IT project expands in Isaan

[webfact]

EDUCATION
IT project expands in Isaan
Pratch Rujivanarom
The Nation
Loei



Students at schools in Loei can study subjects of interest via a samsung smart learning project

LOEI: -- TECHNOLOGY-assisted Project Based Learning has been success-fully implemented in Loei to try |to encourage students to study |what really interests them - by themselves.

Phu Kradung Wittayakom School in Loei's Phu Kradung district was chosen to be a school that aims to enhance education via self-learning with the support from a Samsung Smart Learning Centre project, now in its third year.

Phu Kradung Wittayakom School teacher Worawat Somwongsa said project-based learning encourages students to find the knowledge by themselves with the assistance from teachers. It is seen as a way that pupils can improve their learning skills and boost their confidence.

"Teachers have to shift the duty to be a coach instead of the lecturer in this type of learning. We are only teaching the learning skills and let the student use the skills to learn in topics that they like from their community and local experts - by having the technological devices, supported by Samsung, as the helper," Worawat said.

"The student will use technology provided by Samsung to do a video presentation and broadcast online via the school website or it will be used as learning material."

Project-based learning is linked with the study timetable for high school level students as an optional after-school activity. Enrolled students do such classes after core curriculum classes in the morning.

In the third year of the Samsung project, member schools were backed to expand to neighbouring schools interested in the project.

For Phu Kradung Wittayakom, Sukanya Dana, the teacher responsible for the Samsung Smart Learning Centre project, said that 11 nearby schools were introduced to the concept and the project last year.

"As the only high school in the district, we would like new students from nearby schools to have more quality via sharing the experience and helping those schools to implement in the project," Sukanya said.

Rattaporn Ounsiri, a sixth grade student from Ban Phanokkhao Community School, one of the 11 schools in the network, revealed that she was happy to participate in the project - to learn how to keep bees and collect honey.

"I am interested in bee keeping, so I and my friends in the group learned how to keep bees from local bee keepers. From the project, I learned that not only can we get honey from bees, but the bee wax can be sold to make

candles as well," Rattaporn said.

A presentation by her group was done via both video and a showcase of products. The honey and melted bee wax were also presented.

However, Dr Chanpen Choprapawan, president of the Thailand Research Association for Child and Family Development, suggested that too much reliance on technology was not good for young students.

Chanpen said that children should learn about the world around them using their five senses - touching, seeing, hearing, smelling and tasting - instead of using technology as the main method of learning. "My suggestion on the project is to warn that technology should be used wisely and let pupils maximise their natural ability to learn."

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/IT-project-expands-in-Isaan-30272995.html

-- The Nation 2015-11-16

[zyphodb]

Well its a good idea in a way, they'll certainly learn more studying by themselves than they will at school

Such a shame that they aren't taught enough English to serf on real education websites rather than Thai ones...

[gerry123]

Such a shame that they aren't taught enough English to serf ??? i am tempted but i won't