Digital competency factor analysis among the digital native generation

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to develop and analyze the feasibility of a digital competency measurement tool suitable for the digital native generation. The study was conducted among 394 four-year college students of E University located in Gyeonggi-do. As for the research method, the factors composing digital competency were synthesized through a literature review on the constituent factors of digital competency. The sub-measurement items were developed focusing on the constituent factors of digital competency derived through literature review. As for the data collection method, an online survey webpage was opened, and an e-mail was sent to the participating students so that they could participate in the survey. The collected data were analyzed using the PASW Statistics 18.0 program. First, a frequency analysis was conducted to examine the demographic and sociological factors of the subjects. Furthermore, to find out the digital competency level of university students, the digital native generation, the average value was calculated with descriptive statistics. In addition, factor analysis was performed to analyze the convergent validity of detailed indicators of each area of the digital competency measurement tool. As a result of measuring the digital competency of the students participating in the test, the level of digital competency perceived by the students was found to be generally high, and in particular, the overall average of the sub-factors in the application area showed a high average value for all three sub-factors. Also, as a result of analyzing the validity of the digital competency components, the overall explanatory variance of the 54 component models developed in this study was high.