Empowering Global Citizens with Digital Literacy: Modeling the Factor Structure

Abstract

Digital literacy is an important skill for global citizens to possess in the 21st century in the creation of information media using appropriate digital tools. The purpose of this research is to investigate the components of digital literacy of global citizens using a second-order confirmatory factor analysis. The key finding of this research was that the digital literacy of global citizens consisted of four components: (1) Self-initiation, (2) Trendiness, (3) Usefulness, and (4) Good attitude. The study found that the factor loading of all latent variables was positive, ranging from 0.82 to 1.06. The trendiness component had the highest factor loading (β = 1.06), followed by the self-initiation component (β = 0.87), the usefulness component (β = 0.86), and the good attitude component (β = 0.82), respectively. Participants in this study consisted of 633 higher education students selected from a nationwide survey representing populations in six regions of the country using a multistage sampling method. The results of the study found that the trendiness component had the highest factor loading, followed by self-initiation, usefulness, and good attitude. Therefore, to promote digital literacy, when designing learning or learning tools, self-learning should be emphasized together with the use of smart wearable devices to provide flexible learning. Students will thus be able to learn anywhere anytime according to their individual needs, and this also maximizes their good attitudes toward the digital literacy. This study contributes to the understanding of the components of the digital literacy of global citizens. It can provide policymakers and educators insight into the critical skills needed in the 21st century toward the creation of information media using appropriate digital tools in Thai higher education.