Exploring the relationship between digital competence proficiency and student learning performance

Abstract

The increased use of digital technology in higher education requires university students to be digitally proficient. The main objective of this study is to examine the extent to which university students' proficiency in various digital competences could be helpful towards their learning performance. This study adopted DigComp 2.2 to design a data collection instrument for an online questionnaire survey and conducted data analysis on the valid 314 responses using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS‐SEM). The findings indicate that, with the exception of safety, the digital competence areas of information and data literacy, communication and collaboration, digital content creation, and problem solving were significant to student learning performance. The findings also revealed that students' current semester had no significant moderating effect on the relationships between their proficiency in digital competence areas and learning performance, with the exception of a relationship between information and data literacy and learning performance, as well as a relationship between problem solving and learning performance, between respondents in semesters 3 and 4, and between respondents in semesters 5 and 6, respectively. The findings contribute to a better understanding of DigComp 2.2's applicability in higher education and can be used by educational institutions and educators to design learning activities and formative assessments that can help students improve their digital competence proficiency.