Public Universities In Thailand Research Articles

Enhancing Pre-Service Teachers’ Perspectives on Teaching and Learning Through the Development of E-Learning

This study aimed to develop e-learning for pre-service science teachers and investigate the effect of this e-learning on their attitudes toward learning and teaching. A mixed method was employed in this research. Participants were 22 pre-service science teachers at one public university in Thailand who enrolled in the Educational Psychology and Guidance for Teacher class in the first semester of 2020. The instruments used in this study were a questionnaire with 20 items to investigate participants’ knowledge, understanding, and opinions toward the e-learning lessons. The data analysis by mean, standard deviation, relative gain score, and content analysis. The results indicated that the developed e-learning effectively increases pre-service science teachers’ attitudes toward teaching and learning. The relative gain score of attitudes toward teaching and learning was 89.47, and the high satisfaction level towards e-learning (mean = 3.87). The findings show that participants reflected that e-learning lessons helped learners manage learning independently, learn from any place, and repeat learning to learn anytime. However, feedback highlighted areas for improvement, including the need for more engaging audio narration and detailed explanations in exercises of this e-learning because it was monotonous.

Recruiters’ beliefs regarding the employability of native and non-native English-speaking tertiary-level teachers: The case of public universities in Thailand

This mixed-method study explores the criteria that recruiters in Thai public universities consider important when hiring English language teachers and the importance they attach to the native speaker criterion. The data were collected through an online questionnaire with ninety-four recruiters and semi-structured interviews with ten recruiters. The questionnaire data revealed that the participants considered ten criteria important, including English language proficiency, performance in an interview, teaching demonstration, educational background, teaching qualification, area of academic expertise, application documents, pronunciation, teaching experience, and visa status. Moreover, the participants viewed the native speaker criterion as somewhat important. The interview data yielded rich data about the thinking behind the use of the criteria. Particularly, it showed different positions towards the native speaker criterion, ranging from the strong preference towards native English-speaking candidates to the rejection of the native/non-native dichotomy which favors the competent bi-/multilingual speaker of English as a target and pedagogical model.

The Effects of Using Scientific Genre to Promote Undergraduate Students’ English Academic Writing in an ESP Course

Argumentative writing is problematic for Thai EFL learners. This study aims to determine the effects of an argumentative correspondence writing course in an ESP for Science classroom. The course was designed from the genre-based approach, including stance and engagement by Hyland (2005) and ESP material design by Hutchinson and Waters (1987). The experiment involved 40 participants studying in a science field in a public university in Thailand. The study used a one-group pretest and posttest design. The research instruments were a knowledge test and a writing test for scientific argumentative correspondence. The results revealed statistically meaningful differences between the pretest and posttest scores, indicating that the students increased their abilities and gained higher test scores through completing the course. The findings suggest that instruction of writing scientific argumentative correspondences is effective and should be included in ESP science courses, especially as a foundation for writing longer texts in scientific genres.

Thai Undergraduate and Graduate Students’ Satisfaction with Synchronous Online English Learning during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic forced educational institutions across the globe to adopt and adapt to emergency remote teaching (ERT) at an unprecedented rate. This transition to synchronous online English learning had similar impacts on English Language teaching and learning in Thai higher education. This paper focuses on Thai undergraduate and graduate students’ satisfaction with their synchronous online English learning regarding three aspects, namely technical, class-engagement, and instructional issues. It reports students’ responses to an online survey questionnaire consisting of a set of 25 five-point Likert scale items. The data were collected from 72 undergraduate and 65 graduate students studying online English skill development courses at a public university in Thailand. The results showed that although both groups of students were satisfied with the three aspects to a high level, significant differences were found between the two groups in their overall satisfaction towards this type of learning and between the aspects of technical and class-engagement. Thus, it is believed that this study will give insights into the lessons learnt from the forced ERT caused by COVID-19. If English teachers are to deal with emergencies again, such as another pandemic in the future, then it is important for them to recognize their students’ unique learning needs and adapt their online teaching practice to the expectations of their students to ensure continuous motivation to learn English effectively while studying remotely.

COVID-19 Knowledge, Attitudes, and Vaccine Acceptance Among Students From Two Major Public Universities in Thailand: A Comparison Between Health Sciences and Non-Health Sciences Disciplines

Data on COVID-19 knowledge, attitudes, and vaccine acceptance among students is vital to inform appropriate COVID-19 preventive strategies. A survey was conducted online among students from 12 health sciences (HS) and 16 non-health sciences (NHS) faculties of two universities during 2021–2022. Of the 1,728 participating students, 613 (35%) were from the HS faculties, and 1,115 (65%) were from the NHS faculties. The HS students had a significantly higher median knowledge score about COVID-19 than the NHS students (15 vs. 14). Most students strongly agreed that people should have an equal chance to select and get the COVID-19 vaccines they want. The HS students were more likely than the NHS students to agree that wearing masks and social distancing can reduce the risk of acquiring COVID-19. At the same time, the NHS students were more likely to agree that the decision about vaccination is highly affected by the population’s confidence in their government. The overall COVID-19 vaccine acceptance rate was 99.3%, similar for both student groups. Concerns about vaccine efficacy, safety, and availability of wanted vaccines were the main reasons for vaccination refusal. Improving COVID-19 prevention and vaccination should consider the differential knowledge gaps, attitudes toward COVID-19, and the reasons for refusing vaccination among students.

Problem-Based Learning Approach for Developing Learning Management Skills in Undergraduate Mathematics Education

This study explores the effectiveness of problem-based learning (PBL) activities in developing learning management skills among mathematics education students. The research was conducted with 30 participants selected from a public university in Thailand using a cluster sampling method. A holistic rubric with a rating scale of 1 to 5 was employed to assess learning management design and teaching implementation. The results indicate that PBL significantly enhanced students’ learning management skills, with mean scores of 77.90 (82% of full mark) for learning management design and 56.90 (81.29% of full mark) for teaching implementation. Overall, the participants achieved a mean score of 134.80 (81.70% of full mark), demonstrating the effectiveness of PBL in fostering comprehensive learning management abilities. Moreover, participants expressed high satisfaction with the PBL approach, as evidenced by a mean satisfaction score of 4.54 (S.D. = 0.48) on a 5-point Likert scale. The study contributes valuable evidence supporting the integration of PBL in teacher education curricula, with implications for both academic and pedagogical contexts. Policymakers are encouraged to consider incorporating real-world problem-solving experiences in all teacher education classes, and further studies can explore the long-term effects of PBL on students’ teaching practices.

On-site and Online Classroom Activities and Thai EFL Learners’ Language Anxiety before and during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The present study has been conducted in order to study the classroom activities and the levels of learning anxiety of the third-year English majors both who show high academic performance (HAP) and low academic performance (LAP), before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. The researchers have compared the different levels of the students’ anxiety and the effects of classroom activities on the students during both periods. The participants of the study were 114 third-year English majors from two public universities in Thailand: 1) Southern University (SU) and 2) Northeastern University (NEU) (the university names used are pseudonyms). The number of HAP students was 57, and the remaining 57 students showed LAP. To collect the data, the researchers adopted a questionnaire and an in-deph interview as data collection tools. The questionnaire was administered to 114 students, and four of whom voluntarily participated in the interview session - two of whom held HAP while the other two had LAP.
 
 The results showed that before the pandemic, both HAP and LAP students similarly experienced the activities in the aspect of participation mode activity most often. The least often experienced activities for those with HAP were speaking activities, but ones for the LAP students were reading activities. During the pandemic, the HAP students most often experienced the participation mode activities while those with LAP experienced all types of classroom activities at a moderate level. However, the two groups were similar in that they experienced speaking activities the least. In terms of the level of English learning anxiety, both groups similarly had overall learning anxiety at a high level both before and during the pandemic. However, the data revealed that their levels of English learning anxiety before the outbreak were statistically significantly different, but the two groups had the similar levels of learning anxiety during the pandemic. In terms of the effects of classroom activities on the English majors, the data showed that the activities used before the pandemic including speaking activities (i.e., oral presentations and reading pronunciation) and taking exams (scheduled exams and pop-up quizzes) affected both groups similarly. This was because they were nervous and excited about being in front of the class while doing speaking tasks and they were worried about their marks when taking exams. However, two activities including 1) being unexpectedly called on and 2) group work had different effects on the two groups. That means only LAP students experienced anxiety when being randomly called on while group work only increased the learning anxiety of those with HAP. In addition, the activities causing both groups to have learning anxiety during the pandemic were doing group work, being called on randomly, online listening, and doing activities with evaluations. The data revealed the two causes of the anxiety that were 1) the problems about online communication and being unacquainted with other members when doing group work and 2) their unfamiliarity with the foreign teachers’ accent and pronunciation. In addition, the results revealed online presentations can reduce both groups’ learning anxiety while online examinations could reduce only LAP English majors’ learning anxiety.

Foundation English Course Development for Thai Tertiary Education: Learners’ Perceived Needs and Factor Analysis

A challenge to curriculum designers is what to adapt and include in Foundation English (FE) courses for tertiary education. In Thailand, it is important to explore how Thai EFL university students perceive their own needs in terms of English language learning. The present study aims to explore their perceived needs and to make use of the needs to design appropriate components of FE in a public university in Thailand. An online questionnaire comprising self-rated items on English language skills and written responses was used to capture data from 145 randomly selected university students enrolled in an FE course at the university in the second semester of academic year 2022. The results revealed that speaking was the most wanted-to-learn skill for communication. Moreover, seven other factors were found for the design of FE surrounding English for Academic Purposes (EAP) and English for Specific Purposes (ESP). The components of EAP for FE included Academic English Skills, Advanced Reading Skills, and Paragraph Writing. The elements of ESP for FE included Content-based Language Learning and Career English. These findings have implications for the design of FE curriculum and course component development.

The interaction of organizational politics and political skill on employees' exposure to workplace cyberbullying: the conservation of resources theory perspective

PurposeConsidering the detrimental impact of workplace cyberbullying on employees and organizations, it is necessary to understand factors that potentially induce employees to engage in cyberbullying and to recognize personal characteristics that may help employees mitigate its impact. This research applies the conservation of resources (COR) theory to investigate the effect of organizational politics and political skill on employees' exposure to workplace cyberbullying as well as to analyze the subsequent impact on emotional exhaustion. Moreover, the interaction effect of political skill and organizational politics on employees' exposure to workplace cyberbullying is analyzed.Design/methodology/approachThe total of 358 complete questionnaires were obtained from one medium-sized public university in Thailand. The partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to analyze the data.FindingsThe analysis supports the positive association between organizational politics and employees' exposure to workplace cyberbullying. Employees' exposure to workplace cyberbullying also has a positive association with emotional exhaustion. On the other hand, the analysis showed that political skill has a negative association with employees' exposure to workplace cyberbullying. The result from the moderating effect analysis further shows that political skill also reduces the impact of organizational politics on employees' exposure to workplace cyberbullying.Originality/valueThe incorporation of the COR theory provides theoretical insight into how political skill of employees can buffer the impact of organizational politics on exposure to workplace cyberbullying. It advances the knowledge found in previous research that lacked solid theory to explain the interaction between organizational politics and political skill of employees in the area of workplace cyberbullying.

Exploring problem-solving through the intervention of technology and Realistic Mathematics Education in the Calculus content course

In Thai mathematics classrooms, there is a lack of attention to support students’ mathematical problem-solving skills by working from real-world contexts that make sense to students. This study aimed to investigate how pre-service mathematics teachers’ problem solving can be explored in their content course, intervening with technology and Realistic Mathematics Education (RME) through the Mean Value Theorem (MVT) lesson. The study included nine pre-service mathematics teachers purposively selected from a public university in Thailand who attended a Calculus course. Data was collected from classroom artifacts, observation notes, and interviews. It was found in this study that the intervention of technology and RME in pre-service mathematics teachers’ content courses has the potential to build pre-service mathematics teachers’ problem-solving abilities. It was also discussed that the intervention could use RME to conceptualize mathematics theorem and cultivate Polya’s problem-solving steps. The findings provide light on the efficacy of using technology and RME in enhancing problem-solving skills among other content courses and could be used to inform the creation of mathematics curricula and instructional strategies in undergraduate content courses for mathematics education programs.

An IDEF0 Functional Planning Model for the Development of an Asset Management Framework: A Case Study of Chiang Mai University

Asset management (AM) focuses on the life cycle of assets and provides a systematic process for developing and maintaining an organisation’s assets using a set of asset-related planning and control activities. Chiang Mai University (CMU) is a public university in Thailand founded in 1964. The university was the first provincial university in Thailand and aims to be the university of prototyped innovation for sustainable development in communities. CMU’s AM planning process is a critical aspect of its mission to develop the university. This study developed an asset management framework (AMF) based on IDEF0 functional modelling – a modelling process that facilitates the decisions, actions and activities of an organisation or system. Moreover, the study used an analytic hierarchy process (AHP) to perform pairwise comparison, produce matrices and calculate priorities for CMU’s assets. The researchers employed a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) analysis to evaluate the organisation’s competitive position and support its strategic planning. This study presents the resulting of CMU’s AMF (AMF-CMU), the development of which contributed to prioritising and managing the university’s assets.

Attitudes and practices related to smoking among university students in Thailand

Objective: To investigate attitudes and practices toward smoking among university students and to identify associated factors. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 1,299 students from five public universities in Thailand. Factor analysis and multiple regression were used for analysis. Results: A higher score of anti-smoking attitude was associated with female gender, majoring in science, living on campus, having a father with primary or secondary school, and those whose father was employed in the private sector. A more positive perceptions about smoking was associated with male gender, having a family income of 30,001–50,000 baht, and having a smoking friend. High positive preventive practice score was associated with those who came from rural areas, having a mother who was self-employed, and having a smoking family member. Conclusions: Although students showed strong anti-smoking attitudes, their preventive practices were poor. These findings should be taken into consideration when developing preventive smoking programs.

Online learning challenges in Thailand and strategies to overcome the challenges from the students’ perspectives

Recently, at the end of 2019, the whole world was affected by the outbreak of COVID − 19 disease, which has caused massive disruption of the normal teaching and learning process worldwide, including Thailand’s educational system. This sudden shift of the educational processes to online learning and teaching has caused many challenges as teachers, learners, and educational institutes are not well-prepared, especially in developing countries like Thailand. This research used a mixed-methods approach, quantitative and qualitative data, in which a google form survey questionnaire was designed in both English and Thai language to 1). investigate Thai students’ perceptions of the online learning experience; 2). assess factors that cause challenges in online learning in Thailand; 3). find out strategies for improvement and overcome the challenges. For the sample of the study, 465 students were selected purposively from two public Universities in Thailand due to convenience for collecting data as two co-researchers were teaching in these universities. Results identified major challenges such as the temptation to see other sites, difficulty in understanding the lesson context, poor internet connectivity, difficulty in time management, difficulty in attending the online examination, poor quality of learning experience, low interest/motivation, difficulty in selecting the area at home, difficulty in doing work assignment/task, and distraction at home learning environment. Among the identified factors for these challenges were distraction due to noise and poor learning environment at home, teacher’s incompetency due to technical, poor teaching skills, unstructured content or no follow-up, and technological constraint affecting the quality of audio/video uploaded connectivity, technical issue or data limit. Students also suggested strategies to overcome online learning challenges such as improvement in evaluation, connectivity, interactivity, content and accessing materials. The study concluded that all these factors and strategies should be considered for the effective implementation of the online education system in Thailand.

1940. COVID-19 Vaccines and Related Adverse Effects among Health Sciences and Non-Health Sciences Students from Two Large Public Universities in Thailand

Abstract Background Existing data on vaccine regimens received by university students and related adverse effects are limited. Methods An online survey study was conducted among students from 12 Health Sciences faculties (HS), including Faculty of Medicine and from 16 non-Health Sciences faculties (NHS) of two large urban Thai universities from October 2021 to January 2022. Types, doses and adverse effects (AEs) of COVID-19 vaccines received by HS and NHS were assessed. Results There were 1,439 participating students who had received two doses of COVID-19 vaccines. Of these 1,439 students, 522 (36%) were HS (208 were medical students), 393 (27%) were from faculties of Sciences, and 524 (37%) were from faculties of Social Sciences. The types of the first dose vaccine received were inactivated (49%), viral vector (46%) and mRNA (5%), while the types of the second dose vaccine received were viral vector (53%), inactivated (40%) and mRNA (7%). For the first dose vaccines, the most common AE of inactivated, viral vector and mRNA vaccines were muscle pain (47%, 82%, 58%, respectively). For the second dose vaccines, the most common AE were cough (47%) for inactivated vaccines and muscle pain (49% for viral vector and 56% for mRNA vaccines). Viral vector vaccines were more likely to cause fever, muscle pain, diarrhea, headache and rashes while inactivated vaccines were more likely to cause cough. The mRNA vaccines caused injection site pain more than inactivated vaccines. Tables 1 and 2 demonstrate the type and onset of AEs by types of the vaccines. Overall, the majority of AEs occurred at 24-48 hours after vaccination (57-68%), were more severe with the first dose compared to the second dose (59%) and resolved spontaneously or with symptomatic treatment without the need for hospitalization (98%). The AEs experienced by HS and NHS were different according to the types of vaccine they received. Table 1Adverse effects of the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine, stratified by type, of those who had received two doses of the vaccinesTable 2Adverse effects of the second dose of COVID-19 vaccine, stratified by type, of those who had received two doses of the vaccines. Conclusion The AEs experienced by the students were different according to the type and number of doses of COVID-19 vaccines. The AEs were mostly non-severe and occurred less for the second dose compared to the first dose. The study findings could serve as information provided to university students for decision making regarding COVID-19 vaccination. Disclosures All Authors: No reported disclosures.

The mediation effect of inventory management practices on operational performance in public university

Purchasing and inventory managements are essential in both public and private organizations, especially in public higher education institutions and universities since they can they affect achievement of the country mission and fully respond to needs of the people. The objectives of this research are to study the effects of purchasing strategies (PUF) and inventory management practices (INV) on operational performance (OPE), as well as the mediation effect of INV on the effect of PUF on OPE. The study used quantitative method. The sample was 293 staff involved in purchasing and inventory managements in the public university in Thailand, arisen from convenience sampling. The instruments used in the research were questionnaires. The statistics used for data analysis were frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, confirmative factor analysis and structural equation modeling. The findings revealed that PUF and INV had a direct positive effect on OPE and INV mediated the effect of PUF on OPE. For practical recommendation, such findings can be a guideline for public higher education institutions to improve their logistics management, especially in purchasing and inventory managements

Exploring the Impact of Synchronous, Asynchronous, and Bichronous Online Learning Modes on EFL Students’ Self- Regulated and Perceived English Language Learning

The aim of this mixed method study was to investigate the influences of synchronous, asynchronous, and bichronous learning modes on students’ self-regulated and perceived learning in learning English language online. The influential differences among modes were also explored. Three intact groups of first year non-majored undergraduate university students (N = 142) enrolling in the online Foundation English course at a public university in Thailand were assigned to the researcher as the participants of the study. Three different learning modes were appointed randomly to three different groups of students; synchronous (n = 53), asynchronous (n = 42), and bichronous (n = 47) online learning modes over a 5-week of 12-week period. After that, the primary synchronous online learning mode preferred by the university resumed for asynchronous and bichronous learning. As for synchronous learning, the instruction remained the same as it already focused on real-time communication. The Online Self-Regulated English Language Learning Questionnaire (OSELLQ), the Cognitive, Affective, and Psychomotor (CAP) perceived learning scale, and the learning diary were used to collect data. The results revealed that each mode both uniquely promoted and obstructed participants in self-regulated and perceived English language learning, by providing a specific opportunity for the participants to self-control their learning with an expectation of the participants-modes compatibility. This expectation led to a varied level of perceived English language learning in different learning modes.

Blended Online Learning: Perceptions and Experiences of EFL University Students and Teachers

During the COVID-19 pandemic, in which social distancing has become the norm, blended online learning, which consists of two main components: namely synchronous online instruction through a virtual conferencing platform, or live virtual classroom (LVC), and asynchronous online learning through a learning management system (LMS), has largely replaced face-to-face classrooms. After 2,217 EFL freshmen and 16 EFL teachers at a public university in Thailand participated in blended online learning instruction in a foundation English course in the first semester of academic year 2021, their perceptions and experiences regarding the instruction were investigated using online questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. An explanatory sequential mixed methods design was employed to obtain empirical information from the participants. The findings obtained from the questionnaires (590 voluntary students and 12 voluntary teachers) and semi-structured interviews (15 voluntary students and 5 voluntary teachers) indicated that blended online learning was appropriate and beneficial in EFL classes for the undergraduate students and could support the social distancing measures put in place due to COVID-19. While there are some limitations, inconveniences, and challenges related to blended online learning, it has been demonstrated to be effective in improving students’ English ability while saving time and expense by eliminating the need for travel to the university and providing flexibility regarding the time and place of learning and teaching. Implications and recommendations for blended online learning and its two main components were also concluded from the findings and are discussed in the study.

Factors Affecting Cloud Computing Adoption and Continuance Intention of Students in Thailand

An increasing number of higher education institutions have embraced Cloud Computing Services (CCS) to better respond to the issues arising from the COVID-19 pandemic. Cloud computing has helped to ease the process and lower the cost of offering online education and hybrid learning. However, some universities in Thailand face cloud computing adoption challenges because students lack awareness of the benefits and risks of CCS. Therefore, it is vital to identify the critical factors affecting the initial and continuance adoption of CCS by students in less developed countries. This study adopts a trade-off lens to assess the impact of the perceived usefulness and perceived risks regarding students’ attitudes toward the initial and continuing adoption of CCS. Using a survey of CCS from a large public university in Thailand, we found that performance expectation and effort expectation positively affect perceived usefulness, and that authentication risks positively affect perceived risks. We also found that perceived usefulness rather than perceived risks is a deciding factor in adopting CCS. Higher education institutions in Thailand can accelerate the adoption of CCS by improving students’ perceived performance and reducing the perceived risks.

Roles of gender, study major, and origins in accounting learning: A case in Thailand

Management students are required to pass several quantitative subjects, such as Accounting, Business Finance, and Mathematics, during their study at the undergraduate level. There are limited studies conducted in Thailand that explored students' learning achievement in accounting courses. This paper explored the learning achievement of undergraduate management students in the introductory accounting course at a public university in Thailand. It examined whether the achievement differs across the students' gender, study major, and origins. Data from 906 management students were taken as samples. This study relied on the independent samples t-test and one-way ANOVA to analyze the data. The results suggested that the performance of undergraduate management students in the accounting course differs significantly across genders, majors, and origins of the students.

The Production of Instructional Videos for Teaching Kammalor Drawing for Thai University Students Majoring in Arts Education

The purposes of this study were to develop instructional videos for Lai Kammalor Drawing, to assess their effectiveness, and to compare students’ ability before and after learning through instructional videos for Lai Kammalor Drawing. The participants in this study were undergraduate students who were majoring in Arts Education from a public university in Thailand. The study’s purposefully selected sample was divided into two groups: 1) the sample group, which consisted of 43 students, and 2) the treatment group, which consisted of 20 students. The descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation) as well as the t-test for dependent samples were used in this study. Three major results arose as a result of the research. To begin, the evaluation of the instructional video creation for Lai Kammalor Drawing yielded findings that were much higher than the usual average of 3.50 (mean=4.76, SD=0.34). Furthermore, the content and design were at excellent levels. Second, the instructional videos for Lai Kammalor Drawing were 80.67/83.88 percent efficient, above the necessary set of 80/80 percent. Finally, the posttest score was significantly greater than the pretest scoreat the.05 level.