AN INSTRUCTOR NEEDS DEVELOPMENT ANALYSIS OF A THAI COMPUTER STUDENT’S ADVANCED WORD PROCESSING (AWP) PROGRAM DIGITAL LITERACY SKILLS, COMPETENCY, TECHNOLOGY, AND PROGRAM COMPREHENSION

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to study the digital literacy development needs of Thai
higher education computer students’ enrolled in an Advanced Word Processing (AWP)
program and their related digital literacy (DL) skills. The sample made use of simple random
sampling to select 46 computer education instructors teaching at one of Thailand’s Rajabhat
teacher training universities across Northeastern Thailand. The research instrument was a
questionnaire in which item reliability was judged to be 0.95. Data were analyzed using
descriptive statistics, including the mean (x ), standard deviation (S.D.), as well a modified
priority needs index (PNIModified) analysis. The results of this research showed that the
instructors thought that the competency of students in the AWP program, both in each aspect
and in the overall level, was high. Results also revealed that AWP program student instructors
perceived the greatest importance be placed on Formatting of the five aspects examined. This
was followed by Preparing Outputs and Collaborative Editing. Interestingly, both Referencing
and Enhancing Productivity were ranked equally last. However, the study’s results from the
same five aspects were slightly different when the order of essential needs (OEN) was
analyzed. In this case, we see that Formatting was number 1, followed by Preparing Outputs,
Enhancing Productivity, Collaborative Editing, and finally, Referencing. Finally, from the
analysis of the instructor’s opinions, it was determined that student need development was
foremost necessary in referencing, collaborative editing, and then formatting, respectively