Digital Competence for Traditional Art Students in Higher Vocational Colleges: Expert Perspectives from Calligraphy and Painting Education in China

The integration of digital competence into traditional arts education presents unique pedagogical challenges, particularly for higher vocational students specializing in Chinese calligraphy and painting. This study explores the dimensions of digital competence, self-efficacy, and critical thinking skills among traditional art students in Hebei Province, China. Through semi-structured interviews with 12 expert educators from four higher vocational colleges, the research identifies culturally specific digital competence dimensions (e.g., digital documentation of analog art, online portfolio curation, digital calligraphy tools, virtual exhibition participation, and ethical digital sharing). Findings reveal that self-efficacy serves as a critical filter affecting digital tool adoption, with domain-specific gaps between high social media efficacy and low technical efficacy. Critical thinking manifests distinctively as students navigate authenticity evaluation, tool critique, tradition-digital synthesis, and information source criticism. A conceptual framework summarizing the relationships among the three dimensions is presented based on expert findings. The study provides empirical support from non-Western vocational art education contexts, with implications for curriculum design that integrates traditional artistic heritage with digital literacy requirements.