Abstract

During the past Covid-19 pandemic, the digital skills of Thai citizens have transformed. This study will lead to ways to promote and develop digital skills and competency in various fields in order to be ready to cope with the Next Normal era. The study of digital competency of Thai citizens aimed to 1) study the digital competency of Thai people, and 2) compare the digital competency of Thai citizens in terms of gender, age and educational background. The 912 research samples were obtained by volunteer sampling. The research instrument was an online evaluation form. Data were analyzed by percentage, mean, standard deviation, t-test for independent samples by one-way ANOVA. The research found that 1) the overall digital competency of Thai citizens was at a high level, in terms of digital knowledge and skills and characteristics to use digital information technology and communication with confidence and creativity to achieve goals related to work, learning, and participation in society. When considering each aspect, it was found that communication and collaboration, safety, information and data literacy, problem solving, and digital content creation were all at a high level respectively; and 2) When comparing the digital competency of Thai citizens, it was found that the samples with different genders had no statistically significant difference in digital competency. As for age and educational backgrounds, there was a statistically significant difference in digital performance at the .05 level, except for the digital competency in safety which had no statistically significant difference. The overall digital competency of Thai citizens at all educational levels is high, and those in advanced professional fields have the highest level of digital competency overall. This is in line with the regulations of numerous Thai universities and vocational schools, which mandate that final-year students take a Digital Literacy Test.

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