Thailand Could Be Major E-Learning Hub In Region

[mochafan]

PLEASE - stop using the word "hub" for everything - yes we know what it means, but its overuse has made the subject laughable... try using "center for" or "focus point" or something... probably just as bad though.

In order to become a hub or center for something, it has to be recognised as such BY OTHERS... not by the ones setting it up and just naming it that way.

There are some good comments on this subject, and I think support of a real e-learning programme at university is an excellent idea - but as one person pointed out - as long as the exams are taken seriously.

I totally agree with the use of the word 'Hub'. Every time it's mentioned now, i can't take them seriously. It has become a big joke.

[jbrain]

Sure Thailand could be the hub for e-learning.

Bring up some more of these screens

[McMagus]

Hub: 'The centre part of a wheel, fan, or propeller.'

[jcw]

I wouldn't mind a Thai degree, how much is it to not fail?

[jbrain]

I wouldn't mind a Thai degree, how much is it to not fail?

I thought Thai schools are not allowed to fail their students.

[HHBM]

Setting aside for a moment the notion that so much of education has been commercialized and means next to nothing in terms of knowledge and skills, would it be so terrible if there were just certain examinations that anyone could take to show knowledge equivalent to what would be required of that individual in a particular field? For example, I think that in the past people could become lawyers by proving their knowledge of the law, which they gained by reading rather than attending law school. Already too much time is wasted in classrooms.

[Crushdepth]

Keep dreaming, Professor. And you might want to check our www.coursera.org some time.

[zydeco]

No, it could not.

[Payboy]

"Good morning class, today we are going to learn the letter E"

E is for Elephant Football. Did I get that right?

[uptheos]

There are on-line courses that have been elaborately set up, are run by NGO's and receive excellent funding (plus salaries).

Problem is they have no students!

[Misterwhisper]

Sure Thailand could be the hub for e-learning.

Bring up some more of these screens

And what have we e-learned today from these screens? Well, that you should NEVER EVER contact "for more information" any of the mentioned phone numbers and complain that you were unable to access a certain webpage. That is, unless you want to risk an unannounced visit by computer crime police, including a thorough screening of your hard disk and Internet browsing history. Class dismissed!

[sunshine51]

I agree with Moruya's post #3. Then toss in some substandard tablet pc's and

enhance it all with politico's only interested their bank accounts and what do the

kids end up with?

Yeah...another hub...only all the tires are flat.

[bigbamboo]

PLEASE - stop using the word "hub" for everything - yes we know what it means, but its overuse has made the subject laughable... try using "center for" or "focus point" or something... probably just as bad though.

In order to become a hub or center for something, it has to be recognised as such BY OTHERS... not by the ones setting it up and just naming it that way.

There are some good comments on this subject, and I think support of a real e-learning programme at university is an excellent idea - but as one person pointed out - as long as the exams are taken seriously.

How about a focus point for hubs?

[osiboy]

"In order to become a hub or center for something, it has to be recognised as such BY OTHERS... not by the ones setting it up and just naming it that way."

HEAR HEAR! Well said!

yes, it could be the the hub for names that mean the same as, or are similar to hub

[innovator]

Maybe they should stick with their core strengths....

Hub of Pubs

[seminomadic]

ThaiVisa Thai News should have a "hub clock" that counts the number of days from the last time the TH media mill doesn't mention hub.

Just to see how many days they can go.

[Thai at Heart]

ThaiVisa Thai News should have a "hub clock" that counts the number of days from the last time the TH media mill doesn't mention hub.

Just to see how many days they can go.

I also want an "urge" and a :"slam" clock

Urge : 'a pooyai says something that another pooyai intends to ignore completely"

Slam : "someone, normally in the opposition party feigns annoyance at the conduct of the government, knowing that no one is listening"

[Rancid]

Priceless, just when you think you have heard the epoch of hub delusions, some new whacko comes out and ups the ante. You couldn't make this stuff up, is it something in the water or nationalism for the mentaly challemged?

[monty1412]

Ahh another hub..... Thailand certainly racking them up.

If you piled all the hubs up it would almost be higher than the rice pile waiting waiting waiting for customers.

Can someone tell Thai Tourism to change from Amazing Thaialnd... to thailand the hub to end hubs

[Thai at Heart]

Priceless, just when you think you have heard the epoch of hub delusions, some new whacko comes out and ups the ante. You couldn't make this stuff up, is it something in the water or nationalism for the mentaly challemged?

First course they will probably try to market will be a masters in political science.

[Card]

eLearning has major advantages. The most important being the subject matter would be unopinionated (by the lecturer) and of course brighter students can move through the course at their own pace. It would also allow those wanting a degree the opportunity to achieve rather than rich daddy sending his hi-so child to Uni to get a degree when the child has no interest whatsoever. I took a class recently at a Thai Uni and one of the students walked in - an hour late, dropped her head on the desk and proceeded to sleep. I woke her and told her to leave if she had no interest and not to disrespect my other students or me. This is the typical example of attitude of Thai kids who care not about a degree but are filling in time because their parents are paying for it. She no doubt will receive the paper with the photo of the royal hand out to show the relatives but be completely clueless of the subject. eLearning will remove that factor as long as the examinations are not tainted.

If you teach her, then I assume you are in a position to prevent her from passing. Or do you criticise the system then follow it?

eLearning will not remove any such factors - because it only works for those who are motivated to use it effectively 9just as with face-to-face teaching. Assignments (unless designed to avoid it) could be downloaded from the internet, just as with face-to-face teaching (unless you have effective anti-plagiarism software, if such exists) and there is no reason to believe that conventional exams will not be conducted in any other way than they are at present. The one main advantage is that online discussions can be more easily monitored (and if necessary or desirable, assessed - although there is no guarantee that the student is actually doing the writing, even with a video link up) than face-to-face ones because they are written and can be recorded).

I am greatly in favour of eLearning and was once a pioneer at my university in London, but it is not a panacea, as it seems to be portrayed in this article, and could easily prove detrimental if poorly presented in an unsuitable environment. The main general advantage is the 'any place. any time' distance/pt scenario, enabling students to study a web-based course if they cannot attend a face-to-face one.

[bigbamboo]

Priceless, just when you think you have heard the epoch of hub delusions, some new whacko comes out and ups the ante. You couldn't make this stuff up, is it something in the water or nationalism for the mentaly challemged?

First course they will probably try to market will be a masters in political science.

A course in Applied Rice Management might be more useful.

[Tatsujin]

"Before we promote our online programmes to open up the Asean market, we must ensure our quality first as well as enhance our English language to be acceptable among other countries that use English, otherwise we will fail," Kamjorn said.

[unanimosity]

eLearning has major advantages. The most important being the subject matter would be unopinionated (by the lecturer) and of course brighter students can move through the course at their own pace. It would also allow those wanting a degree the opportunity to achieve rather than rich daddy sending his hi-so child to Uni to get a degree when the child has no interest whatsoever. I took a class recently at a Thai Uni and one of the students walked in - an hour late, dropped her head on the desk and proceeded to sleep. I woke her and told her to leave if she had no interest and not to disrespect my other students or me. This is the typical example of attitude of Thai kids who care not about a degree but are filling in time because their parents are paying for it. She no doubt will receive the paper with the photo of the royal hand out to show the relatives but be completely clueless of the subject. eLearning will remove that factor as long as the examinations are not tainted.

Why would eLearning have unopinionated subject matter? Doesn't make sense. What it does is allow pops to pay a proxy to get the degree for muffy so she can then go abroad and get an MBA. Not all eLearning is at one's own pace. With some experience, you may find that students do in fact want and understand the importance of a degree, but when bored will tend to fall asleep out of lack of interest. A teacher's challenge is to find ways to entertain as much as educate in order to transcend the "lack of interest" barrier. One other thing you may discover with experience is that Thai students have a unique ability to appear to be distracted, whether talking or dozing, and still be assimilating information either directly or from recording lectures on their mobile phones or from other students who may have taken notes during the class session. A teacher that rules a classroom in an authoritarian way and worries about being disrespected may need to check his or her own insecurities at the door and become more involved participating in the learning experience rather than dictating it.

[wump]

I did an exchange semester at Chulalongkorn and to be fair I'd have to say that I learned far more than at my Australian home uni. Students and teachers were very accomodating towards foreigners and the uni took every effort to make you feel welcome.

I think you guys are being a bit harsh here and have never seen a Thai uni from inside. After all, Chula is something like 140th best uni in the world (according to Times) and better than most European and Australian unis.

There is a lot of projects and homework involved and you really have to do it or you will fail. In Australia you mostly got by by just reading the text book 2 days before the exam, answering a few M/C questions and never going to lecture. In Thailand there is an attendence requirement and anything under 85% and you fail.

Also, there are a lot of good foreign guest professors from the industry that don't only teach you the text book stuff.

[Card]

"One other thing you may discover with experience is that Thai students have a unique ability to appear to be distracted, whether talking or dozing, and still be assimilating information either directly or from recording lectures on their mobile phones or from other students who may have taken notes during the class session."

I've never taught Thai students but am extremely wary of this statement. Modern day students are often credited with their innate and wonderful ability to learn many things at once from all over the place, whilst sleeping. It may be true that they can learn some things, but the problem is not what they inadvertently pick up that's important - it's being able to focus and concentrate and sift the important things from all the garbage that's thrown at them. The problem with modern technology is that there is so much information overload and students need to learn how to be critical and selective - otherwise they just become blotting paper.

[Card]

I did an exchange semester at Chulalongkorn and to be fair I'd have to say that I learned far more than at my Australian home uni. Students and teachers were very accomodating towards foreigners and the uni took every effort to make you feel welcome.

I think you guys are being a bit harsh here and have never seen a Thai uni from inside. After all, Chula is something like 140th best uni in the world (according to Times) and better than most European and Australian unis.

There is a lot of projects and homework involved and you really have to do it or you will fail. In Australia you mostly got by by just reading the text book 2 days before the exam, answering a few M/C questions and never going to lecture. In Thailand there is an attendence requirement and anything under 85% and you fail.

Also, there are a lot of good foreign guest professors from the industry that don't only teach you the text book stuff.

I don't think this article is about Chula's conventional courses - it's about web-based international courses where there is only an attendance requirement for exams. The design, operation, coursework and validity of such courses may be quite different and there is no guarantee that those lecturers who are good (and enjoy) teaching face-to-face will function well online. I know this from experience of teaching such lecturers.

[salty]

eLearning has major advantages. The most important being the subject matter would be unopinionated (by the lecturer) and of course brighter students can move through the course at their own pace. It would also allow those wanting a degree the opportunity to achieve rather than rich daddy sending his hi-so child to Uni to get a degree when the child has no interest whatsoever. I took a class recently at a Thai Uni and one of the students walked in - an hour late, dropped her head on the desk and proceeded to sleep. I woke her and told her to leave if she had no interest and not to disrespect my other students or me. This is the typical example of attitude of Thai kids who care not about a degree but are filling in time because their parents are paying for it. She no doubt will receive the paper with the photo of the royal hand out to show the relatives but be completely clueless of the subject. eLearning will remove that factor as long as the examinations are not tainted.

She would be an ideal person for a high ranking post in some future Government.

[Sticky Rice Balls]

Hey now---whats all the hubbub about bub?....thais are learning bubba...bah--humbug i say---oooh sexy lady! just have to look good here--no need learning----hubba hubba!!!

[gunnyd]

Could this just be a ploy to get the farang's money without having those filthy foreigners entering the Kingdom.