ดร.สุภัททา ปิณฑะแพทย์

Dr.Supatta Pinthapataya

email: supattapin@yahoo.com

Title: The Implementation of S.LaGIS on Mass Education Policy

Office: Mass Education Department

Institute: Rajabhat Institute Suansunandha (RISS)

 Introduction

Mass Education Policy is a new policy of Rajabhat Institute Suan Sunandha's (RISS) that aims to support the learning and teaching process for a large group of students. In order to fulfill the task, the institute has established the Department of Mass Education to design an instructional system and manage the whole process of the program in teaching and learning. The team of faculty of the Department of Mass Education has designed S.LaGIS (Suan Sunandha Large Group Instructional system) as one instructional system for a large group of students (approximately 800-1000 students per one class) along with the management system for the operation. The main concept of the design is to use information technology and education innovation as one of the media for instruction accompanied with formal classroom sessions that provide personal contact between teacher and students and the students with their peer groups. The implementation of S.LaGIS on the mass education policy can help the institution to provide education under the limited resources. However; the most important aspect is that the design and the procedure of management for S.LaGIS operation can also meet the requirements stipulated in the National Education Act 1999 and fulfill the objective goal for education reform in Thailand.

Background

Rajabhat Institute Suan Sunandha (RISS), formerly Suan Sunandha Teachers College, was first established in 1837 as a public teacher training institution. At present, it is an institution of higher education with full competency to offer more than 40 programs of study with approximately 450 faculty members in the college of Education, Humanities, Social Sciences, Science and Technology, and Management Sciences.

The announcement of the 8^th National Socio-economic Developmental Plan 1996-2001 which emphasizes on the development for human resources encourages the educational institutions to take the role of responsibility in providing education at all levels. There is been an increasing number of students who request for admission to study especially at higher education in many institutions. RISS, like all other Rajabhat Institutes, has faced this problem since 1997. The record of data reveals that many of the students were not able to gain the admission and had their education at the higher level. For the total number of 50,539 applicants applied for Rajabhat Institutes in the Bangkok area (Table 1), 13,661 (27.03%) were applied for RISS (Table 2) and only 1,959 applicants (14.34%) were admitted. (Table 3) The number of the students even became larger last year when the government has announced the National Education Act 1999 and called for education reform.

Table 1: Number of full time students applying to 6  Rajabhat Institutes in Bangkok in 1999.

* Sources: Registrar Office, 1999 : Rajabhat Institute Suan Sunandha

Table 2: Number of students applying to RISS in 1999.

* Sources: Registrar Office, 1999 : Rajabhat Institute Suan Sunandha

Table 3: Show the number of students in RISS in 1999 and the total number of students enrolling at RISS 1996-1999.

 Table 3 shows that RISS was able to accept lesser number of students in 1999 due to the total number of students studying in the institute.

* Sources: Registrar Office, 1996-1999: Rajabhat Institute Suan Sunandha

With a traditional small classroom management, RISS can accept only 2,000 students a year. However: RISS has taken more responsibility to supplement the need by providing higher education in the evening sessions. This additional number of students is likely to be an immense burden for the institution.

In 1977, RISS tried to solve the problem by arranging big classes for 5 subjects in foundation education section.  The class contained at least 500 students with 2-3 instructors and 2 teacher assistants. Each group of instructors designed their own logic of instructional system to fulfill the objective requirements of the subjects in accordance to the rules of the formal system of education. Teaching such a big group with no effective devices and effective procedure destroyed the education system and produced poor outcomes. There were many complaining letters from students and instructors requested the institution to review the system. The institute decided to extinguish the big classes in the same year. However: the problems still remain with no appropriate solution for the matter. RISS must look for alternative means to manage the following problems. 

1. Inadequate numbers of instructors and budget management

2. Time schedules and learning space accommodation

3. Technology feasible for learning competency in education

The provision of education by the State for all individuals to complete 12 years of schooling with quality and free of charge (The National Act 1999, Chapter 2: Section 10) motivates even more learners to enter higher education after finishing education at the basic level. The increasing number of the students and the limited resources of the institution put much pressure to the institution. Let's take an example that involves general education courses. Under the new curriculum of Rajabhat Institute 1999, all students are required to take 11 courses of 3 credit hours for each course in general education. Each student has to take 33 credit hours. When the number of students reach 5,000, it will require at least 10 teachers to teach 30 credit hours a week to operate 100 classes of 50 students for only one course. It will take 110 teachers to conclude these 11 compulsory courses in 2 semesters. Educational process with the traditional class size of 40 –50 students and a teacher teaching 30 hours a week are a waste of resources. It needs another approach to manage teaching and learning in an appropriate manner. Any educational design concept that commits approximately 80 per cent of educational budgets to teacher salaries is particularly susceptible to the promises of alternative systems. (Hough and Paine, 1997 : 64)

The arrangement of teaching schedule is even more limited. Class hours can run from 8.00 o’clock in the morning through 8.30 in the evening. There are many classes that have to operate on those hours. If the time and learning space cannot meet the demand, there will be no chance to carry on the class learning activities. 

The need for more lecture rooms and facilities is another big problem. It requires many classrooms and facilities to operate classes in the traditional way. The idea of teaching large group becomes an alternative means to solve the problem to a certain extend. The construction of large classrooms from existing ones is more feasible than the construction of new buildings because it will require a substantial sum of money to be invested. The shift of attention from such investment to the other direction such as the investment on information technology should be considered since it will be better prepared the institution to become a learning center to support the learning feasibility to the learners.

The Policy: Mass Education Policy

In 1999, RISS, under the new elected President, called for the reformation of the policy. After reviewing the evidences gathered from the students and the instructors to support the policy, RISS has announced Mass Education Policy to implement an appropriate means to provide education for a large group of students. The Department of Mass Education has been established to create and manage the plans and procedures under the policy.

The main concept of mass education is the process in which acquired knowledge is supplied through resources information agents to a large group of students as required by the National Act 1999. The principles of lifelong education and self-development are regarded as being important. (The National Act 1999, Chapter 1: Section 8) The act also emphasizes that learners shall have the right to develop their capacities for utilization of technologies as soon as feasible so that they shall have sufficient knowledge and skills in using these technologies to acquire knowledge on a continual lifelong basis. (The National Act 1999, Chapter 9: Section 66.)  Since the National Education Act 1999 serves as master legislation on the education of the country, it stimulates the institution to create an effective teaching and learning system and management to accomplish the educational goal.  

Along with the paradigm shift in education for the possible future illustrates that there must be some change in the process of learning (Hough and Paine, 1997, 65 : Table 5.3) It is important to develop a new way of managing the system of learning through the use of innovative methods of education, information technology, communicative technology, and other means of instruments.  A growing focus on learning rather than teaching make the policy possible where teaching may become supplementary to other ways of promoting learning. Such kinds of learning access will help the learners to accomplish their goal in acquiring knowledge, and that the learners are capable of learning and self-development.

In the implementation of the Mass Education Policy, Rajabhat Institute Suan Sunandha has to establish a strategy for the management in four ways:

The first is the need to resume a formal system of education which has set up the requirement for class attendance of 80 %. Can the requirement be accomplished by an alternative means?  How can we equip the classrooms so that Rajabhat Institute Suan Sunandha can accommodate at least 800 students with facilities and technology for carrying out the normal activities for a certain period of time?  The National Education Act (Chapter 1, Section 9) states that, “In organizing the system, structure and process of education shall be unity in process and diversity in implementation. The Rajabhat Institutes have been placed in the formal system of education which follows the National Education Act. This Act (Chapter 3, Section 15) states that, “Formal education shall specify the aims, method, curricula, duration, assessment and evaluation conditional to its completion. This section will help to clarify the process of implementation of the policy.  

The second is the challenge for teachers to achieve the professional role as resource persons and provide learning methods to promote the learning of the students. Most teachers have got used to teaching in the formal classroom and play their role as the center of learning. Changing the habits of teaching will require considerable time. Their vision on the growing focus on learning rather than teaching should be formed as a new trend to be for the future. Teaching may become supplementary to other ways of promoting learning. The ideal of learning is to have teachers as being facilitator rather than a dispenser of knowledge. The challenge is for teachers to retain a central, professional role in the community where everyone learns. ( Hough and Paine, 1997 :  71) 

The third is the readiness of the support for the educative process in the areas of information technology and highly educational innovation. The abilities to support or alter the educative process include library support, learning center support, distance learning, learning across 24 hours, scheduling assessment and corrective advice, accreditation, enrollment and tracking learner ways of dealing with knowledge.

The fourth is the learning styles of the students, their independence, enthusiasm, and their personal skills of acquiring knowledge from other educational resources. Students become learners who can create learning activities by direct interaction with learning technology, cooperative learning and other resources

Mass Education Policy : S.LaGIS

Concept: S.LaGIS

Suan Sunandha Large Group Instructional System (S.LaGIS) is an integrated method of traditional classroom format with the distance education through the use of information technologies.  Since the objectives of the general education courses are to provide integrated knowledge for the benefit of the learners to become good citizens and be capable of learning and self-development to their fullest potential, the methods of learning should therefore enable the learners to behave as such. The Large Group Instructional System for mass education not only support the learners to benefit from the technologies that are now becoming a part of their lives but also eliminate the problems facing with economic and social crisis of the country. Ruthven (1994 ; cited in Hough and Paine,1997: 74), concerning a new age economy, has emphasized on the system and intellectual property of technology which are appropriate for the post-industrial era, especially when they are used in education. A new trend in technology can serve as knowledge generating system and intellectual tools that will stimulate learners to develop their competencies. 

The Strategic Planning : S.LaGIS 

However, a careful planning for action needs to go along with cooperation among the staff members in performing their roles as team teaching as well as the high technology competency of the institution

Upon the advocacy of the policy, the institution has to formulate a specific plan of action for the Large Group Instructional System. To identify the details step by step, the initiation of the plan of action requires at least four steps as follows:

1. Programming

The program planning for the Large Group Instructional System is developed by integrating the appropriate methods of teaching and learning activities in the way that it will ensure the effectiveness of the instructional process.  In the Large Group Instructional System for mass education, the translation or interpretation of any mechanic devices and specific details for implementing should be identified. The mechanic devices will include all technology support in the process of teaching performance in the main class lecture sessions and will act as the learning facilitators outside the classrooms. The specific details of the activities are important because they are to be sets of operation that demonstrate the requirements and answers to a number of questions such as:

• Who has to have information about the plan?

• What actions need to be taken and by whom?

• What preparation is needed so that those who have to take action can do so?

Before the implementation of the plan, the persons involved will have to know about the step of the operation. The persons who are in charge in the process of learning and teaching will have to understand the ideas of how to operate the process as a whole. It needs to prepare teaching staff and staff assistants to get acquainted with technologies that are going to be used when operating the large class instruction. Hoy and Miskel (1991 : 313) states that the institution has to see that the action that is to be programmed must be appropriate to the abilities of the people involved and must be realistic and capable of implementation. 

1.1 The Components of the Instruction Process

The program planning for the Large Group Instruction System is comprised of 3 parts: the input, the throughput and the output.   

The input that goes through the mass education process includes all of the following.

• Students of between 800-1,000 who will have to attend classes as scheduled.

• Instructors are a teaching team who carefully prepare lesson plans to identify main concepts of the subject matter and facilitate the learners to acquire more knowledge through learning activities.

• Instructor assistants are part of the teaching team in assisting the learners.

• Study manuals and subject manuals are the handbooks for the students to use as a study guide for particular courses.

• Instructional media and facilities are the tools for both instructors and students for the learning and learning facilities and convenience.

The throughput is the interactive performances of both instructors and students in the teaching and learning process such as

• Class meeting hours for the main lecture periods.

• Alternatives instructional activities in and outside classrooms :  short quiz, question and answer boxes, Computer assisted instruction, and on line news on Internet and assessments.

The output is the product or the outcome of program. The main output concerns the students who have gone through the process of learning. It is important to evaluate the output has posses the characteristics required by the objectives of the courses in general education.

1.2 The Teaching Process Planning

The operation for the large group instruction is processed throughout the semester time on a set schedule. The sessions are divided into 2 parts. The first part is the main learning activity that provides for the formal lectures. The second part is the alternative learning activity that provides for students’ self- learning on the competency-based under the curriculum controlled requirements for evaluation.

The Operation activities for S.LaGIS

          1.3 The Preparation for Teaching Material

Program planning can be accomplished through a wide range of specific methods and techniques of teaching and learning. Which ones are used depends on the sophistication and the capabilities of the institution and the individual instructors working together as a team. The process of learning needs should be in term of self-regulation on both teachers and students in order to fulfill educational goals.  

Since the large group instruction in the mass education needs a careful preparation to serve individual interests and diverse needs of students. Many educational media resources are used in systematized teaching and learning in and outside the classrooms. Using the media will help to guide teaching and learning activities. The students will receive handouts such as manuals and lecture notes. The manuals are of two kinds : the manual for learning – a guide for the study programs and the manual for each subject that contains the contents and the activities as well as suggested resources centers for further study. However, the classroom that is responsive to various groups of students’ interests may require ready access in many different types of media of varying levels in dealing with multiplicity of subjects.(Brown, Lewis and Harcleroad, 1992 : 63 - 64) Learning environment is to have students experience the learning activities by the following media of instruction in the various phases of learning system.

          2. Communicating

Once the plan has been programmed, it is necessary that each involved individual become aware of his or her responsibilities. Channels of communication among the individuals as well as opportunities for communicating both horizontally and vertically must be given careful attention. For a program to be successful, individuals, who involve with the program, need to know clearly and not only what their own roles are but also the roles of others as they relate to the total plan. The communication system developed to implement the plan in large part can and should be a crucial mechanism to initiate action and enhance coordination of the program.

The time set up for seminar and meeting to declare the importance of the policy and the need to implement and operate the plan. The faculties cooperation to provide the instructors who will be responsible as the pioneer in working out the policy.

Since many instructors had experiences in teaching big classes in 1997, they seemed to disagree with the implementation of Mass Education Policy and reacted negatively. However, Strategic conversation of the leader and the well planned S.LaGIS of the administrative staff would help to assure them of the possible implementation.    

 3.  Monitoring

Monitoring refers to the process of overseeing the implementation of the plan of action in order to be sure that it is proceeding as scheduled. Information monitoring and reporting must be built into the action cycle to provide for continuous evaluation of actual events as compared to expectations. The monitoring process is a control process using systematic feedback loops. Standards of performance, once they are set, need to be enforced. Enforcement, however, does not necessary mean coercive control. The device techniques of control include those that rely on rewards and incentives, punishments, persuasion, and means of inducing identification with organizational goals. Different modes of control and enforcement are more or less effective depending on the situation and the individuals involved. This is a constant problem. However, continuous feedback reports are necessary to evaluate the progress of implementing the plan of action.  

The policy providing mass education is an optional advantage that needs to be checked on the standard and the quality assurance to clarify its competency in applying an appropriate means to the education system. It needs a desirable outcome to the reforming of social institutions and culture in the light of new education.

In monitoring the system, there are at least 10 factors to be managed:

1. Formal class attendance to ensure the students to get the knowledge contents of the subject matter.

2. Group tutoring.

3. Teacher on demand (fixed schedule)

4. Manual handouts (instruction manual, subject content manual)

5. Question and answer box.

6. News board in the homepage, 

7. Printout sheets

8. Video of the subject matter available.

9. Quiz in the CAI preparation.

10. Midterm and final examinations.

4. Appraising

The outcomes of the policy need to be appraised to determine how successful the system has been The appraisal stage is both an end and a new beginning in the action cycle. Through problematic search using two simple rules as stated by Hoy and Miskel (1991 :  309) : (1) search in the area of the problem’s symptoms and (2) search in the area of current alternatives for adaptation.   

The search may be taken place in different phases. The idea is to do the searching for the problems finding of the program as a whole including needs and problems encountered during the implementation of the program on both teachers and students. The assessment of the methods of teaching and the supporting technologies as well as the effectiveness of the manuals has to be reported. However, the study of the effectiveness of the program should concern the quality of the outcome. The appraising on the achievement of the learners as the output of the process and the adaptive behavior of learning of the learners are also very essential for the evaluation of the model design. The random and periodical checking on student achievement will ensure the effectiveness of the system. The awareness of the effectiveness of the process will also help the teams of the instructors to alter their methods of teaching to the learning styles of the students. The Department of Mass education is now in the process of performing evaluation at each state of the implementation.

Mass Education Department: Management  

          1. Role and Responsibility

The main task of the Department of Mass Education is to perform the role in  managing the learning and teaching process   through S.LaGIS to a large group of students.         

In the management of the Department of Mass Education, the staff administrators perform the role as coordinators between instructors and instructors and between instructors and the students and vice versa.

Since most of the courses that needed to apply S.LaGIS are the courses that have a number of students exceeding 800, and many of them are interdisciplinary courses that need instructors from 2 or more faculties to cooperate with each other as a team teaching. The coordinators will share the responsibility in the preparation, presentation, and evaluation of the courses. The media of communication is used to provide better understanding among the instructors of the teams.

Another role of coordinators is to convey messages from the students to the instructors and vice versa and to assist students in their learning by providing facilities needed or requested by the students. The department is responsible to produce all learning and teaching materials and mange the office work such as distributing power point presentation sheets, collecting assignments, answering questions personally and on web board, and clarifying the problems.

2. The Subordinating Role: Management on Supporting Profiles for S.LaGIS 

A design concept of education for the supporting profiles for the educative process is a subordinate role that aims for the possible preparation to support the working plan for operating mass education. As mentioned by Hough and Paine (1997 : 64 -68) that to promote educational paradigms the following supporting profiles are regarded as essential.

2.1 The Profile for Instructional Media 

          The careful preparation on resource centers that are accessible to serve in teaching and learning is very essential because it supports students in the learning process. It is a preparation on the institution part to see if the system is going to work.

          The main areas in which technology has the ability to support or alter the educative process includes:

• library support

• learning center support (i.e. Computer Assisted Instruction)

• distance learning

• learning across 24 hours

• scheduling

• assessment and corrective advice

• ways of dealing with knowledge

• ways of learning new knowledge

• ways of viewing knowledge

2. 2 The Profile for Teachers’ Characteristics

The paradigm shift will affect the teachers’ profiles that cause them to change their role and duties as knowledge providers.  The teachers, with the profile of the characteristics of a 21 St century, have to acquire new skills to fit in the new role of teacher profiles. Some specifications for such a teacher would include knowledge skill and their role perception as teaching professional.

• function in a coach and mentor

• take the role to develop learner managed learning skills

• develop group learning outcome in students, especially problem solving behaviours.

• group, cooperative problem solving behaviours in students

• emphasize the personal skills in students

• apply information technology to education in ways that optimize the educational outcome ( including role modelling the effective personal use of IT)

• emphasize quality ad an integral part of the educational process

• apply the use of data to establish quality processes and outcome shares data with student peers and communication

• work in a management supported student (customer) centred focus.   

2.3 The Profile for Students’ Characteristics

Learning students will have to depend on the effective use of the intellectual tools and be dependent on self-reliance in searching for the knowledge of meeting the global requirements. Students will increasingly need to be proficient and comfortable with the use of knowledge, as part of the global challenge in making a living.

• know how to acquire knowledge from Intelligent Technologies

• can use English as a foreign language.

• responsible for their learning duty

• have cognitive styles of learning

• have models problem solving and cooperative behavior.

• have capacity to reflect on self-learning through the use of educative devices and information technology.

The Department of Mass Education performs a subordinating role by providing information and suggestions to encourage the organization to move along in the same direction to support Mass Education Policy.

3.  Personnel

The staff administrators are working as committee to organize and manage work of the department. The staff members are divided into the following categories.

          3.1 Administrative staff composes of one director of the department and 11 administrative staff working as Board of Committees.

          3.2 Teams of teaching staff assigned by the Faculty of Education, the Faculty of Humanities and Social Science, the Faculty of Science and Technology and the Faculty of Art.

          3.3 A team of teaching assistants assigned to assist the instructors in preparing instruction materials, monitoring classroom attendance and other related tasks as requested by instructors and the students.

3.4 A team of audiovisual technical staff in charge of operating the audiovisual system and technology equipment during the formal sessions of operation and the preparation of teaching materials and devices.

Conclusion

The large Group Instructional System is an alternative means to apply for mass education which does not only support the learners to benefit from the technologies that are now becoming a part of their lives but also eliminate the problems facing with economic and social crisis of the country. The National Education Act 1999 creates a paradigm shift in education. In the age of the information technology the uses of technologies can serve as knowledge generating system and intellectual tools that will stimulate learners to develop their competencies. The application of effective educational technologies to the mass education can help developing the learning abilities of the learners to some extent. It is the responsibility of the institution to make an effort the supply them. The careful planning and procedure for the operation of mass education must be done in order to control the quality and achievement of the learner outcome.

In applying the new policy, there must be something that need to be revised. The study of problems encounter and needs for both teachers and students in teaching and learning tasks will help to provide the ideas for the improvement of the Mass Education Policy.

Acknowledgement: Mass Education Department : Board of Committee

• Supatta Pinthapataya, Director/Educational Psychologist

• Owat Seneetontikul, Instructional Designer/Computer/Educational technologist

• Rossukhon Makaramani, Instructional Designer/Educational Technologist

• Satien Chanpla, Computer Designer/Information Technologist

• Vinij ThuekThong, Evaluator

• Thongchai  Suebkaew, Evaluator

• Pensri Sawangnet, Evaluator

• Surasak Mekchaiy, Staff Officer

• Jadsadaporn Atchariyopas, Staff Officer

• Jiraporn Praimanee, Quality Controlled Officer/Evaluator

• Pitiporn Wongsumet, Staff Officer/Secretary

• Panissanan  Apipatarakitti, Staff Officer/Assistant Secretary

Bibliography:

Brown, James, W. Lewis, Richard, B. and Harcleroad, Fred, F. (1992) AV Instruction. New York : McGraw – Hill.  

Hough, M. and  Paine, J. (1997) Creating Quality Learning Community. Southern Melbourne :  Macmillan Educational.

Hoy, Wayne, K. and Miskel Cecil, G. (1991) Educational Administration: Theory, Research, and Practice. Fourth Edition, New York : McGraw – Hill.

The Government of Thailand. (1999) National Education Act.  The Kingdom of Thailand, B.E. 2542.