Abstract: Crisis management strategies could be found in various curriculums, not only in schools of business, but also schools of communication. Young students, such as freshmen and sophomores of undergraduate schools, may not care about learning crisis management strategies. Moreover, crisis management strategies are not a topic art students are familiar with. The current paper discusses a way to adapt entertainment media into a crisis management lesson, and the importance of learning crisis management strategies in the school of animation. Students could learn crisis management strategies by watching movies with content about a crisis and responding to crisis responding. The students should then participate in follow up discussions related to the strategies that were used to address the crisis, as well as their success in solving the crisis.
Abstract: Many English for Specific Purposes (ESP) textbooks are distributed globally as the content development is often obliged to compromises between commercial and pedagogical demands. Therefore, the issue of regional application and usefulness of globally published ESP textbooks has received much debate. For ESP instructors, textbook selection is definitely a priority consideration for curriculum design. An appropriate ESP textbook can facilitate teaching and learning, while an inappropriate one may cause a disaster for both teachers and students. This study aims to investigate the regional application and usefulness of an ESP textbook for information technology (IT). Participants were 51 sophomores majoring in Applied Informatics and Multimedia at a university in Taiwan. As they were non-English majors, their English proficiency was mostly at elementary and elementary-to-intermediate levels. This course was offered for two semesters. The textbook selected was Oxford English for Information Technology. At class end, the students were required to complete a survey comprising five choices of Very Easy, Easy, Neutral, Difficult, and Very Difficult for each item. Based on the content design of the textbook, the survey investigated how the students viewed the difficulty of grammar, listening, speaking, reading, and writing materials of the textbook. In terms of difficulty, results reveal that only 22% of them found the grammar section difficult and very difficult. For listening, 71% responded difficult and very difficult. For general reading, 55% responded difficult and very difficult. For speaking, 56% responded difficult and very difficult. For writing, 78% responded difficult and very difficult. For advanced reading, 90% reported difficult and very difficult. These results indicate that, except the grammar section, more than half of the students found the textbook contents difficult in terms of listening, speaking, reading, and writing materials. Such contradictory results between the easy grammar section and the difficult four language skills sections imply that the textbook designers do not well understand the English learning background of regional ESP learners. For the participants, the learning contents of the grammar section were the general grammar level of junior high school, while the learning contents of the four language skills sections were more of the levels of college English majors. Implications from the findings are obtained for instructors and textbook designers. First of all, existing ESP textbooks for IT are few and thus textbook selections for instructors are insufficient. Second, existing globally published textbooks for IT cannot be applied to learners of all English proficiency levels, especially the low level. With limited textbook selections, third, instructors should modify the selected textbook contents or supplement extra ESP materials to meet the proficiency level of target learners. Fourth, local ESP publishers should collaborate with local ESP instructors who understand best the learning background of their students in order to develop appropriate ESP textbooks for local learners. Even though the instructor reduced learning contents and simplified tests in curriculum design, in conclusion, the students still found difficult. This implies that in addition to the instructor’s professional experience, there is a need to understand the usefulness of the textbook from learner perspectives.
Abstract: The aim of this paper is to exemplify the relation of architecture and philosophy over the Japanese architect Toyo Ito’s conceptual architecture. The study is practiced in ‘Architecture and Philosophy Readings’ elective course with 22 sophomore architecture students in Karadeniz Technical University Department of Architecture. It is planned as a workshop, which discusses the design philosophy of Toyo Ito’s buildings and the reflections of concept in his intellectual architecture. So, the paper contains Toyo Ito’s philosophy, his discourses and buildings and also thinking similarities with philosopher Gilles Deleuze. Thus, the workshop of course is about architecture and philosophy relationship. With this aspect, a holistic graphic representation is aimed for Toyo Ito who thinks that everything composes a whole. As a result, it can be said that architect and philosopher interaction in architecture and philosophy relation supports creative thinking. Conceptual architecture of Toyo Ito has philosophical roots and his philosophy can be read over his buildings and can be represent totally via a holistic pattern.
Abstract: A practical project is used in an engineering surveying course to expose sophomore and junior civil engineering students to several important issues related to the use of basic principles of land surveying. The project, which is the design of a two-lane rural highway to connect between two arbitrary points, requires students to draw the profile of the proposed highway along with the existing ground level. Areas of all cross-sections are then computed to enable quantity computations between them. Lastly, Mass-Haul Diagram is drawn with all important parts and features shown on it for clarity. At the beginning, students faced challenges getting started on the project. They had to spend time and effort thinking of the best way to proceed and how the work would flow. It was even more challenging when they had to visualize images of cut, fill and mixed cross sections in three dimensions before they can draw them to complete the necessary computations. These difficulties were then somewhat overcome with the help of the instructor and thorough discussions among team members and/or between different teams. The method of assessment used in this study was a well-prepared-end-of-semester questionnaire distributed to students after the completion of the project and the final exam. The survey contained a wide spectrum of questions from students' learning experience when this course development was implemented to students' satisfaction of the class instructions provided to them and the instructor's competency in presenting the material and helping with the project. It also covered the adequacy of the project to show a sample of a real-life civil engineering application and if there is any excitement added by implementing this idea. At the end of the questionnaire, students had the chance to provide their constructive comments and suggestions for future improvements of the land surveying course. Outcomes will be presented graphically and in a tabular format. Graphs provide visual explanation of the results and tables, on the other hand, summarize numerical values for each student along with some descriptive statistics, such as the mean, standard deviation, and coefficient of variation for each student and each question as well. In addition to gaining experience in teamwork, communications, and customer relations, students felt the benefit of assigning such a project. They noticed the beauty of the practical side of civil engineering work and how theories are utilized in real-life engineering applications. It was even recommended by students that such a project be exercised every time this course is offered so future students can have the same learning opportunity they had.
Abstract: Critical thinking and creativity are prerequisite skills for working professionals in the 21st century. A survey conducted in 2014 at the Boromarajonani College of Nursing, Chon Buri, Thailand, revealed that these skills within students across all academic years was at a low to moderate level. An action research study was conducted to develop the EREC IF Model, a framework which includes the concepts of experience, reflection, engagement, culture and language, ICT, and flexibility and fun, to guide pedagogic activities for 75 sophomores of the undergraduate nursing science program at the college. The model was applied to all professional nursing courses. Prior to implementation, workshops were held to prepare lecturers and students. Both lecturers and students initially expressed their discomfort and pointed to the difficulties with the model. However, later they felt more comfortable, and by the end of the project they expressed their understanding and appreciation of the model. A survey conducted four and eight months after implementation found that the critical thinking and creativity skills of the sophomores were significantly higher than those recorded in the pretest. It could be concluded that the EREC IF model is efficient for fostering critical thinking and creativity skills in the undergraduate nursing science program. This model should be used for other levels of students.
Abstract: The Speexx results revealed four main factors
affecting the success of 190 Thai sophomores as follows: 1) Future
English training should be pursued in applied Speexx development.
2) Thai students didn’t see the benefit of having an Online Language
Training Program. 3) There is a great need to educate the next
generation of learners on the benefits of Speexx within the
community. 4) A great majority of Thai Sophomores didn't know
what Speexx was.
A guideline for self-reliance planning consisted of four aspects: 1)
Development planning: by arranging groups to further improve
English abilities with the Speexx Language Training program and
encourage using Speexx into every day practice. Local communities
need to develop awareness of the usefulness of Speexx and share the
value of using the program among family and friends. 2) Humanities
and Social Science staff should develop skills using this Online
Language Training Program to expand on the benefits of Speexx
within their departments. 3) Further research should be pursued on
the Thai Students progression with Speexx and how it helps them
improve their language skills with Business English. 4) University’s
and Language centers should focus on using Speexx to encourage
learning for any language, not just English.
Abstract: Self-efficacy, self-reliance, and motivation were
examined in a quasi-experimental study with 178 sophomore
university students. Participants used an interactive cardiovascular
anatomy and physiology CD-ROM, and completed a 15-item
questionnaire. Reliability of the questionnaire was established using
Cronbach-s alpha. Post-tests and course grades were examined using
a t-test, demonstrating no significance. Results of an item-to-item
analysis of the questionnaire showed overall satisfaction with the
teaching methodology and varied results for self-efficacy, selfreliance,
and motivation. Kendall-s Tau was calculated for all items
in the questionnaire.
Abstract: This study is about an application of King Bhumibol
Adulyadej’s “Learn Wisely” (LW) concept in instructional design
and management process at the Faculty of Education, Suan Sunahdha
Rajabhat University. The concept suggests four strategies for true
learning. Related literature and significant LW methods in teaching
and learning are also reviewed and then applied in designing a
pedagogy learning module. The design has been implemented in
three classrooms with a total of 115 sophomore student teachers.
After one consecutive semester of managing and adjusting the
process by instructors and experts using collected data from minutes,
assessment of learning management, satisfaction and learning
achievement of the students, it is found that the effective SSRU
model of LW instructional method comprises of five steps.
Abstract: Successful intelligence (SI) is the integrated set of the
ability needed to attain success in life, within individual-s sociocultural
context. People are successfully intelligent by recognizing
their strengths and weaknesses. They will find ways to strengthen
their weakness and maintain their strength or even improve it. SI
people can shape, select, and adapt to the environments by using
balance of higher-ordered thinking abilities including; critical,
creative, and applicative. Aims: The purposes of this study were to;
1) develop curriculum that promotes SI for nursing students, and 2)
study the effectiveness of the curriculum development. Method:
Research and Development was a method used for this study. The
design was divided into two phases; 1) the curriculum development
which composed of three steps (needs assessment, curriculum
development and curriculum field trail), and 2) the curriculum
implementation. In this phase, a pre-experimental research design
(one group pretest-posttest design) was conducted. The sample
composed of 49 sophomore nursing students of Boromarajonani
College of Nursing, Surin, Thailand who enrolled in Nursing care of
Health problem course I in 2011 academic year. Data were carefully
collected using 4 instruments; 1) Modified essay questions test
(MEQ) 2) Nursing Care Plan evaluation form 3) Group processing
observation form (α = 0.74) and 4) Satisfied evaluation form of
learning (α = 0.82). Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics
and content analysis. Results: The results revealed that the sample
had post-test average score of SI higher than pre-test average score
(mean difference was 5.03, S.D. = 2.84). Fifty seven percentages of
the sample passed the MEQ posttest at the criteria of 60 percentages.
Students demonstrated the strategies of how to develop nursing care
plan. Overall, students- satisfaction on teaching performance was at
high level (mean = 4.35, S.D. = 0.46). Conclusion: This curriculum
can promote the attribute of characteristic of SI person and was
highly required to be continued.