Abstract:
The purposes of this study were to: 1) investigate the condition, problems, readiness, and needs of distance learning of banking employees; 2) to develop a model of co-operation between financial institutions and public universities in designing a distance learning program for staff development; 3) to develop a distance learning program for staff development based on the concept of future organization; and 4) to evaluate a model of co-operation between financial institutions and public universities in designing a distance learning program for staff development. The sample consisted of 504 executives, middle-management employees, and employees of financial institutions, and the instruments used in data collection were a questionnaire and an assessment form of the lessons regarding lesson planning and contents, and an assessment of types and patterns of cooperation. Data collection was conducted in the following steps: 1) studying the condition, problems, readiness, and needs of distance learning of banking employees by sending the questionnaire to the sample; 2) analyzing documents and theories related to the concept of future organization of Mitroff, Mason & Pearson (1994), as well as synthesizing theories and conceptions regarding distance learning curriculum development to arrive at the M-Alert principle to be used as a concept in considering design of cooperation among educational institutes 3) developing six subjects of the distance learning program; 4) developing a globalism subject as an Internet lesson; 5) examining and evaluating each Internet subject by experts; 6) experimenting with distance learning using 20 employees of Bangkok Bank Public Company Limited, Chonburi Branch; and 7) examining and evaluating the co-operation model by experts. The findings of the study led to the following conclusions: 1) the financial institutions had not organized and utilized a full-fledge distance learning; 2) as for the problems and needs, there was a lack of a curriculum with an emphasis on modern knowledge and there was a need for such knowledge; 3) the readiness meant that employees had flexibility to choose their learning time (self-study); 4) there were three co-operation models for distance learning which were Outsourcing, Shopping, and Matching; 5) six subjects of the distance learning program had been developed and the content of the Globalism 1 course was developed as a guideline in developing a full-fledged long distance curriculum; 6) the Globalism subject was developed into an Internet lesson using the Blackboard Program; and 7) the result of the experiment with the Globalism subject revealed that the learning was flexible for the students, making them satisfied, that the subject suited the objectives, that the students could directly apply what they had learned in their line of work, that the students had interaction with the teachers and fellow students, and that students were able to conveniently further their studies before or after work with self-directed learning