Abstract:
This research is aimed to study the teacher competencies of distance education school. The activities were developed based on constructivist theory to enhance teacher competencies of distance education school. Another objective is to study the results of experimental activities based on constructivist theory to promote teacher competencies of distance education school. The research is divided into 3 steps as follows;
Step 1 : The studying of teacher competencies of distance education school. The research instrument is the competency questionnaire of the schools that handle distance education. The sample group is 280 teachers in distance education school which located in the office of Phitsanulok Educational Service Area zone 1, zone 2, zone 3, and teachers in the Police Patrol school in Phitsanulok province. The results of the examination of the harmony model of teacher competency components by analyzing data with the statistics of secondly order confirmatory factor analysis showed that the teacher competencies is harmony with empirical data. Each element has a standard weight component between 0.65-0.96.
Step 2 : The activities development based on constructivist theory to promote teacher competencies of distance education school. The tools used in the research were the record of the process of organizing activities and evaluation form of training activity manual. The data resources are documents and related researches on organizing activities according to constructivist theory and also 7 experts. The results revealed that the process of organizing activities according to constructivist theory in order to promote teacher competencies in distance education school has 6 steps 1) Introduce activities and prepare 2) Determine problem conditions 3) Review previous knowledge and provide basic knowledge 4) Seek knowledge and take action 5) Present and exchange opinions, and 6) Publicize opinions/works. When used it as a training activity manual, based on constructivist theory, to promote teachers' competency in distance education schools, it showed that the manual is the highest appropriation.
Step 3 : Experiment of using activities base on constructivist theory to promote teacher competencies of distance education school. The tools used in the research were training activities manual, activity evaluation form and workpiece/ project, pre-test, and post-test of measure knowledge about distance education, the characteristics of the destination teachers that occurred after participate the training activities, and the satisfaction questionnaire for organizing activities. The target group used in this experiment were 13 teachers in the Police Patrol School in Phitsanulok province. The results showed that teachers knew the distance education management after organizing activities based on constructivist theory. The score is higher than before the activities with statistical significance at the level of .01. The skills of using the distance education system in learning management were 91.80 percent. Some features occurred after organizing activities at the highest level of satisfaction. The teachers have a score between 40-43 points, representing 83.33¬89.58 percent.