Abstract—Instant messaging applications on electronic
devices such as smart phones and tablet computers is reshaping
communication around the globe. This phenomenon is arguably
destined to lead to a conduit of prominence and dominance for
e-learning delivery. The first objective underpinning this paper
was to investigate the behaviour of Thai internet users through
data obtained from an extensive online self-administered survey.
The second focus was to investigate the level of compliance
specifically relating to the internet users’ acknowledgement of
the “terms of service” which precludes children under thirteen
being members or participating. The results that were obtained
from 819 survey respondents reinforced the consensus that there
was a disturbing misuse of social network applications on mobile
devices in particular in terms of overuse. Among the
participants, 61.4 per cent were female. Persons aged 11-20
years were the most prominent group of participants (36.4%).
Persons aged 21-30 years represented 23.9 per cent with the
remaining group being over 30 years of age (39.7%). Urban and
rural respondents were almost balanced (52% and 48%
respectively). The findings reconfirmed that surfing social
networks was the most popular mobile phone activity for both
female and male respondents. This research showed that less
than one out of four (23.9%) of Thai internet users knew that a
child under 13 was not allowed to apply for a Facebook account.
Interestingly, the younger users under the age of 13 years knew
that it was illegal to be social network members but the older
users were unaware of this regulation. The inconsistencies
between each demographic group will be discussed in detail. The
research findings reflect numerous and significant complexities
that may impact on the digital learning of Thai citizens from
numerous perspectives.
Index Terms—Behavior of Thai internet users, e-learning
platform, internet activities, mobile devices, online survey, social
networking.
Poonsri Vate-U-Lan is with Assumption University, Bangkok, Thailand
(e-mail: poonsri.vate@gmail.com).
Cite: Poonsri Vate-U-Lan, "Foresight e-Learning Platforms: Insights from a Thai Survey," International Journal of Information and Education Technology vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 53-59, 2017.