Conceptualizing Digital Professional Competence Development via Project-Based Software Engineering in Collaborative Digital Environments: A Theoretical Framework with Pilot Empirical Evidence
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Study design: Clinical Trial
Abstract: Digital professional competence is now one of the key learning outcomes of higher education programs for the preparation of future specialists of software-intensive areas. Although there are general orientations, like DigCompEdu and TPACK, that offer a general guide, there is still no integrated theoretical–methodological account of the development of this competence through authentic software design activities in collaborative digital environments, and there are still few empirical validations of such accounts. This study (1) proposes a conceptual framework that integrates the most recent developments in digital competence theory, project-based software engineering pedagogy and computer-supported collaborative learning, and (2) offers empirical support in the form of a preliminary study with future digital specialists. A two-track methodology was employed. First, a narrative synthesis of the most recent peer-reviewed literature (2018–2026) was first performed to create a seven-dimensional construct and a hypothesized pathway model containing seven propositions (H1–H7). Second, a quasi-experimental pretest–posttest pilot study was performed with N = 80 undergraduate computing students, who participated in a 20-day intensive project-based software engineering intervention in a collaborative digital environment based on the Git version control system. Digital professional competence was evaluated by a self-report questionnaire (DPCQ-28) with 28 items and by seven tasks (0–100 rubric). For all seven dimensions, there were significant pre-to-post gains (mean gains ranged from 12.91 to 15.75 points on a 0–100 scale), all paired-samples comparisons were significant after Holm correction (all p < .001), and all effect sizes were large (Cohen's d = 2.07–2.44). There were 21 pairwise correlations between the posttest dimensions, all of which were moderate to strong and significant (r = 0.55–0.77, all p < .001). All seven hypothesized pathways were supported by standardized path coefficients (0.55–0.77, all p < .001), with digital communication being the strongest path (β = 0.77). Six qualitative themes converged with the quantitative results. Digital professional competence is considered as a pedagogically grounded and developmentally organized construct. The preliminary findings from the pilot study are supportive of the seven dimensions of the architecture and of the proposed developmental trajectory, and warrant a full-scale confirmatory study. Implications for curriculum design, faculty preparation, and assessment in higher education are discussed.
Source: Research Square
Institution: University of Business and Science
Language: English
Subfield: Computer Science Applications
Field: Computer Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7164208941