Teachers Over 40 May Delay Computer Tablet Use: Thai Education

[csmith]

Just give the kids the tablets, they will teach the teachers

Just give the kids the tablets, they will teach the teachers

Love this idea ... learning is now a collaborative, peer to peer process ... involving teachers, students, parents, helpers, management ... everyone helping (teaching each other).

One of the barriers is a cultural one in the East ... is that it is difficult for teachers to say "I don't know" ... fortunately it is changing slowly .... the challenge being cultures change more slowly than technology does.

[Markaew]

Send the teachers back to school or sack them, the tablet is a glorified mobile phone, everyone has one of those right. If you can't get your head around a user friendly tablet you shouldn't be teaching. Simple.

Yep sacking the teachers should solve the problem - its so simple. I fail to see the relationship between being able to use a computer tablet and being a good teacher or in your eyes is it -a good teacher can use a computer tablet - why?

I'll take a crack at interpreting the statement to which you're replying...

It's equivalent to saying, "if you're too stupid to learn how to tie your own shoes, you don't belong in a classroom in front of the nation's youth," or, "if you have difficulty putting your food onto a spoon, then into your mouth, chewing and then swallowing, your position should be on the fringes of society, definitely not in any core roles."

Maybe I've read the original statement incorrectly... but if not, then I have to agree with it.

Exactly AJC, and to add...sacking is good motivation to learn. Thai teachers are quite lazy and don't do more than they have to.

[Markaew]

Getting off the fact that the older teachers may not be able to learn use of the tablet, this is just another lame excuse not to deliver the tablets.

[Markaew]

Just give the kids the tablets, they will teach the teachers

Just give the kids the tablets, they will teach the teachers

Love this idea ... learning is now a collaborative, peer to peer process ... involving teachers, students, parents, helpers, management ... everyone helping (teaching each other).

One of the barriers is a cultural one in the East ... is that it is difficult for teachers to say "I don't know" ... fortunately it is changing slowly .... the challenge being cultures change more slowly than technology does.

You apparently don't teach in Thai schools. The Thai teachers would never agree with students teaching them or a collaborative process. It's a status thing.

Edited April 30, 2012 by Markaew

[remobb]

I think a lot of these comments are from imbeciles. One must learn the basics of education like counting 1 to 10. We need teachers for that. To teach computers / ipad / Tablet or whatever surely should be taught and is taught by staff that have the correct qualification in the subject. Would you go to a history teacher to teach mathematics??? Classroom teachers have enough to teach without adding further subjects to their curriculum. Age is not the problem, it is asking the unqualified to teach a subject they have not studied and in many cases cannot afford this equipment so have little to no knowledge of these things. In my opinion (I am entitled to that) calculators / PC's and the like do not belong in the classroom until the students are old enough and qualified enough to use then to enhance their particular and specific chosen subject. Many students can't read or write proficiently (in Thai) but are able to use the PC for games etc. How will they perform when they have a power cut and no battery to run their equipment on?

Enough said.

[seaeagle]

And which part of the Thai Curriculum is the young student in the photograph using his tablet to look at...........................?

[Markaew]

I think a lot of these comments are from imbeciles. One must learn the basics of education like counting 1 to 10. We need teachers for that. To teach computers / ipad / Tablet or whatever surely should be taught and is taught by staff that have the correct qualification in the subject. Would you go to a history teacher to teach mathematics??? Classroom teachers have enough to teach without adding further subjects to their curriculum. Age is not the problem, it is asking the unqualified to teach a subject they have not studied and in many cases cannot afford this equipment so have little to no knowledge of these things. In my opinion (I am entitled to that) calculators / PC's and the like do not belong in the classroom until the students are old enough and qualified enough to use then to enhance their particular and specific chosen subject. Many students can't read or write proficiently (in Thai) but are able to use the PC for games etc. How will they perform when they have a power cut and no battery to run their equipment on?

Enough said.

That argument doesn't float on this topic. I would say 99% of people that use a pc, tablet, or phone are self taught with hands-on usage. Your argument might float if we were talking about traditional subjects, but we aren't.

Edited April 30, 2012 by Markaew

[remobb]

I think a lot of these comments are from imbeciles. One must learn the basics of education like counting 1 to 10. We need teachers for that. To teach computers / ipad / Tablet or whatever surely should be taught and is taught by staff that have the correct qualification in the subject. Would you go to a history teacher to teach mathematics??? Classroom teachers have enough to teach without adding further subjects to their curriculum. Age is not the problem, it is asking the unqualified to teach a subject they have not studied and in many cases cannot afford this equipment so have little to no knowledge of these things. In my opinion (I am entitled to that) calculators / PC's and the like do not belong in the classroom until the students are old enough and qualified enough to use then to enhance their particular and specific chosen subject. Many students can't read or write proficiently (in Thai) but are able to use the PC for games etc. How will they perform when they have a power cut and no battery to run their equipment on?

Enough said.

That argument doesn't float on this topic. I would say 99% of people that use a pc, tablet, or phone are self taught with hands-on usage. Your argument might float if we were talking about traditional subjects, but we aren't.

Computer is a widely taught subject in many schools now, taught by computer teachers. Although I do agree that most users are self taught. My son is very versed in the PC at aged 11 years but he has also learnt much from his computer subject at school.

[thurien]

So what I am reading here is that this program will not work because the teachers are out of date

this is for one; then, they have the "no electricity, no internet" issues for many schools. Most gravely, however, is the fact the MOE chummed up with an obscure Chinese producer who in the beginning stated a capacity of 20.000 tablets per day - a figure which they later (without shame) had to reduce to 2000/day. From the beginning, this company also felt insecure about the battery life of their produce and rather did not want to guarantee anything on that item.

[belg]

maybe all schools can accomodate electricity with solar panels ? maybe another chinese factory can come up with a bid for a few billions ?

give everybody books, same as it always was ... problem solved, not ?

[thaicbr]

So what I am reading here is that this program will not work because the teachers are out of date

this is for one; then, they have the "no electricity, no internet" issues for many schools. Most gravely, however, is the fact the MOE chummed up with an obscure Chinese producer who in the beginning stated a capacity of 20.000 tablets per day - a figure which they later (without shame) had to reduce to 2000/day. From the beginning, this company also felt insecure about the battery life of their produce and rather did not want to guarantee anything on that item.

To be fair to Scope. most if not all companies only give between 6 months and a year warranty standard warranty on the battery for electronic equipment.

[jonclark]

Send the teachers back to school or sack them, the tablet is a glorified mobile phone, everyone has one of those right. If you can't get your head around a user friendly tablet you shouldn't be teaching. Simple.

Yep sacking the teachers should solve the problem - its so simple. I fail to see the relationship between being able to use a computer tablet and being a good teacher or in your eyes is it -a good teacher can use a computer tablet - why?

I'll take a crack at interpreting the statement to which you're replying...

It's equivalent to saying, "if you're too stupid to learn how to tie your own shoes, you don't belong in a classroom in front of the nation's youth," or, "if you have difficulty putting your food onto a spoon, then into your mouth, chewing and then swallowing, your position should be on the fringes of society, definitely not in any core roles."

Maybe I've read the original statement incorrectly... but if not, then I have to agree with it.

Exactly AJC, and to add...sacking is good motivation to learn. Thai teachers are quite lazy and don't do more than they have to.

So how would sacking those who refuse to learn improve the learning of the students. Surely it would only make overcrowding worse??

Maybe the same criteria should be used for foreign ESL teachers. If you haven't reached a certain level in Thai language (reading, writing and speaking) after a year you will be sacked from your job. After all if you can't learn a foreign language, maybe you shouldn't be teaching one. Many foreigners look at Thai language and it idiosyncrasies and fear it, just as older Thai teachers look at using tablets and fear using them.

[Markaew]

Yep sacking the teachers should solve the problem - its so simple. I fail to see the relationship between being able to use a computer tablet and being a good teacher or in your eyes is it -a good teacher can use a computer tablet - why?

I'll take a crack at interpreting the statement to which you're replying...

It's equivalent to saying, "if you're too stupid to learn how to tie your own shoes, you don't belong in a classroom in front of the nation's youth," or, "if you have difficulty putting your food onto a spoon, then into your mouth, chewing and then swallowing, your position should be on the fringes of society, definitely not in any core roles."

Maybe I've read the original statement incorrectly... but if not, then I have to agree with it.

Exactly AJC, and to add...sacking is good motivation to learn. Thai teachers are quite lazy and don't do more than they have to.

So how would sacking those who refuse to learn improve the learning of the students. Surely it would only make overcrowding worse??

Maybe the same criteria should be used for foreign ESL teachers. If you haven't reached a certain level in Thai language (reading, writing and speaking) after a year you will be sacked from your job. After all if you can't learn a foreign language, maybe you shouldn't be teaching one. Many foreigners look at Thai language and it idiosyncrasies and fear it, just as older Thai teachers look at using tablets and fear using them.

I think you are getting off track here. You should learn what you need to teach. Foreign teachers don't need to teach Thai. If a foreigner suddenly would be required to teach Thai then you would be correct.

[Markaew]

I think a lot of these comments are from imbeciles. One must learn the basics of education like counting 1 to 10. We need teachers for that. To teach computers / ipad / Tablet or whatever surely should be taught and is taught by staff that have the correct qualification in the subject. Would you go to a history teacher to teach mathematics??? Classroom teachers have enough to teach without adding further subjects to their curriculum. Age is not the problem, it is asking the unqualified to teach a subject they have not studied and in many cases cannot afford this equipment so have little to no knowledge of these things. In my opinion (I am entitled to that) calculators / PC's and the like do not belong in the classroom until the students are old enough and qualified enough to use then to enhance their particular and specific chosen subject. Many students can't read or write proficiently (in Thai) but are able to use the PC for games etc. How will they perform when they have a power cut and no battery to run their equipment on?

Enough said.

That argument doesn't float on this topic. I would say 99% of people that use a pc, tablet, or phone are self taught with hands-on usage. Your argument might float if we were talking about traditional subjects, but we aren't.

Computer is a widely taught subject in many schools now, taught by computer teachers. Although I do agree that most users are self taught. My son is very versed in the PC at aged 11 years but he has also learnt much from his computer subject at school.

Without saying so I was directing my comments toward adults. I agree the circumstance with your son would be true because youths may not have the exposure to computers and tablets that an adult may have so they would get that exposure in school because it is required. I am also saying that Thai teachers, as adults (over 35), are too lazy to learn for themselves. They have a pre-programmed environment they create for themselves and refuse to deviate from it.

[TeddyFlyfisherDavis]

Sounds like a lot of teachers will be out of a job...Most of the teachers in my wife's school are over 50. And so goes for the majority of schools I have visited...The mentality of the ones in power in this country seems to be a rather dangerous thing.

If they didn't see it, it never happened...If they don't feel it or smell it, it does not exist. If they don't get their act together soon then this country shall remain nothing more than "a plowed field". Perhaps not even that.

[anselpixel]

Just give the kids the tablets, they will teach the teachers

Exactly right

[Scott]

I have a little more sympathy for the teachers than most posters here. I find many things with the world of computing to be quite difficult to learn--of course, my motivation is generally low and my frustration level rather high.

A lot of things that need to be learned can't really be taught, at least easily. The teachers will need to sit down with the devices and do a lot of the learning on their own.

Most everything is easy, if you know how to do it.

[CantSpell]

Those aged from 40 to 50 seen as being slow to learn, may require extra training

MP's, Ministers, Gouvernment staff included?

Not MP's: we know since earlier this month that they can at least upload kinky stuff properly on Parliament screen...

Could read the title differently tho:

" Useless teachers over 40 years must be protected from losing face by keeping young students in the dark, no tablets will be delivered".

[khaowong1]

Just give the kids the tablets, they will teach the teachers

If you live in Thailand and have been around any Thai teachers, you know that this is what they are afraid of. Teachers have to be the power and knowledge in the classroom or they lose mucho face.

[visionchaser45]

Ageism is alive and well in Thailand. I was in graduate school when I was 44 and was near the top of my class cohort. That people between 40 - 50 are somehow slower learners is absolute nonsense. Cognitive slowing does not really begin until well after 50 and only affects short-term memory. Long-term memory remains intact throughout one's lifespan. Besides, as other posters have mentioned, the tablets are relatively simple to use because the user interface is not complitated. DOS was much more complicated and required considerably more memorization than modern user interfaces.

[BigJohnnyBKK]

I think a lot of these comments are from imbeciles. One must learn the basics of education like counting 1 to 10. We need teachers for that. To teach computers / ipad / Tablet or whatever surely should be taught and is taught by staff that have the correct qualification in the subject. Would you go to a history teacher to teach mathematics??? Classroom teachers have enough to teach without adding further subjects to their curriculum. Age is not the problem, it is asking the unqualified to teach a subject they have not studied and in many cases cannot afford this equipment so have little to no knowledge of these things.

No one is talking about teaching *about* computers. The purpose of technology in the classroom, like electronic whiteboards and these tablets is to replace books and paper as the *medium* of instruction, just tools to use for teaching reading and writing, maths, history etc.

For all those coming from a wealthy-country background talking about how great an idea this is, sure all fine well and good if the underlying infrastructure is able to handle it. Thailand's government education system is a total joke and is in shambles, needs tearing down and re-starting from the ground up, adding anything new and difficult on top of that is just a recipe for more disaster.

The tablets idea was just a flashy election promise and a total waste of money, no one who knows anything about the Thai public school system thinks they will do any good at all for the actual poor students of Thailand.

Edited April 30, 2012 by BigJohnnyBKK

[Ijustwannateach]

So somehow it's still gotta be news that the waste-of-space, waste-of-breath, never-gonna-arrive, never-gonna-work tablets that are simply consuming taxpayer money in the form of overhead bureaucracy and fancy meals, are somehow still gonna be a challenge for some of the older teachers to 'incorporate' in their lessons, as if anyone knew what was going to be on them even assuming they ever appeared.

Must be a REEAL slow news day......

[otherstuff1957]

I used to teach at a government school where 40% or so of the teachers were over 50 years old and about 1/4 of the staff were due to retire within the next 5 years. New teachers were being trained and employed at a rate would not cover the losses due to retirement. The school Admin were worried that they would have to increase class sizes from 30 -35 students up to about 50 in order to cope with the upcoming teacher shortage. This situation is not unique to that school and we can expect class sizes to increase across the board in schools throughout the country.

I suspect that the Thai teachers are resisting the tablets for a number of reasons:

Many of them are close to retirement age and just want to continue going through the motions of teaching until they can get out!

Some are uncomfortable with technology and don't want to lose face in front of their students.

Many of them are struggling to control 50 or more students and see these tablets as something that will be even more difficult to control.

I am a big fan of technology in the classroom, but I think that projectors in every classroom and laptops for the teachers would be a better way to introduce it to Thai classrooms.

P.S.: I forgot to ad that the "New Generation of Teachers Program", as I believe it was called, that was to encourage and subsidise new teachers, was cancelled to help pay for the tablet program.

Edited May 1, 2012 by otherstuff1957

[louse1953]

Just give the kids the tablets, they will teach the teachers

Spot on,my nephew is teaching me.

[aitch52]

How about... and here comes the shock headline... a projector screen and teach the kids together as opposed to having 30 kids in a room; half playing games and FB, the others watching the same thing at different times, some with dead batteries, others who have left their tablet at home or had it knicked from them...so many reasons why this tablet idea is just rubbish.

Agree entirely with this sentiment. I was involved in a project similar to this when working as an Airframe/Engine Instructor in the early 90's. A tremendous bit of kit, very powerful and with 2 screens you could show the objective of the lesson on one screen and the part you were teaching on the other so that the students could cross refer. You could also blank one or both screens to check students understanding. The hardware and software in those days came close to 1 million pounds for 3 classrooms. We had many meetings about it and came to the decision that the Computerised Assisted Training System (CATS) would only be used for 20% of the course, the rest being traditional chalk and talk. The feeling being in those days that the students would be watching the show rather than learning. However the software and hardware enabled us to improve the traditional OHP presentation to new heights. This talk of teachers of over 50 forgetting what they are being taught is an insult and a typical Thai politicians smokescreen for their own failure. Shame on them. This tablet farce has been a 3 ringed circus from beginning to end, pure entertainment.

[sirchai]

"Many schools do not even have electricity for charging batteries, let alone an Internet connection, which is vital for their use."

Then make it happen that they get it...............