, Urban School, and English Second Language learners scored more in the post-test. The paper recommends that the implementation of General Education modules into the curriculum be instituted. Additionally, current learners appear to have very poor General Education skills, and respondents themselves believed that self-efficacy can have a positive impact on academic performance.