Tablet Computer Distribution Kicks Off In Thailand

[MaxLee]

Thailand kids will be on the path of unconstructive communication and attention deficit disorder with this policy.

[looping]

WHY don't the Thai govt put our fears to rest and publish on YouTube some tutorials for students, parents, and the rest of us, showing exactly what's been pre-loaded on the tablets, as well as some videos for teachers showing suggested uses?

Maybe it's a bit too technical for them? Or too simplistic?

[Unkomoncents]

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.

They [tablets] are excellent substitutes for parenting.

[Jeffrey346]

WHY don't the Thai govt put our fears to rest and publish on YouTube some tutorials for students, parents, and the rest of us, showing exactly what's been pre-loaded on the tablets, as well as some videos for teachers showing suggested uses?

Maybe it's a bit too technical for them? Or too simplistic?

You need internet which most don't have at home. AND What makes you think the Thai Gov. knows how to post to YT.

Edited July 19, 2012 by Jeffrey346

[hellodolly]

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.

Please don't be obtuse. The price of your child's tablet is close to the gross monthly income of many Thais, and they are struggling to make ends meet. Which means it take a big slab and many months of their elective spending to buy a glorified toy for a young child. Not everybody can afford it.

Notice how he managed to brag up the machine and it's good value for his kids.

1 How much did it cost more than 20,000 baht?

2 Was it just full of games?

3 How old are your kid's in there 20s?

[hellodolly]

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

Seems like a lot of things to expect for a cheap pad in the hands of a first grader who can't read or write or for that matter add two + two and get four.

As a former educator you should be aware of the fact hat you go to school to learn how to learn. You do not go to school to learn how to turn on a machine and let it do all the work. Perhaps if they would try to educate them first and introduce the pads in at the late third year or fourth year it would be seen as a tool to help not a machine to do the work.

[hellodolly]

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?!

Your first clue that you are making a false statement was when bird poo liked it.

There is 2,000 schools with out electricity. There should be no schools with out electricity. For two thousand schools to be 1% of the schools there would have to be 200,000 schools and it would still not be a acceptable %.

[hellodolly]

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

They are sending them to the schools without electricity

[hellodolly]

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 kind of logic is that where the parent has to guarantee the welfare of the machine that is in the school care 24/7

[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.

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+

No direct support from Apple UK. The iPads were initially used in KS1 and were then rolled out into the foundation stage, so from ages 4-7.

You say one school, but it needs to start somewhere. Since we introduced them a number of other schools in the LEA have followed suit. We acted as a training school for them.

I agree about projectors and interactive whiteboards, but please don't forget many schools in Thailand have no ICT facilities whatsoever for the children, and the said same kids have little access out of school. The tablets provide that.

I'm not blindly defending the whole tablet program; there are lots of potential problems still to be resolved. There is however huge potential benefits from this scheme.

What annoys me is the amount of negativity from so many people on here, but then again, this Is the TV forum so what else can I expect?

Edited July 19, 2012 by LucidLucifer

[Dr Robert]

This is a very important initiative which

has tremendous potential for the development of Thai education ad cannnot be underestimated as a big step forward. Yes, teachers need training, but the axiomatic concept that the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step rings a most respondent chord on this issue

This is my first post and I hope to meet and talk with all of you sooner or later.

thanks for indulging

Dr Robert

[hellodolly]

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

Well I am one of those who deride it as a feeble attempt to gain votes.,If they were to teach them to read and write plus add and subtract and use their reasoning abilities before given them the dubious tablets. Say like in late grade three or fourth grade I would be kind of behind it. The reservations being I would not trust them to get a machine of any quality and be very dubious of what they loaded into it and their ability to deliver it WiFi. If you have been in Thailand long you know that the government has actively tried to hold back progress in that field mainly to make sure they got their cut of the pie.

I have to laugh when I read the post by a teacher in England where they introduced I pads.

He compares it to Thailand where they are going to introduce a machine of dubious quality and no known back ground to first grader's. I notice he did not say what grade the students were all given I pads in. If it was the first grade I can see where they got the Merry Old England from.

[hellodolly]

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+

I have absolutely no teaching experience. But it seems to me some thing on a projector would allow the teacher to visually rather than off to the side speaking teach.

It would in my opinion promote more interaction in the class room. My way of thinking is that the students would be very subtly encouraged to think for them selves. Where as if they each had a pad and no other visual they could drift off of the topic. Into the magical world of a 5 year old.

Edited July 19, 2012 by hellodolly

[Sakeopete]

It is a requirement for grade 1 students to have an I-pad at my son's school. I was skeptical at first but after seeing the results I am all for it. The school loaded learning software and the kids have fun using it. Even my 3 y/o uses it, I had to purchase a second one for her so she wouldn't keep taking my son's I-pad.

I think they are a great tool for kids if administrated properly but I have little faith government schools will do it right.

[BrianCR]

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

Yes, through a series of seminars held in Bangkok over the past few months - do you really believe that all Thai's are stupid?

[hellodolly]

It is a requirement for grade 1 students to have an I-pad at my son's school. I was skeptical at first but after seeing the results I am all for it. The school loaded learning software and the kids have fun using it. Even my 3 y/o uses it, I had to purchase a second one for her so she wouldn't keep taking my son's I-pad.

I think they are a great tool for kids if administrated properly but I have little faith government schools will do it right.

You are overlooking the fact that their is a big difference between a I pad and the pad the Government is buying. To top that off I have a lot of doubt as to what they will put on the machine and will the school have WiFi and electricity.

They can try all they want but they will never be able to replace the human teacher at that level of education and they would be wise to introduce new programs for those teachers to be able to teach better. Bring in the Pads in a couple of years.

I am not a psychologist or any thing like that. But I do know that they do not mentally mature until they are at about age 7. Then let them learn how to use machines to help them. In the first grade there mind is looking at it as a toy.

[OzMick]

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

Just got here, and know it all. Actually SFA. AIS no longer has the monopoly it held for many years.

[BrianCR]

This is a very important initiative which

has tremendous potential for the development of Thai education ad cannnot be underestimated as a big step forward. Yes, teachers need training, but the axiomatic concept that the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step rings a most respondent chord on this issue

This is my first post and I hope to meet and talk with all of you sooner or later.

thanks for indulging

Dr Robert

At last a sensible post by a westerner not knocking everything that happens in this Country! Please keep up the good thoughts and don't become affected by the 'knockers'

[apetley]

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?!

Good question.

Anyone know how many schools have wifi too?

Sent from my GT-I9003 using Thaivisa Connect App

[thaicbr]

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

Yes, through a series of seminars held in Bangkok over the past few months - do you really believe that all Thai's are stupid?

BrianCr. Where is your proof that teachers have been taught to use these. I have seen some limited training on the daily / weekly PTP pr bullshit. But that's all.

Thais are not stupid. They are not all clever either. Same as any nation with a 2nd rate education system.

sent from my Wellcom A90+

[thaicbr]

This is a very important initiative which

has tremendous potential for the development of Thai education ad cannnot be underestimated as a big step forward. Yes, teachers need training, but the axiomatic concept that the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step rings a most respondent chord on this issue

This is my first post and I hope to meet and talk with all of you sooner or later.

thanks for indulging

Dr Robert

Dr Robert. Can I ask have you ever seen or taught in a government school?

They need to fix the broken things BEFORE adding to them. Bring the schools up to scratch. Electricity. Internet. Teachers training. Then in about 5-10 years they will be ready.

in the meantime produce interactive programs for use with projectors and e- boards.

sent from my Wellcom A90+

[sirchai]

You don’t have to be an educator, or a scientist to understand that the whole tablet BS suksc.

The reds’ promised it and here we go.

I doubt that a tiny tablet can help to learn how to read, write and speak. And most kids at Anuban can’t read or write. Guess they’ll still need a sort of notebook to practice writing.

Not mentioning the damage to their eyes already in an early age.

Well, we might see many little customers at Top Charoen soon, who knows? (I never see anybody inside, excluding the mostly good looking staff.)

I’m using a projector, got most of the time Internet and I do use some very good programmes. This simple technology could be used for almost all subjects.

What about a science, English, a Thai language, music etc.. classroom equipped with a projector and a simple PC? I believe it would make sense and kids would enjoy learning much more.

No wasted time to write on the white/blackboard. Preparation, for example PPSs might take a little longer than creating, or just downloading a worksheet.

Yingand Yang. The good and the bad things about technology.

[thaicbr]

It is a requirement for grade 1 students to have an I-pad at my son's school. I was skeptical at first but after seeing the results I am all for it. The school loaded learning software and the kids have fun using it. Even my 3 y/o uses it, I had to purchase a second one for her so she wouldn't keep taking my son's I-pad.

I think they are a great tool for kids if administrated properly but I have little faith government schools will do it right.

Sake. Does your kids school use chalk boards or white boards (interactive white boards)?

Does it have wifi internet?

Does it have safe ipad charging points?

The last thing is very important. At least i think so.

sent from my Wellcom A90+

[Grafted]

I humbly suggest too few commentators have seen the engaging multi-sensory learning that can come from well designed (pedagogically, technically and visually) apps.

If you had you would soon become aware that much of our old style teaching is in fact regressive. Even the best of teachers will tell you that they hold back a majority of children with senseless repetition of examples of things they can already do, and are unable to explore the various learning methods of all the kids.

While I would never suggest that tablets should or even could be used to teach the whole curriculum, they are brilliant at engaging and especially so for the youngest of children. Audio, visual and even tactile (the screen buzzes under the finger) response can be given and the child is 100% engaged and well motivated to learn.

Tablets are TOUCH machines, What is more natural suitable for children than the tablet.

lastly, remember the set of encyclopedias you had at home. We had both Junior and the full set of adult Britannicas. Brittanica is now OUT OF PRINT, IT IS ONLINE ONLY. In 50 years how many books.

[Dap]

Let the mindless stupidity begin...

Too late. That began a loooong time ago and continues unabated.

[xavierr]

Shame to call this "the country’s education revolution" when Thailand has not even printed a simple set of English primers. It would certainly not have been that expensive to print a set of simple down-to earth textbooks to teach basic English to Thai students throughout the country.

English is increasingly going to be the main language of communication between the people belonging to ASEAN countries, but the tablets serve little purpose in that direction.

[Sakeopete]

It is a requirement for grade 1 students to have an I-pad at my son's school. I was skeptical at first but after seeing the results I am all for it. The school loaded learning software and the kids have fun using it. Even my 3 y/o uses it, I had to purchase a second one for her so she wouldn't keep taking my son's I-pad.

I think they are a great tool for kids if administrated properly but I have little faith government schools will do it right.

Sake. Does your kids school use chalk boards or white boards (interactive white boards)?

Does it have wifi internet?

Does it have safe ipad charging points?

The last thing is very important. At least i think so.

sent from my Wellcom A90+

They still use white boards and other teaching methods. Their school is a private Hua Hin school they have wifi and charging is done at home.

The school collects the I-pads in the morning and distributes them back to the students when they are needed in class. That keeps them from playing games. At the end of the day they are given back to the students to take home.

The students are given I-pad homework and the parents can log into the I-pad to see their childs progress and grades submitted by the teachers.

[Dap]

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.

I have read several times that at least 2000 have no electricity.

[Dap]

This is a very important initiative which

has tremendous potential for the development of Thai education ad cannnot be underestimated as a big step forward. Yes, teachers need training, but the axiomatic concept that the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step rings a most respondent chord on this issue

This is my first post and I hope to meet and talk with all of you sooner or later.

thanks for indulging

Dr Robert

Welcome to TVF Dr. Robert. Better batten down the hatches it's gonna' be an interesting ride.

[LuckyLew]

How will giving grade one students a useless piece of crap with no wifi help the education revolution?

The only revolution might be when the kids realize what utter crap they have been given