Challenges for Thai qualifications framework in distance education and ASEAN context Chantana Thongprayoon, Associate Professor School of Communication

Challenges for Thai qualifications framework in

distance education and ASEAN context

Chantana Thongprayoon, Associate ProfessorSchool of Communication Arts

Sukhothai Thammathirat Open [email protected]

Challenges for Thai qualifications framework

• What is TQF?• The Thai Qualifications Framework for Higher Education (TQF: HEd) is a

requirement for every educational institution to compete globally with other educational institutions.

• It helps to support implementation of the educational guidelines set out in the National Education Act and to ensure consistency in standards and award titles for higher education qualifications.

• It makes clear the equivalence of academic awards with those granted by higher education institutions in other parts of the world.

• The Framework is useful to provide appropriate points of comparison in academic standards for institutions in their planning and internal quality assurance processes.

9 2015September , Chantana Thongprayoon_STOU 2


• Domains of Learning Outcomes• The TQF: HEd describes five domains of

learning outcomes: 1. Ethical and Moral Development; 2. Knowledge; 3. Cognitive Skills; 4. Interpersonal Skills and Responsibility; 5. Analytical and Communication Skills.



• Challenges of learning• Learning should be seen as a qualitative

change in a person’s way of seeing, experiencing, understanding, conceptualizing something in the real world---rather than as a quantitative change in the amount of knowledge someone possesses (Ramsden cited in Weimer 2002: 11).



• Challenges of learning here focuses on Weimer’s concept of the five key changes to practice for learner-center teaching.

• Learner-center teaching with five key changes to instructional practice:

1. The Balance of Power 2. The Function of Content 3. The Role of the Teacher 4. The Responsibility for Learning 5. Evaluation Purpose and Processes.



• Higher education students should be able to 1) gain deep understanding of concepts 2) critique concepts 3) conduct that critique in front of others 4) perform independent inquiry 5) self-reflect 6) engage in open dialogue. (Barnett 1990 cited in Palloff and Pratt 2009: 18).



• ASEAN Background• ASEAN stands for The Association of

Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The Association was established on 8 August 1967 in Bangkok, Thailand, with the signing of the ASEAN Declaration (also known as the Bangkok Declaration).



• The ASEAN Community is set on three pillars: political and security cooperation (APSC), economic cooperation (AEC), and socio-cultural cooperation (ASCC).

• The integration of ensuring durable peace, stability and shared prosperity in the region.

• The ASEAN Summits organized to advance the integration expected by 2015.



• Research Objective• To gather the opinions of multiple

stakeholders – students, instructors and tentative employers on the validity and efficiency of the Thai Qualifications Framework for Higher Education (TQF: HEd) in the ASEAN context



• Methodology• This was a survey research.• The samples consisted of 30 undergraduate students

enrolled in the Journalism course at Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University (STOU) in Thailand, five instructors, and five tentative employers.

• Data was collected during focus group discussions and face-to-face interviews that took place from October 2012 to July 2013.

• Data was analyzed through descriptive statistics and descriptive analysis.



• The opinions of participants were measured through a Likert scale:• 5 = mostly agree; • 4 = agree; • 3 = neutral; • 2 = disagree;• 1 = mostly disagree.



• The interpretation of the mean scores were: 4.51-5.00 = mostly agree;

3.51-4.50 = agree; 2.51-3.50 = neutral; 1.51-2.50 = disagree;

1.00-1.50 = mostly disagree.



• Results:• Students and the tentative employers valued

highest on the Ethical and Moral Development• Instructors valued highest on the Knowledge,

followed by the Ethical and Moral Development.



• Table1 Students’ Opinions on the TQF: HEd Domains of Learning


TQF: HEd Mean Meaning Ranking

1. Ethical and Moral Development 4.83 mostly agree 1

2. Knowledge 4.13 agree 4

3. Cognitive Skills 4.34 agree 3

4. Interpersonal Skills and Responsibility 4.75 agree 2

5. Analytical and Communication Skills 3.69 agree 5


• Table 2 Instructors’ Opinions on the TQF: HEd’s Domains of Learning



1. Ethical and Moral Development 4.24 agree 2

2. Knowledge 4.35 agree 1

3. Cognitive Skills 4.15 agree 3

4. Interpersonal Skills and Responsibility

3.85 agree 4

5. Analytical and Communication Skills 3.67 agree 5


• Table 3 Tentative Employers’ Opinions on the TQF’s Domains of Learning



1.Ethical and Moral Development 4.92 mostly agree 1

2. Knowledge 4.35 much agree 3

3. Cognitive Skills 4.50 much agree 2

4. Interpersonal Skills and Responsibility 4.15 much agree 4

5. Analytical and Communication Skills 3.93 much agree 5


• Discussion• The discussion follows the cognitive

constructivism approach that aims to assist students in assimilating new information to existing knowledge, and enabling them to make the appropriate modifications to their existing framework to accommodate the information.



• The cognitive approach developed by Jean Piaget and William Perry focused on the inside of the learner’s head, which concerns the mental processes more than the observable behavior which is the behaviorism’s focus.

• According to cognitive view, knowledge is actively constructed by the learner rather than passively absorbed.

• So learning is a process of active discovery.



• The instructors’ role is not to drill knowledge into students through their repetition, but to facilitate by providing necessary resources and to guide the assimilation of the new knowledge to the former ones.

• Teachers should take into account the knowledge that the learner possess when deciding the curriculum.



• One of the challenges of the learning outcomes for distance education institutions are the competency the students acquired from their learning.

• The acquisition should be seen as a qualitative change in an individual’s way of seeing, experiencing, understanding, conceptualizing something in the real world--rather than as a quantitative change in the amount of knowledge (Ramsden cited in Weimer 2002: 11).



• The concerns for the institution management are facing challenges within the stakeholders’ benefit.

• For ASEAN context, a distance education institution in Thailand like STOU has to follow the TQF: HEd while preparing itself to encounter the ASEAN community to provide appropriate points of comparison in academic standards for institutions in their planning and internal quality assurance processes.



• For distance education context, students should be the focus of the institution management since they are the main stakeholder of the institution’s mission.

• For learning and teaching strategy, it is recommended to use the learner-center approach. The key changes to instructional practice for learner-center teaching are relevant to the STOU mission.



• For STOU, the main academic content that is sent to the students are text books that should be able to promote the students’ learning and facilitate the higher-order thinking skills so that they can develop the ability to analyze, synthesize, and evaluate. The content should be designed to let the students encounter unfamiliar problems, uncertainties, questions, or dilemmas.

• According to Brown (2014: 170-171), the learning should be active that facilitates the students’ self-monitoring, open-minded, and flexible attitudes that were positively correlated with greater course achievement.



• The result is correlated with Weimer’s concepts. Information management skills are important as information acquisition skills.

• Learners must be able to access information, find resources, organize them, and perhaps most important, evaluate the ocean of information that now exists in the electronic era.



• The changes are accomplished through active learning strategies that allow students experience with the content.

• The competencies involve an explicit understanding of complicated learning skills like the ability to be methodical and systematic, to have well-developed information-seeking and retrieval skills, and to have the ability to be flexible and creative.



• Students need to leave college knowing content and knowing how to learn more.

• As for the instructors, they should balance their power to the students. They should encourage the students to actively construct their own knowledge rather than passively receiving information transmitted to them from teachers and textbooks. From a constructivist perspective, knowledge cannot simply be given to students. Students must construct their own meanings.



• For the employers’ point, their concerns are the ethical and moral development, cognitive skills, and knowledge, respectively. This means that they valued the ethical and moral issues more than the other domains. Therefore another issue that STOU should take into consideration is this aspect. Nowadays there are a lot of clever and hand-on people, but it is not easy to find the ones who are moral oriented.



• For distance education context, students are the prime focus of the institution management since they are the main stakeholder of the institution’s mission.

• As a result, STOU is challenging the expectation balance of all stakeholders, especially the students, the instructors, and the employers so that the mission of the institution is succeeded as well as reaching the students and the employers’ satisfaction.



• Thank you

• Discussion

• Questions

• Chantana Thongprayoon, • Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University

• [email protected]


Documents

Challenges for Thai qualifications framework in distance education and ASEAN context Chantana Thongprayoon, Associate Professor School of Communication