Teacher education requires models that connect reflective practice and digital competence with the psychological processes through which professional growth occurs. This longitudinal pre-test/post-test quasi-experiment examined whether a composite reflective-digital practice process predicted professional development and whether instructional smart self-efficacy mediated this association. The sample comprised 120 third-year pre-service teachers enrolled in a Computer Science Pedagogy program (N = 120) who completed a 15-week intervention organized across four instructional conditions. Data were collected with an expert-reviewed 19-item questionnaire using a five-point Likert scale. Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling were used to assess the measurement and structural models, and indirect effects were evaluated with 5,000 bias-corrected bootstrap resamples. Internal consistency was satisfactory across the four constructs (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.86-0.91). Reflective-digital practice was positively associated with professional outcomes (beta = 0.41, p < 0.001), whereas its path to instructional smart self-efficacy (beta = 0.12, p = 0.184) and the direct path from self-efficacy to professional outcomes (beta = 0.10, p = 0.211) were not significant. The bootstrapped indirect estimate was significant (B = 0.09, 95% CI [0.02, 0.17], p = 0.018), and the model explained 54% of the variance in professional outcomes (R² = 0.54). These findings provide preliminary empirical support for a mediated reflective-digital pathway, while the single-program sample and reliance on self-reports limit causal and population-level inference.

This study proposes and empirically evaluates a pedagogical framework for ethical skill development in higher education within smart learning environments. The framework conceptualizes ethical competence as a multidimensional, process-oriented construct cultivated through authentic ethical scenarios, structured reflective cycles, adaptive learning support, and competence-aligned assessment. A quasi-experimental design was implemented with 90 undergraduate participants assigned to three groups: Group A (n = 30) learned using the framework with teacher guidance, Group B (n = 30) learned using the framework without teacher involvement, and Group C (n = 30) learned under traditional instruction without the framework. Ethical competence was measured via pre-test and post-test questionnaires capturing overall ethical skills and specific dimensions including ethical awareness, moral reasoning, reflective capacity, and ethical responsibility. Statistical analyses combined gain-score comparisons and covariate-adjusted models. Results indicate that the framework-based condition (Groups A+B) achieved significantly higher overall ethical skill development than the traditional condition, supported by large practical effects. Multivariate analysis further revealed significant framework-related advantages on the combined outcomes of ethical awareness and moral reasoning, with stronger effects observed for ethical awareness. Ethical responsibility also increased substantially under the framework relative to traditional instruction. Teacher guidance demonstrated a differentiated contribution: no significant difference emerged between Groups A and B in overall ethical skill development, whereas teacher-mediated scaffolding produced a significant and large improvement in reflective capacity compared to autonomous framework-based learning. These findings suggest that smart learning environments can support scalable ethical competence formation when pedagogical design integrates adaptive ethical tasks and structured reflection, while targeted instructor scaffolding remains important for deep reflective development. The study contributes actionable guidance for embedding ethics into smart education curricula and motivates future longitudinal and multi-institutional research using behavioral measures and discipline-specific adaptations.