Please cite as: Watson Todd, R. (2001) Teaching out of the box. Bangkok
Post 6th May 2001.
As one might expect from a telecommunications mogul, Thaksin
Shinawatra’s government’s policy on education has largely focused on
information technology.
Recently, plans were announced to provide all schools with computers and
on-line connections by 2004. As with most grandiose government schemes,
the plans didn’t include the important but awkward details that can allow the
public to evaluate the policy.
The present situation is reminiscent of that a few years ago. The Education
Minister at the time, Sukavich Rangsitpol, ordered the purchase of grossly
overpriced computers for all schools, but forgot to provide any support or
guidance in how the computers could be used.
Hopefully, the present proposal to buy computers will be more open and
provide less temptation for corruption than the previous purchase. More
importantly perhaps, the proposal must also consider how the computers are
to be used and provide schools and teachers with the necessary support.
Although various educational authorities frequently make bland statements
about the need for computers in education - “This is the Information Age so
our schools need information technology” - it isn’t actually very clear why
computers are needed and how they should be used in education. After all,
even with the mammoth advances in technology over the last decade or so,
no-one argues that computers should replace teachers.
The most obvious reason for using computers in education is that computer
skills are becoming increasingly important in an ever-expanding range of
jobs. In developed countries, even farmers are becoming reliant on computer
technology. If the technological divide between developed countries and
countries like Thailand is to be narrowed, all students throughout Thailand
need to gain a basic ability in computer use.
To achieve this goal, however, a bulk purchase of computers as proposed by
the government is not enough. Even the three and a half billion baht
proposed is unlikely to provide enough computers for students to use.
Instead of a one-time megapurchase of computers which will quickly
become outdated, the government needs to set a policy for long-term
continuous purchasing so that every school gets extra sets of computers
every two or three years.
In addition to the hardware, support for teachers also needs to be provided.
Teachers must be able to use computers themselves, and - a frequently
overlooked point - they must be able to teach students how to use computers.
The traditional approach in Thai education of teachers telling students what
to do will not be effective for teaching computing skills. Computing is best
learnt through guided self-discovery. Setting tasks such as finding four
different ways to open a file in Microsoft Windows is far more effective than
telling people one way. Effective teaching of computing skills, then, is in
line with the educational principles laid down in the National Education Act
of 1999, but it is something for which training is required.
Although basic computing skills should be the first priority in using
computers in education, once these skills have been acquired computers can
serve other educational purposes.
The first of these is that computers can play an important role as an
educational tool for learning other subjects. With the exponential growth of
the Internet, a vast amount of useful educational information has become
available.
The main problem with this is that, with a few honourable exceptions such
as The Institute for the Promotion of Teaching Science and Technology and
the Thai Junior Encyclopedia Project, very little of this information is in
Thai. Information in English, no matter how relevant and useful, is as good
as inaccessible to most Thai students.
Attempts to overcome this problem have been made by NECTEC, the
national computing centre, but, despite their best efforts, translation
programs from English to Thai frequently produce gobbledygook. Ways of
making more of the Internet information accessible to Thai students should
therefore be given a high priority in government plans concerning computers
in education.
There is, however, also a bright side to the English language domination of
the Internet. Students who are attracted to information on the Internet,
whether it be about Giggs or gigabytes, may become more motivated to
learn English. Although the existing English language curricula at school
may be of little help in dealing with information on the Internet, students
with clear reasons and goals for learning English are likely to be more
successful.
A second way in which computers can be used as educational tools is
through educational software and websites. The market in educational CDROMs
is huge and most programs provide attractive multifunctional
multimedia.
Unfortunately, in far too many programs, a greater emphasis is placed on
high-quality production values than on learning principles. The results are
frequently multiple-choice exercises dressed up in fine multimedia satin and
silk. Although their novelty and attractiveness may engage students, longterm
learning from educational software is frequently disappointing. Before
the government splashes out millions on educational software programs,
extensive evaluation of potential learning benefits must be conducted.
Another important use of computing in education is communication. Emailing,
bulletin boards and chat rooms have changed the way people
communicate and they have wide-ranging implications for education.
Students can use computer-facilitated communication to practise English
and to gain a multicultural perspective on the world by communicating with
students in other countries.
Perhaps more importantly, teachers can use computer-facilitated
communication for personal and professional development. A teacher
community website, for example, can provide a valuable forum for sharing
and exchanging ideas and experiences. Again however, there appears to be a
dearth of such websites in Thai (although the newly-opened Moobankru
looks promising) meaning that teachers with Internet access will not be
gaining the full potential benefits that come from sharing ideas with other
teachers.
Overall, then, the government is on the right track. Computers and on-line
access in schools can provide valuable opportunities and support for learning
and are desperately needed across the country. However, whether this gap in
Thai education is best addressed by a one-time megapurchase is
questionable. And more importantly, what happens after computers have
been provided is unclear. Rather than just winning plaudits for spending
money and providing facilities, the government must be much clearer about
the purpose of the facilities and how they are to be used.