Students' Digital Competence and Perceived Learning: The mediating role of Learner Agility

Area of Science:

• Educational Technology
• Higher Education Pedagogy
• Digital Learning

Background:

• The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the adoption of online education and digital technologies in Indian higher education.
• Institutions navigated challenges in adapting to new technologies and blended learning models.
• Understanding student perspectives on the evolving digital learning environment became critical.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the impact of digital competencies (DC) on students' learning agility (LA) and perceived learning (PL).
• To examine the relationships between DC, LA, and PL in the context of professional/technical education in India.

Main Methods:

• A cross-sectional study involving 359 graduate and post-graduate students in India.
• Utilized the DigiComp 2.1 framework to assess digital competencies.
• Employed Structural Equation Modeling and Process Macro 4.0 for data analysis.

Main Results:

• Digital competencies (DC) showed a significant positive impact on perceived learning (PL) (b = 0.33; p < 0.001).
• DC also significantly positively impacted learning agility (LA) (b = 0.59; p < 0.001).
• A significant positive relationship was found between learning agility (LA) and perceived learning (PL) (b = 0.21; p < 0.001).

Conclusions:

• Digital competencies are strongly linked to academic performance in the post-COVID educational landscape.
• Enhanced digital competencies directly contribute to improved learning agility and perceived learning outcomes.
• Higher education institutions in India should integrate digital competencies into their curricula to foster better student learning outcomes.