# How to Improve the Digital Competence for E-Learning?
## 5 Discussion  
The initial objective of the study was to determine the nature of the development of digital competence for traditional and e-learning, more specifically, how the dimensions of digital competence interact with each other. As the definition of competence suggests combining knowledge, skills and attitudes needed for acting effectively in a field paired with the desire to act or behave competently [15, 16, 17], it was important to also find out how attitudes affect the development of digital skills and knowledge. We found that only behavioural intention to use digital devices for learning affects the development of operational skills. This finding could give researchers and practitioners a new direction when dealing with attitudes towards digital device usage for learning. We detected practically no evidence of social aspects, behavioural attitudes or perceived control having any significant influence on digital knowledge and skills development. Thus, our hypothetical Theoretical Model 1 was only partially supported by the data. This finding is contrary to previous studies which have suggested that attitudes in general have a significant influence on a person's decision to behave in a certain way (in this case, to use digital devices for learning; [26, 27]). However, as previous studies have also focused more on behavioural intention rather than other attitude dimensions, the findings are not entirely unpredictable. Another important finding is that individually developable knowledge and skills predict the variance of the development of digital competence dimensions which need social settings to develop, which is in line with our proposed hypothetical Theoretical Model 2. This suggests that before we ask students to collaborate with others and consider other people's interests (legal behaviour and protecting oneself and others in the digital world), we should place an emphasis on developing more basic skills for learning (operational skills). This finding is in line with previous research, where operational skills have been taken as a basis for developing other digital skills in several frameworks (see [32] for the review). Furthermore, students should be given the chance to acquire more experience in understanding why it is necessary to behave in a legal manner where everyone's interests are protected--these concepts could be better understood when students have some experience in creating something in the digital world (digital materials/content, programs). Moreover, as the creation process often requires collaboration, applying creation and programming knowledge and skills leads to better communication in the digital world. Additionally, the findings can contribute to more elaborate e-learning structures, where instructors must be sure that the learners have developed necessary individual skills in order to move on to more complex assignments needing knowledge about communication and/or suitable behaviour in the digital world. In particular, when thinking about primary and secondary school students as e-learners (currently and also in the future), then in a practical point of view, it is reasonable to start off with assignments focusing on creating digital materials and programming. At the same time, as previous research is also bringing forward the importance of technical skills for students e-learning readiness [8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14], our study also confirms, that before more complex tasks with technology can be carried out by students, technical skills (in our case operational) must be acquired. These results of our study lend a new angle to viewing the digital competence for learning and the development of its dimensions. As previous studies have mainly focusedon defining and assessing the dimensions of the competence (DigComp framework and see [21] for the review), we also managed to take a closer look at the relationships between the dimensions.