Teachers’ Digital Professional Engagement Competence: Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Structure and Its Reality Among Al-Aqsa University Students.

Abstract

The study aimed to develop a scientifically validated instrument to measure teachers’ digital professional engagement competence, verify its exploratory and confirmatory factor structure, and investigate its status among 3,000 students at the Faculty of Education, Al-Aqsa University. A questionnaire, grounded in international digital competence frameworks, was utilized, encompassing four dimensions. The results demonstrated the instrument’s high validity and reliability following factor analysis, confirming its effectiveness in assessing the targeted competence. The findings also revealed that student teachers’ digital professional engagement competence was rated as “high.” Variations were observed based on gender and academic level: no significant differences were found in organizational communication, reflective practice, and continuous digital professional development with respect to gender, nor in continuous digital professional development with respect to academic level. However, significant differences were identified in professional collaboration and the overall scale based on gender, and in organizational communication, professional collaboration, reflective practice, and the overall scale based on academic level.