Strengthening Literacy: Academic and Digital Literacy in Competition or in Complementarity at the University of Swaziland?

Abstract

A variety of strategies have been set up to allow for the development ofacademic and visual literacy from 2008 onwards, when the Universityof Swaziland (UNISWA) introduced Moodle as its preferred LearningManagement System through a pilot project. This was spear-headed bythe Institute of Distance Education in collaboration with the departmentsof Academic Communication Skills, Modern Languages and Mathematics.Building on previous studies regarding academic and visual literacy atUNISWA, we investigate whether these strategies benefitted the studentsand/or the faculty members, and whether students’ digital competenciesincreased or became more specific by examining exercises, forums, chatrooms, quizzes and other resources made available to students in diversesubjects. We focus, in particular, on language instruction (English, French,and Portuguese). We conclude with an overview of Moodle’s strengthsand weaknesses in view of setting up a maximized complementary systemwhich, ideally, augments academic, visual, and digital literacy.
Keywords: learning management system, academic and visual literacy, language instruction, information literacy.