Effects of a Digital Literacy Package on Knowledge and Technology Skills Among Students with Overload Anxiety

Abstract

Against the backdrop of China's comprehensive education digitalization strategy, digital literacy has become an indispensable core competency for higher vocational college students. However, these students commonly face a dual predicament of weak digital skills and digital task overload anxiety, which mutually reinforce each other and form a vicious cycle. Existing interventions tend to separate skills training from psychological support, yielding limited effectiveness. This study aims to develop and validate a systematic "Digital Literacy Package" that integrates skills cultivation with anxiety management, and to examine its effects on vocational college students' digital knowledge, technical skills, and overload anxiety levels. A one-group pretest-posttest quasi-experimental design was adopted. Using simple random sampling, 30 third-year computer science majors from Quanzhou Light Industry Vocational College were selected as participants. A structured two-week course (totaling 8 hours) was implemented. Self-developed instruments, including a Digital Literacy Self-Efficacy Scale, a Digital Task Overload Anxiety Questionnaire, and a Course Satisfaction Survey, were administered before and after the intervention, supplemented by qualitative analysis of open-ended questions. Results showed that after the intervention, students' digital literacy self-efficacy scores significantly increased from 57.20 to 82.80 (t=28.47, p<0.001, Cohen's d=3.21); technical skills scores rose from 53.73 to 84.27 (t=28.93, p<0.001, d=3.89); digital task overload anxiety scores dropped from 78.80 to 52.20 (t=-35.47, p<0.001, d=4.12); and overall course satisfaction reached a mean of 4.62 out of 5, with 97% of students expressing satisfaction. Qualitative feedback further confirmed the effectiveness and acceptability of the "skills-psychology integration" instructional design. The findings indicate that this Digital Literacy Package can significantly enhance vocational students' digital knowledge and skills, substantially alleviate their overload anxiety, and receive high student approval, providing a replicable, lightweight intervention model for higher vocational institutions.