Mapping blended learning activities to students’ digital competence in VET

Radovan, Marko (author), Makovec Radovan, Danijela (author)

While blended learning facilitates digital literacy development, the specific design models and student factors contributing to this process remain underexplored. This study examined the relationship between various blended learning design models and digital literacy skill acquisition among 106 upper-secondary Vocational Education and Training (VET) students. Relationships among student activities, digital competencies, and prior blended learning experience were analyzed. Engagement in collaborative, task-based instructional designs—specifically collaborative projects and regular quizzing supported by digital tools—was positively associated with digital competence. Conversely, passive participation in live sessions or viewing pre-recorded videos exhibited a comparatively weaker association with competence development. While the use of virtual/augmented reality and interactive video correlated positively with digital tool usage, it did not significantly predict perceptions of online safety or content creation skills. Students with prior blended learning experience reported higher proficiency in developmental competencies, such as content creation and research, compared to their inexperienced peers. Cluster analysis identified three distinct student profiles based on technical specialization and blended learning experience. Overall, these findings suggest that blended learning implementation should prioritize structured collaboration and formative assessment.

• Language: English
• Keywords: blended learning, digital competence, intrinsic motivation, vocational education, self-determination theory
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FF - Faculty of Arts
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Publication date: 15.12.2025
• Year: 2025
• Number of pages: Str. 1-16
• Numbering: [issue] 118, 15. dec. 2025
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-177790
• UDC: 377
• ISSN on article: 2414-4088
• DOI: 10.3390/mti9120118
• COBISS.SI-ID: 262118915
• Publication date in RUL: 07.01.2026

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Multimodal technologies and interaction
• Shortened title: Multimodal technol. interact.
• Publisher: MDPI AG
• ISSN: 2414-4088
• COBISS.SI-ID: 526778649

Licences

• License: CC BY-NC 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
• Description: A creative commons license that bans commercial use, but the users don’t have to license their derivative works on the same terms.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: digitalne kompetence, kombinirano učenje, poklicno izobraževanje, strokovno izobraževanje, intrinzična motivacija, teorija samoodločanja

Projects

• Funder: Ministrstvo za kohezijo in regionalni razvoj
• Funding programme: Finančni mehanizem EGP
• Project number: ATP213
• Name: EEA Grants
• Acronym: KIPSI