Mobile learning to help improve educational quality in the Deep South
The protracted unrest problem in the three southernmost provinces which has been going on for over 10 years has affected many residents alike, including school children.
Every time a school was torched or a teacher killed by a separatist, the school was closed and the students were out of class for weeks or for months. And these have adverse impacts on especially school children.
Even if a school was not burned down or bombed or a teacher was not killed, the school children in the Deep South have been experiencing a unique problem which has caused them lag behind their peers in the other regions of the country.
School children in the Deep South normally attend class late or leave early for home for the safety of their teachers, mostly Buddhists, who have increasingly become a target of choice by separatist gangs. The teachers are normally escorted back and forth between their homes and schools by security forces. And for the sake of security, they normally use different routes of travelling and their travelling timetables are flexible to avoid a pattern which can vulnerable to attacks. Also, there are no extra-curriculum activities at schools because teachers have to rush homes before sunset.
This situation has dragged on and nobody knows for sure when it will be improved so teachers can pursue a normal life, can travel by themselves without escort and without fear and can teach normally like other teachers elsewhere.
This predicament for the teachers and the consequences to the youngsters are an open secret. But little has been done to resolve or ease the problem. Nevertheless, there are two scholars who are not just well aware of the problem but also have started doing something to find an alternative teaching tool to help the children learn better despite the unrest problem.
Dr Muhassal and Dr Sriya Bilsaela, both lecturers at Prince of Songkhla University’s Pattani campus, have conducted a research on the use of information technology to improve the learning of youngsters. The title of the research is "Mobile Learning Implementation Framework in the Conflict Area of Four Southernmost Provinces of Thailand". The research started in June last year and is scheduled to end in November.
Dr Muhassal told Isra news agency in a recent interview the unrest situation had adverse impacts on schools particularly those located in rural areas. Children in those schools, he said, attended class less than their peers elsewhere and, as a result, several cannot read or write properly after they have completed Pathomsueksa 6 educational level.
He said he found wireless information technology has the potential to supplement the shortcomings and to enable the school children to learn like the others. However, he added that he had to find out first whether the technology or mobile learning could be applied or not and whether the existing infrastructure which includes teachers and schools are ready to accommodate the technology or not.
The research focuses on four main issues: how much impacts on teaching and learning from the unrest problem; learning limitations in classrooms; the use of information in the region; designing of learning system and conceptual framework for school administrators to consider about what needs to be done if tablets or smartphones are to be used in the mobile learning.
While conducting the research, Dr Muhassal found out that many teachers and school administrators are not familiar with tablets or smart phones and lack managerial skills. "They have a misconception that these gadgets will replace teachers which is untrue because the gadgets will be just supplementary tool and they will be used for about 15 minutes in classroom."
Among the problems identified include limited internet wi-fi, low language proficiency among students, lack of body knowledge among others.
Dr Sriya, meanwhile, said that in the next phase of the research a pilot project would be put on trial at two chosen schools in each of the four southern provinces – a pathom 3 and pathom 5 in private religious schools. Schools to be chosen will depend on their readiness of the schools, their administrators and teachers to try the new learning system.
However, she said that priority consideration would be given to schools which do not have the facilities needed.