Digital competence test for learning in schools: Development of items and scales

Abstract

Digital competence is one of the key competences in modern society. COVID-19 related remote schooling revealed that the level of digital competence for learning is not at an expected level. While schools try to overcome this issue, there is a need to understand the level of students' digital competence by assessing it. However, previous attempts to design a comprehensive digital competence test have not been entirely successful. One of the reasons might be that the focus of these tests has been too general. Therefore, the aim of this study was to create a test for assessing primary and lower secondary school students' digital competence for learning in ten dimensions identified based on earlier studies. This digital competence for learning assessment test (Digitest) was carried out with 836 third to ninth grade students from Estonian schools. IRT analysis and confirmatory factor analysis were conducted to establish the potential of the test to measure digital competence for learning and discover which latent variables can be differentiated with it. The results showed that nine dimensions describing attitudes, skills and behaviours can be distinguished with the Digitest and that the test items have good fit to assess digital competence for learning. However, the study also revealed that two higher-order dimensions of digital competence for learning could be identified: motivational and cognitive-behavioural. Thus, empirical data collected with the Digitest is initiating discussions for assessing students’ digital competence in a holistic way but also more general discussions on the concept of competence. This can help educators put greater emphasis on areas where students need further improvement.