# How to Improve the Digital Competence for E-Learning?
## 1 Introduction  
With the rapid advance of technology throughout the past decades, the importance of digital competence in the modern society cannot be underrated. Digital competence is a set of knowledge, skills and attitudes that are required when using information and communication technology to perform tasks [1]; it plays an important role in all areas of life, allowing us, for example, to find information, share resources, collaborate and create new content [2]. With the growing use of digital devices and environments and wider spread of e-learning in educational settings, the digital competence of students is also coming more into focus. Furthermore, it has been suggested that a higher level of digital competence has a positive effect on students' academic performance [3; 4; 5; 6; 7]. Digital competence is especially important in e-learning. Based on previous research on student readiness for e-learning, [PERSON], [PERSON] and [PERSON] [8] specified four constructs which contribute to successful e-learning: online student attributes (self-regulated learning and academic self-efficacy), time management (the ability to manage time well), technical (computer, internet and information-seeking skills) and communication (willingness to communicate during e-learning) competencies. As all the listed constructs are definitely significant for e-learning success, we suggest that e-learning can happen only when the learners have the necessary technical skills. The importance of technical skills has been highlighted in several previous studies (The online learning readiness scale by [PERSON] et al. [9; 10; 11; 12; 13]) and, furthermore, by the students themselves [8; 14]. With that in mind, it seems reasonable to foster the development of students' digital competence already in primary and lower secondary schools, as students there are the future e-learners first in higher secondary schools and later in universities. However, as there is not much knowledge of how digital competence is developing when it comes to learning, further research in this area is required. Competence, by definition, is multifaceted, including knowledge and skills (often inseparable as also treated in our study) and attitudes needed to act effectively in a field paired with the desire to act or behave competently [15; 16; 17]. It is also important to understand how the different aspects of a competence itself are connected because it could guide us to systematically improve the digital competence for learning. Therefore, it is yet to be discovered how the different dimensions of digital competence for learning are connected internally. A better understanding of the connections between the underlying constructs also allows us to have a critical overview of how to use digital technology meaningfully for improving the quality of the e-learning process. Therefore, it is important to assess the different dimensions of digital competence for learning and analyse the interrelations between these dimensions in order to make suggestions for advancements and help us to prepare our students for more successful e-learning. The aim of this study is to determine the internal connections in digital competence for learning; more specifically, how the individually acquired dimensions of digital competence predict the development of dimensions which require social settings for development. The results of the study might provide researchers with some valuable input for discovering further relationships between digital competence for learning and students' academic performance in order to propose more meaningful interventions. Practitioners could benefit from the results by having more knowledge on which dimensions of digital competence for learning they should be more focused on in order to further improve students' digital competence for classroom and e-learning. In the next section, we give an overview of the relevant literature for designing our hypothetical theoretical models and formulating the key questions of the study.