Supporting Digitally Enhanced Learning through Measurement in Higher Education: Development and Validation of a University Students' Digital Competence Scale

Digital competence is critical for university students to adapt to and benefit from digitally enhanced learning. Prior studies on its measurement mostly focus on educators and relied on factor analyses. However, there is a lack of valid and convenient tools to measure university students' digital competence. This study aimed to develop a digital competence scale for university students (DC-US) in digitally enhanced learning with robust psychometric properties. An initial DC-US with 23 items was proposed to measure the single latent trait of digital competence. It was validated and refined continuously through a pilot study, a main study and a predictive validity study in three datasets involving 825 participants altogether, using factor analyses, Rasch analyses and the partial least squares modelling. The final DC-US turned out to comprise two subscales: technical literacy and digital skills, with 10 items retained, and manifested high internal consistency, unidimensionality and measurement invariance. The scale also demonstrated strong predictive validity, with technical literacy greatly predicting digital skills, which negatively predicted technostress. The DC-US enables instructors and school administrators to conveniently obtain preliminary information of university students' digital competence, informing their digital class preparation and development of timely interventions for addressing digital deficiencies.