Digital Competences of Vocational Instructors with Synchronous Online Learning in Next Normal Education

Abstract

This research study was conducted with the following objectives: to develop; evaluate and; investigate the vocational instructors’ satisfaction with the online instructional management developed using the synchronous online learning with 2,233 vocational instructors from the Office of the Vocational Education Commission, Ministry of Education, from five regions of Thailand, namely the Central, the Northern, the Northeastern, the Southern, and the Eastern Regions and Bangkok. The research findings revealed that the vocational instructors’ digital competence consisted of the following abilities: 1) analysis of course content; 2) application of video conference systems; 3) management of online classes; 4) management of online learning resources; 5) management of online learning activities; 6) development of tests; 7) development of instructional media; 8) development of instructional videos; 9) arrangement of active-learning activities; and 10) online evaluation and assessment of instruction. The vocational instructors’ digital competence in online instructional management after the synchronous online learning was found to be significantly higher than before the learning, at the p-value rate of .01. Overall, 93.19% of the vocational instructors were reported to pass the evaluation of online instructional management. The vocational instructors were found to be satisfied with their own digital competence in online instructional management at the highest level.