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How Does Digital Competence Preserve University Students’ Psychological Well-Being During the Pandemic? An Investigation From Self-Determined Theory

This study conceptualized digital competence in line with self-determined theory (SDT) and investigated how it alongside help-seeking and learning agency collectively preserved university students’ psychological well-being by assisting them to manage cognitive load and academic burnout, as well as i...

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Autores principales: Wang, Xinghua, Zhang, Ruixue, Wang, Zhuo, Li, Tiantian
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8102986/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33967915
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.652594
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author Wang, Xinghua
Zhang, Ruixue
Wang, Zhuo
Li, Tiantian
author_facet Wang, Xinghua
Zhang, Ruixue
Wang, Zhuo
Li, Tiantian
author_sort Wang, Xinghua
collection PubMed
description This study conceptualized digital competence in line with self-determined theory (SDT) and investigated how it alongside help-seeking and learning agency collectively preserved university students’ psychological well-being by assisting them to manage cognitive load and academic burnout, as well as increasing their engagement in online learning during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Moreover, students’ socioeconomic status and demographic variables were examined. Partial least square modeling and cluster analysis were performed on the survey data collected from 695 students. The findings show that mental load and mental effort were positively related to academic burnout, which was significantly negatively associated with student engagement in online learning. Digital competence did not directly affect academic burnout, but indirectly via its counteracting effect on cognitive load. However, help-seeking and agency were not found to be significantly negatively related to cognitive load. Among the three SDT constructs, digital competence demonstrated the greatest positive influence on student engagement. In addition, female students from humanities and social sciences disciplines and lower-income families seemed to demonstrate the weakest digital competence, lowest learning agency, and least help-seeking behaviors. Consequently, they were more vulnerable to high cognitive load and academic burnout, leading to the lowest learning engagement. This study contributes to the ongoing arguments related to the psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and informs the development of efficient interventions that preserve university students’ psychological well-being in online learning.
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spelling pubmed-81029862021-05-08 How Does Digital Competence Preserve University Students’ Psychological Well-Being During the Pandemic? An Investigation From Self-Determined Theory Wang, Xinghua Zhang, Ruixue Wang, Zhuo Li, Tiantian Front Psychol Psychology This study conceptualized digital competence in line with self-determined theory (SDT) and investigated how it alongside help-seeking and learning agency collectively preserved university students’ psychological well-being by assisting them to manage cognitive load and academic burnout, as well as increasing their engagement in online learning during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Moreover, students’ socioeconomic status and demographic variables were examined. Partial least square modeling and cluster analysis were performed on the survey data collected from 695 students. The findings show that mental load and mental effort were positively related to academic burnout, which was significantly negatively associated with student engagement in online learning. Digital competence did not directly affect academic burnout, but indirectly via its counteracting effect on cognitive load. However, help-seeking and agency were not found to be significantly negatively related to cognitive load. Among the three SDT constructs, digital competence demonstrated the greatest positive influence on student engagement. In addition, female students from humanities and social sciences disciplines and lower-income families seemed to demonstrate the weakest digital competence, lowest learning agency, and least help-seeking behaviors. Consequently, they were more vulnerable to high cognitive load and academic burnout, leading to the lowest learning engagement. This study contributes to the ongoing arguments related to the psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and informs the development of efficient interventions that preserve university students’ psychological well-being in online learning. Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-04-23 /pmc/articles/PMC8102986/ /pubmed/33967915 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.652594 Text en Copyright © 2021 Wang, Zhang, Wang and Li. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Psychology
Wang, Xinghua
Zhang, Ruixue
Wang, Zhuo
Li, Tiantian
How Does Digital Competence Preserve University Students’ Psychological Well-Being During the Pandemic? An Investigation From Self-Determined Theory
title How Does Digital Competence Preserve University Students’ Psychological Well-Being During the Pandemic? An Investigation From Self-Determined Theory
title_full How Does Digital Competence Preserve University Students’ Psychological Well-Being During the Pandemic? An Investigation From Self-Determined Theory
title_fullStr How Does Digital Competence Preserve University Students’ Psychological Well-Being During the Pandemic? An Investigation From Self-Determined Theory
title_full_unstemmed How Does Digital Competence Preserve University Students’ Psychological Well-Being During the Pandemic? An Investigation From Self-Determined Theory
title_short How Does Digital Competence Preserve University Students’ Psychological Well-Being During the Pandemic? An Investigation From Self-Determined Theory
title_sort how does digital competence preserve university students’ psychological well-being during the pandemic? an investigation from self-determined theory
topic Psychology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8102986/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33967915
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.652594
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