Development of a virtual community learning center based on the philosophy of sufficiency economy with case based learning to enhance problem solving ability of undergraduate students
Abstract:
The objectives of this research were to: (1) study the needs of students, agricultural teaching specialists, media and educational technology experts concerning their problems and needs for teaching and learning in agriculture, (2) develop and present the model of Virtual Community Learning Center (VCLC) under the philosophy of sufficiency economy, using case study as a base to enhance the ability to solve the problems in the philosophy of sufficiency economy of undergraduate students, and (3) study the opinions and satisfaction of students towards learning through the VCLC. The samples were 400 undergraduate students studying in agriculture from 10 universities, 9 agricultural specialists, and 5 lecturers in teaching media and technology. The research tools were examined and accredited by 17 experts. The samples that used the VCLC model were 31 undergraduate students from Faculty of Agriculture Kamphaeng saen, Kasetsart University. The research instruments consisted of students questionnaires, expert interview forms, system evaluation forms, virtual community learning center website and lesson plans. The data collecting instruments consisted of evaluation form, problem solving ability test, observation and questionnaire. The data were analyzed using mean, percentage, standard deviation, and t-test. The results indicated the problems that impeding student learning were inadequate learning media (55.8%). The most basic knowledge that agricultural students need to develop was agricultural knowledge and knowledge to solve problems were 74.3% and 68.8% respectively. The teaching and learning obstacles of mostly lecturer were an over workload affecting the time to develop themselves. The VCLC model under the philosophy of sufficiency economy using case study as a base to enhance the problem solving ability of undergraduate students consisted of 4 keys elements: people, technology, learning resources and learning activity. The learning activity model consisted of 3 phases: the preparation of learners, learning activities, and evaluation. The result of using the VCLC model indicated that the post-test of students problem solving ability mean scores were significantly higher than pre-test mean scores at 0.05 level. The most satisfaction mean was media and learning support (4.24), and satisfying in applications was 4.23, respectively.