Promoting Digital Literacy Through University Social Responsibility: A Case Study of an International Scratch Workshop

Abstract

Programming and multimedia tools have become essential to education as they offer opportunities to foster creativity, computational thinking, and problem-solving skills. Scratch is a block-based visual programming language which has been widely adopted to introduce coding concepts in an engaging and accessible manner. However, students with limited programming experience often face challenges in adopting such technologies due to low digital literacy, limited confidence, and anxiety toward unfamiliar tools. The objectives of the study were to assess the change in participants' familiarity, interest, and confidence in using Scratch for interactive multimedia development before and after the workshop, to examine participants' acceptance of Scratch for interactive multimedia development post-workshop, specifically applying the constructs of the Technology Acceptance Model, and to determine the relationships among perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, attitude towards use, motivation, and preference for using Scratch following the workshop. The study employed a quantitaive method by using a questionnaire as the instrument for data collection. The sample consisted of 37 undergraduate students from Heilongjiang University of Finance and Economics, Harbin, China. The students were exposed to Scratch through a university social responsibility workshop which was conducted at the university. The findings demonstrated that there was a positive change in participants' familiarity, interest, and confidence in using Scratch for interactive multimedia development after the workshop. They also perceived Scratch as user-friendly and beneficial for developing interactive multimedia projects, and they expressed positive attitudes toward continued use and recommendation to peers. The correlation analysis demonstrated strong positive relationships between PEU, PU, and ATU with motivation and preference, underscoring the importance of these constructs in technology adoption. The study highlights the effectiveness of structured interventions in enhancing digital literacy and fostering sustained engagement with educational technologies.