Validation of DigCompEdu Framework Among Higher Education Lecturers

Abstract

The DigCompEdu serves as a theoretical foundation for evaluating lecturers' digital competence current level. The framework outlines six areas: Professional Engagement (PE), Digital Resources (DR), Teaching and Learning (TL), Assessment (AS), Empowering Learners (EL), Facilitating Learners' Digital Competencies (FC). However, limited studies utilizing this model among Chinese lecturers in higher education (HE). Few studies have evaluated the model's validity in the Chinese context. To address these gaps, this study employed a DigCompEdu Check-In questionnaire, which is developed by the European Commission (2018). It is a validated self-assessment tool grounded in the DigCompEdu framework, comprising 22 items. The questionnaire was administered to 382 lecturers from 19 universities in Shandong Province.. The Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Model (PLS-SEM) was utilized to evaluate the validity of the evidence of the model's internal structure. The results revealed that the mean scores for each domain were concentrated in the range of 2.8 to 2.97 (with a maximum score of 4), which is upper medium level. Moreover, the results reported that the model has strong explanatory and predictive power, DR, TL, AS, and EL can explain 78.5% of the variance of FC. Meanwhile, the model path analysis noted that there were significant positive effects of PE on four variables: DR, TL, AS, and EL (p < 0.001), but FC (p = 0.067).