Digital Competence for Learning Assessment Test (Digitest)

Abstract

The Digital Competence for Learning Assessment Test (Digitest; Pedaste, Kallas, & Baucal, 2023) was developed to measure primary and lower secondary school students’ digital competence for learning across multiple subscales. Scale content was created by an expert group from the Centre for Educational Technology at the University of Tartu to cover the dimensions described by Pedaste et al. (2021) and Adov (2022). The resulting 41-item Digitest was evaluated in an Estonian sample of third to ninth grade students. Factor analysis, item response theory (IRT), and reliability results were reported for these items.

Keywords

Digital Competence for Learning; Students; Perceived Control; Behavioral Intention; Behavior-Related Attitudes; Digital Operations; Communication in the Digital World; Digital Content Programming; Creation of Digital Materials; Protection of Oneself and Others in the Digital World; Legal Behavior in the Digital World

Authors

Pedaste, Margus; Kallas, Külli; Baucal, Aleksandar

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Purpose

The purpose of this test is to assess students’ digital competence for learning.

Validity

Item Response Theory: Based on IRT analysis, the item infit and outfit scores were sometimes out of the expected range, but this is usually not considered a significant issue if the other quality indicators are acceptable. Expected correlation was above the suggested value 0.3 for almost all items (in two cases it was above 0.2, which is considered acceptable) and in the case of estimated discrimination, there were only two items outside of the suggested range of values (items COMM1 and COMM2). Thus, in conclusion, the IRT analysis did not provide strong reasons for revising the test by leaving out some items.

Reliability

Internal Consistency: Finally, internal consistency of the scales described by the nine factors of the final 2-factor second-order factor model was calculated. Composite reliabilities were from 0.65 to 0.91 for different latent variables.

Factor Analysis

Exploratory Factor Analysis: EFA was conducted to understand the factor structure of the attitude items. The results showed that in the case of both three- and four-factor models the items describing social aspects did not load into one factor but mostly had quite similar factor loadings when loading into two factors. Therefore, based on the initial 10-factor model factor loadings, EFA and composite reliability calculations, the attitude dimension of social aspects was dropped from the model.

Confirmatory Factor Analysis: The analysis revealed that the 9-factor model and the 2- and 3-factor higher-order factor models all fitted the data similarly well. However, as the authors were defining competence based on Weinert’s (2001) theory, where competence consisted of cognitive-behavioral and motivational elements, the 2-factor higher-order model was chosen as the best fit for the data and the previous theory.

Instrument: Digitest

Test Type: Original Test

Format: Six different types of items are used: (1) multiple-choice questions with only one correct option, (2) multiple-choice questions with more than one correct option, (3) tasks to form a sequence of phases, (4) matching items, (5) marking something in a picture, and (6) open-ended questions. Items are marked as correct or incorrect. The measure consists of 41 items.

Language Available: Estonian

Population Group: Human, Male, Female

Age Group: Childhood (birth-12 yrs), School Age (6-12 yrs), Adolescence (13-17 yrs)

Population Details: Respondents were third to ninth grade students in Estonia.

Test Methodology: Test Reliability; Internal Consistency; Factor Analysis; Confirmatory Factor Analysis; Exploratory Factor Analysis; Item Response Theory

Keywords

Digital Competence

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier:

• Pedaste, Margus: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5087-9637

• Baucal, Aleksandar: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7965-7659

Affiliation:

• Pedaste, Margus: University of Tartu, Institute of Education

• Kallas, Külli: University of Tartu, Institute of Education

• Baucal, Aleksandar: University of Belgrade, Department of Psychology

Email addresses:

• Pedaste, Margus: [email protected]

• Kallas, Külli: [email protected]

• Baucal, Aleksandar: [email protected]

Correspondence Address:

Kallas, Külli: University of Tartu, Institute of Education, Jakobi 5, Tartu, Estonia, 51005, [email protected]

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

Permissions: Contact Corresponding Author

Commercial: No

Fee: No

Test Year: 2023

References

Pedaste, M., Kallas, K., & Baucal, A. (2023). Digital competence test for learning in schools: Development of items and scales. Computers & Education, 203, 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2023.104830

Items of the Digitest

Subscales: Perceived control; Behavior-related attitudes; Behavioral intention; Creation of digital materials; Digital content programming; Communication in the digital world; Digital operations; Legal behavior in the digital world; Protection of oneself and others in the digital world.

Number of items: This measure consists of 41 items.

Test Items Available: No data is Available