Enhancement of the 21st Century Skills for Thai Higher Education by Integration of ICT in Classroom

AbstractThis research studied the effect of integration of information and communication technology (ICT) in classroom for enhancing 21st century learning skills which included collaboration, communication, information literacy, media literacy, and ICT literacy. In this study, based on learning theories and student-centered approach, integration of ICT included four effective functions; dynamic content presentation, information access, creation and sharing, interaction and reflection. Seven educational technology experts evaluated these functions by an assessment tool. The evaluation showed that the integration was appropriated. The integration was then applied into teaching and learning process throughout the course to study the effect. 69 undergraduate students and 22 graduate students in two different 4-months courses were target studied. The students were assessed themselves by a 21st century learning skill assessment tool before and after courses. The results showed that integration of ICT in classroom could enhance the 21st century learning skills for both undergraduate and graduate levels significantly with high effect size

Studio TEACH กับการพัฒนานิสิตครูในศตวรรษที่ 21 (Studio TEACH for Pre-Service Teacher Development in the 21st Century)

In the 21st century, teaching has changed from the past since the era of information and communication technology (ICT) has progressed and come to play an important role in people who live in a knowledge-based society.  Therefore, society needs members with the ability to use ICT to solve problems, in collaboration, communication and creation effectively. To prepare all students to meet the said needs, the learning process must be modified to emphasize the role from teacher-centered to focus on student engagement for constructing their own knowledge through ICT.  The key element of this learning process is a “teacher”.  Thus, all teachers need to adjust the paradigm of learning and teaching and need to develop the ability to integrate ICT in teaching and learning process effectively.  Although several years ago, the government and the relevant authorities have invested in the development of infrastructure and allocation of budget for ICT training, all reports have shown that the teachers still lack of the ICT skills in teaching and learning.  So,in this article,the author has synthesized and summarized the idea to develop skills in using ICT in teaching and learning by focusingon the foundation of “pre-service teacher” through “Studio TEACH” at the pre-service teacher institute. By doing this, when a  pre-service teacher graduates, he/she will become a “professional teacher”, who has the ability to integrate ICT in teaching and learning in the future. The institutions involved in the production and development of teachers can be used as a guide for policy makers to lead to concrete action to continue. Keywords: pre-service teacher development, ICT skills, integrating ICT in teaching and learnin