Tablet Computer Distribution Kicks Off In Thailand

[GreenSnapper]

Has anyone taught the teachers how to use them in class?

That's the job of the students.

Sure. These kids can use Facebook and play Angry Birds.

All you need for a tablet.

[loong]

Hmmm.. this thing about parents having to sign a contract is news to me. I'm sure that this is the first time that I have seen this mentioned. I wonder what liability the parents will have if the tablets are damaged or stolen.

If I remember rightly, the children will not be allowed to take the tablets home and they will stay on the school premises. If this is still true, I anticipate a spate of break-ins at many schools.

[LucidLucifer]

in other news, the first IPAD school in the world, has gone back to work with paper books ...

On the contrary. I was part of the teaching staff at one of the pioneering schools in the UK to embed iPads into the curriculum (a fact acknowleded by Apple UK). We have never looked back, they are a revelation.

[dindong]

Wonder what the life span of a 3000 baht tablet in the hands of a 6 year old is.

It certainly will not be 3 years.

[ginjag]

Hmmm.. this thing about parents having to sign a contract is news to me. I'm sure that this is the first time that I have seen this mentioned. I wonder what liability the parents will have if the tablets are damaged or stolen.

If I remember rightly, the children will not be allowed to take the tablets home and they will stay on the school premises. If this is still true, I anticipate a spate of break-ins at many schools.

What a shambles, how many has arrived ??? out of how many promissed 1 year ago-election gimic. was it 9 million needed for every child initially ??? how long for the other 8 million ??? this is a sick pledge that will NEVER be totally fulfilled

[SuneeTH]

in other news, the first IPAD school in the world, has gone back to work with paper books ...

On the contrary. I was part of the teaching staff at one of the pioneering schools in the UK to embed iPads into the curriculum (a fact acknowleded by Apple UK). We have never looked back, they are a revelation.

That is UK.

In Thailand, many rural school don't have electricity. Some don't even have proper toilets nor clean running water.

[kimamey]

New books, new classrooms, improved teaching-techniques, and even electricity would have been better.

But those boring old mundane things don't give Yingluck the same positive facesaving photo-ops.

Thailand as a country has over 99% electrification. Are there really any more than a handful of schools that don't have electricity?!

I seem to remember it was between 2 and 3,000.

[thaicbr]

Let the mindless stupidity begin...

I do not understand - what this fuss is about?

Children love tablets!

I did not wait for government intiative - last Christmas my kids got their tablets from Santa Claus.

Today - more then half a year later I can say:

it was the best Christmas gift ever!

They love it!Nothing broken,kids are very pro in using them.

What I bought was nothing special - no ipads or galaxys: comon variety from Shenzen in Panthip.

Anybody can afford it.

You got a shenzen scope tab in panthip? Wow

Also your kids are using as a play education aid. How would you use them to teach in classes of 40 plus in schools with no wifi internet??

sent from my Wellcom A90+

[thaicbr]

in other news, the first IPAD school in the world, has gone back to work with paper books ...

On the contrary. I was part of the teaching staff at one of the pioneering schools in the UK to embed iPads into the curriculum (a fact acknowleded by Apple UK). We have never looked back, they are a revelation.

Good on you. But your talking IPads with I presume support from Apple in the Uk that has a reasonable internet connection. Oh and at one school. What age range used the pads?

What most people say is that the money would have been better spent on projectors or interactive white boards. Would you agree?

sent from my Wellcom A90+

[ggold]

Thailand leapfrogged costly first world technology of landlines for their phone system. It was not necessary to first have land lines and then progress to mobiles.

Education has been following a classroom model for about 600 years. Books are great but will we still be cutting down trees to make them in 50 years? 100?

As an ex educator and an embracer of change I applaud the govt for QUICKLY rolling out this scheme. For sure I do not know what content and applications have been or will be developed for the OTPChild program but it certainly looks like they are quickly getting the NEW BLACKBOARDS in place, perhaps the new chalk and the new writing on the board is in train or will be soon.

Thailand educates a lot if not well. In Lampang education is a disease with many kids attending school type activities 6 days and some 7 as they race to find their place at the top. There is a bank of skilled programmers and of graphic designers. These skills could be soaked up quickly if combined with creative educationalists.

Then again, there is scope for the enterprising Entrepreneur to develop Govt approved apps to enhance learning. A Where in Thailand is Carmen Sandiego may enhance Thai geography, a series of reading materials based on the excellent work of Science research Associates (US) could also be adapted. I wish I had the smarts to do it - I see it as an open field for positive contribution to society and maybe make some shekels.

To all the naysayers, remember the Luddites, to myself, remember cold fusion.

Of course

I would like to agree with you, but my understanding is that this is a one off, the new grade 1 students next year will not be getting new tablets.

Sent from my GT-P6200 using Thaivisa Connect App

[Skywalker69]

New books, new classrooms, improved teaching-techniques, and even electricity would have been better.

But those boring old mundane things don't give Yingluck the same positive facesaving photo-ops.

Thailand as a country has over 99% electrification. Are there really any more than a handful of schools that don't have electricity?!

A handful is a handful to much.

[Skywalker69]

Thailand leapfrogged costly first world technology of landlines for their phone system. It was not necessary to first have land lines and then progress to mobiles.

Education has been following a classroom model for about 600 years. Books are great but will we still be cutting down trees to make them in 50 years? 100?

As an ex educator and an embracer of change I applaud the govt for QUICKLY rolling out this scheme. For sure I do not know what content and applications have been or will be developed for the OTPChild program but it certainly looks like they are quickly getting the NEW BLACKBOARDS in place, perhaps the new chalk and the new writing on the board is in train or will be soon.

Thailand educates a lot if not well. In Lampang education is a disease with many kids attending school type activities 6 days and some 7 as they race to find their place at the top. There is a bank of skilled programmers and of graphic designers. These skills could be soaked up quickly if combined with creative educationalists.

Then again, there is scope for the enterprising Entrepreneur to develop Govt approved apps to enhance learning. A Where in Thailand is Carmen Sandiego may enhance Thai geography, a series of reading materials based on the excellent work of Science research Associates (US) could also be adapted. I wish I had the smarts to do it - I see it as an open field for positive contribution to society and maybe make some shekels.

To all the naysayers, remember the Luddites, to myself, remember cold fusion.

Of course

When Thailand rushed to mobile phone technology, they did so by handing a corrupt businessman a monopoly which allowed him to overcharge for phones and calls, reaping him billions of baht. Now his puppet/clone sister is making a great leap forward in education with computer tablets - pardon me for suspecting another rort.

Good post!!!

[whybother]

Thailand as a country has over 99% electrification. Are there really any more than a handful of schools that don't have electricity?!

A "handful" of 2000.

[whybother]

I would like to agree with you, but my understanding is that this is a one off, the new grade 1 students next year will not be getting new tablets.

Next year, grade 2's will get tablets.

[hansgruber]

It's time to search the pawn shops and pick up one these for myself.

[lostinisaan]

At least they've got A Dinosaur museum in kalasin........

[lostinisaan]

It's time to search the pawn shops and pick up one these for myself.

I've got the first one delivered to Thailand! Nobody knows how to switch it on. But I'll ask a grade one teacher in kalasin next week......

Edited July 19, 2012 by lostinisaan

[473geo]

Thailand leapfrogged costly first world technology of landlines for their phone system. It was not necessary to first have land lines and then progress to mobiles.

Education has been following a classroom model for about 600 years. Books are great but will we still be cutting down trees to make them in 50 years? 100?

As an ex educator and an embracer of change I applaud the govt for QUICKLY rolling out this scheme. For sure I do not know what content and applications have been or will be developed for the OTPChild program but it certainly looks like they are quickly getting the NEW BLACKBOARDS in place, perhaps the new chalk and the new writing on the board is in train or will be soon.

Thailand educates a lot if not well. In Lampang education is a disease with many kids attending school type activities 6 days and some 7 as they race to find their place at the top. There is a bank of skilled programmers and of graphic designers. These skills could be soaked up quickly if combined with creative educationalists.

Then again, there is scope for the enterprising Entrepreneur to develop Govt approved apps to enhance learning. A Where in Thailand is Carmen Sandiego may enhance Thai geography, a series of reading materials based on the excellent work of Science research Associates (US) could also be adapted. I wish I had the smarts to do it - I see it as an open field for positive contribution to society and maybe make some shekels.

To all the naysayers, remember the Luddites, to myself, remember cold fusion.

Of course

When Thailand rushed to mobile phone technology, they did so by handing a corrupt businessman a monopoly which allowed him to overcharge for phones and calls, reaping him billions of baht. Now his puppet/clone sister is making a great leap forward in education with computer tablets - pardon me for suspecting another rort.

Good post!!!

Crap post - shows a very limited understanding, another attempt to knock the government with dreamed up fabrication and allegation

As I mentioned some months ago I bought my son a second hand basic laptop, still running well, he takes good care of his laptop, and sure plays games, I see his memory being used and improving, a great asset for future learning, I am impressed by his ability to work out solutions, he is not yet 6 years old.

So often we see on these boards that the Thai must be trained to take responsibilty, well here is an opportunity for the children to learn to take responsibility at an early age

The people who deride this initiative in a feeble effort to make political gain only serve to highlight how backward their thinking really is

[lostinisaan]

I would like to agree with you, but my understanding is that this is a one off, the new grade 1 students next year will not be getting new tablets.

Next year, grade 2's will get tablets.

Next year the grade 2 kids will teach the grade ones and the Thai teachers how to use them...

[rubl]

Meanwhile, Mr Anudith said that the ICT's procurement committee conducted a random sampling with 500 and found seven of them with some errors, in particular errors about the touchscreen display.Still, the flaws discovered in the random sample met the procurement criteria and were considered acceptable.

Interesting, oh so long ago on the 10th this month someoe said"As of now, 61,000 tablets have been delivered and the ICT Ministry started checking them yesterday. It will check all tablets on a lot-by-lot basis, with 500 picked for a random check. It expects to spend five days on checking each lot of 50,000 tablets....ICT Ministry permanent secretary Jeerawan Boonperm said that if seven units in a lot of 50,000 did not meet international standards, the ministry will reject the entire lot."

http://www.thaivisa....blets-thailand/

So the flaw were very minor flaws indeed, nothing to worry about, touchscreens need to be touched with a wee bit more force only

Edited July 19, 2012 by rubl

[rubl]

New books, new classrooms, improved teaching-techniques, and even electricity would have been better.

But those boring old mundane things don't give Yingluck the same positive facesaving photo-ops.

Thailand as a country has over 99% electrification. Are there really any more than a handful of schools that don't have electricity?!

"Schools without electricity or adequate facilities to support tablet use in classrooms (e.g., electrical outlets and televisions), or whose teachers are unable to make use of such technological tools, will not be eligible to receive the tablets. More than 2,000 schools do not have electricity."

http://www.thaivisa....ssure-thailand/

EDIT: ADD there are about 22,000 schools in Thailand as far as I know

Edited July 19, 2012 by rubl

[thaicbr]

Thailand leapfrogged costly first world technology of landlines for their phone system. It was not necessary to first have land lines and then progress to mobiles.

Education has been following a classroom model for about 600 years. Books are great but will we still be cutting down trees to make them in 50 years? 100?

As an ex educator and an embracer of change I applaud the govt for QUICKLY rolling out this scheme. For sure I do not know what content and applications have been or will be developed for the OTPChild program but it certainly looks like they are quickly getting the NEW BLACKBOARDS in place, perhaps the new chalk and the new writing on the board is in train or will be soon.

Thailand educates a lot if not well. In Lampang education is a disease with many kids attending school type activities 6 days and some 7 as they race to find their place at the top. There is a bank of skilled programmers and of graphic designers. These skills could be soaked up quickly if combined with creative educationalists.

Then again, there is scope for the enterprising Entrepreneur to develop Govt approved apps to enhance learning. A Where in Thailand is Carmen Sandiego may enhance Thai geography, a series of reading materials based on the excellent work of Science research Associates (US) could also be adapted. I wish I had the smarts to do it - I see it as an open field for positive contribution to society and maybe make some shekels.

To all the naysayers, remember the Luddites, to myself, remember cold fusion.

Of course

When Thailand rushed to mobile phone technology, they did so by handing a corrupt businessman a monopoly which allowed him to overcharge for phones and calls, reaping him billions of baht. Now his puppet/clone sister is making a great leap forward in education with computer tablets - pardon me for suspecting another rort.

Good post!!!

Crap post - shows a very limited understanding, another attempt to knock the government with dreamed up fabrication and allegation

As I mentioned some months ago I bought my son a second hand basic laptop, still running well, he takes good care of his laptop, and sure plays games, I see his memory being used and improving, a great asset for future learning, I am impressed by his ability to work out solutions, he is not yet 6 years old.

So often we see on these boards that the Thai must be trained to take responsibilty, well here is an opportunity for the children to learn to take responsibility at an early age

The people who deride this initiative in a feeble effort to make political gain only serve to highlight how backward their thinking really is

<deleted>. The people that deride this "initiative " as you put it understand the waste of money (135 billion baht) that could have been spent in a more meaningful way. This "initiative " was purely a vote buyer.

Many thai schools already have computer labs. But suffer from lack of classroom teaching aids like computers linked to projectors or god forbid interactive white boards.

sent from my Wellcom A90+

[Grafted]

of its nothing, out of the 800.000, only 11.200 will not work (7 out of 500, 1.4%)

1.4% failure rate of any manufactured product is not high. A simple blender, a toaster, something you would think is not so hard to make, these have significantly higher fail rates for almost every brand. Toyota, the QC exemplary, has, in the past few years been beset by failure rates, but they are still in business, still number 1 in many regions.

As for teachers, let me inquire if you can use a tablet? Did you go to a college to learn, how many certificates do you have in Android, IOS, iTunes etc. I suspect the IQ of the average TV poster including those quoted is NOT higher than the average Thai teacher. Get a grip, Apps for kids are not going to require an age to learn. By the kids or the teachers.

There will be hiccups in implementation, but probably no more than if Canada or UK tried to introduce such a scheme. Certainly to my knowledge Australia (where I taught) has done nothing in implementing a computer assisted curriculum - NOTHING. I left the committee (NSW Computers in Ed) assigned to look into this in the 80's frustrated that all they had in mind was "computer awareness" A computer - ie tablet, is the modern equivalent of the slate - a blank screen that can come alive with exciting learning material and interactive opportunity.

I think sometimes the derogatory talk here smacks of racism.

[473geo]

<deleted>. The people that deride this "initiative " as you put it understand the waste of money (135 billion baht) that could have been spent in a more meaningful way. This "initiative " was purely a vote buyer.

Many thai schools already have computer labs. But suffer from lack of classroom teaching aids like computers linked to projectors or god forbid interactive white boards.

sent from my Wellcom A90+

Well done, proved my point

There was an article in the Nation not so long ago that claimed there was more than adequate funding for education, the problem was with the distribution and implementation.......you really should keep up

Thank god the government has taken an initiative and bypassed the dinosaurs that have been stiffling Thai education system for years

[Grafted]

THAICBR: Many thai schools already have computer labs. But suffer from lack of classroom teaching aids like computers linked to projectors or god forbid interactive white boards.

Um .... as is the case in Australia. Just because a technology exists, it does not mean it must be used. Personally I think both projectors and electronic white boards are dandy but quite useless. They promote instructor led learning, a worn out, anachronistic model. Inquiry based learning and self paced approaches produce measurably better outcomes.

[airport5]

So ever year they are going to by tablets for P-1 students? Yeah right.

In the west we have decent buildings and books.

Last but not least how are teachers going to know kids aren't messing around with some game the whole time?

[Grafted]

OZMICK: When Thailand rushed to mobile phone technology, they did so by handing a corrupt businessman a monopoly which allowed him to overcharge for phones and calls, reaping him billions of baht. Now his puppet/clone sister is making a great leap forward in education with computer tablets - pardon me for suspecting another rort.

I'm not sure where Thailand rates on the scale of most expensive phone calls in the world. Mick, you're an Aussie, do you think 1 baht a minute is expensive .... Calls to Standard Australian Numbers 90¢ per minute + 35¢ flagfall

Copied from TPG website (a cheap provider)

Um that makes Australian calls more than 30 times as expensive Does that imply Hawke, or Keating were 30 times worse than Thaksin. Mick I'll bet your a nice bloke, so please go easy on my mate Bob. The Thai people exercised their free and fair vote. They are not all stupid. To many many intelligent peopleit is not about how much bread another is carrying, but what they have on their table

[rubl]

<deleted>. The people that deride this "initiative " as you put it understand the waste of money (135 billion baht) that could have been spent in a more meaningful way. This "initiative " was purely a vote buyer.Many thai schools already have computer labs. But suffer from lack of classroom teaching aids like computers linked to projectors or god forbid interactive white boards.sent from my Wellcom A90+

Well done, proved my pointThere was an article in the Nation not so long ago that claimed there was more than adequate funding for education, the problem was with the distribution and implementation.......you really should keep upThank god the government has taken an initiative and bypassed the dinosaurs that have been stiffling Thai education system for years

The Ministry of Education has a 2012 budget of THB 420 billion (28% of national budget I think). How much of that is actually spent on education is everybodies guess

EDIT ADD: the budget excludes the THB 2.?? billion for the tabletPCs, that's additional

Edited July 19, 2012 by rubl

[thaicbr]

THAICBR: Many thai schools already have computer labs. But suffer from lack of classroom teaching aids like computers linked to projectors or god forbid interactive white boards.

Um .... as is the case in Australia. Just because a technology exists, it does not mean it must be used. Personally I think both projectors and electronic white boards are dandy but quite useless. They promote instructor led learning, a worn out, anachronistic model. Inquiry based learning and self paced approaches produce measurably better outcomes.

Grafted. We will differ on opinion. I would imagine you have never even seen a thai classroom let alone taught in one.

My opinion is using a Projector or better still an interactive white board is teacher lead but with interaction with the students. Tablets are the opposite.

just because tablets exist it does not mean they should be used. For teaching in Thailand to P1 useless.

sent from my Wellcom A90+

[Jeffrey346]

The real issue is they are kids and they will drop the tablet. Once they do that tablet is toast. Repair will cost more then the tablet is worth.