Posted 2012-02-07 17:10:59
 Siam Simon, on 2012-02-07 14:50:22, said:
ginjag, on 2012-02-07 13:29:37, said:
whybother, on 2012-02-07 11:16:10, said: Siam Simon, on 2012-02-07 10:56:47, said: Good to see implementation issues on this project have been well surveyed. How they are addressed is key to whether or not the project will get off to a solid start. Or get off to a start at all. Although I'm sure the PTP supporters will be proclaiming success when 3% of grade 1 students have their tablets with reasonable access to the internet. It's interesting that the government are planning to distribute 900,000 tablets by the start of the school year in May, but only a small percentage of schools will actually have access to online content by then.
This promise, pre election was a total NO NO in the first place, no research was done prior to the announcement hence the total cock-up now. A waste of tax payers money that cannot be fulfilled only a small % of a chosen few will receive. FOR GODS SAKE scrap it. like you have done with most other pledges--come clean, use your brains for hells sake no wonder there are far more negative posts than positive. This is to do with how genuine you are in government.
"for hells sake no wonder there are far more negative posts than positive. This is to do with how genuine you are in government."
It's actually to do with the types of posters who dominate and bully this particular part of the forum. Most (but not all) of the posts from the usual lot, like in all the other politics discussions, contain speculative insults, probables with no supporting facts, and nothing constructive.
Simon going on the information released by the government so far can you give us the positive's.
My list of info released.
900,000 tabs by May
2,000 schools without electricity
2,400b unit price
No manufacturer set
no spec set
fibre optic wifi infrastructure in only 789 of 24,098 schools
content not agreed upon yet
the fact that this article is implying that the tabs may be shared between older students.
There's more but i have to be off to work.
Regards
Posted 2012-02-07 17:23:33
<snip>
You have to be off to work at 5:15pm? Obviously not a teacher then - so why the interest?
Posted 2012-02-07 17:28:05
pastitche, on 2012-02-07 17:23:33, said:
<snip>
You have to be off to work at 5:15pm? Obviously not a teacher then - so why the interest?
No offence and all that, but may I nominate you for the 'stupidest question of the week' award?
Posted 2012-02-07 17:32:48
Guys, please stop this fight now. I hate the paperwork involved when I have to do something about it. 
Posted 2012-02-07 17:44:59
It t appears that the powers that be are not happy with the appallingly, low, university-entrance exam scores and are determined to make the already chronic Thai education standards worse.
First, there's the ill-concieved, but election victory aiding plan to give prathom students tablet PCs. Thai university students seem incapable of doing anything in a classroom without consulting their phones, tablets or laptops, and as a result have little or no information or knowledge in their heads. Thay think all they have to do is key a few words into a search engine and then copy the resullt. Their total lack of general knowledge and a complete inabilty to think for themselves is an obvious consequence of this approach.
With a government that would be terrified of a populace with critcal thinking skills, because with them the populace would quickly see through politico lies and, rightly, not believe half of what politicos tell them, the education minister wants to ensure that future generations have even less mental skill than the current ones. What better way to do this than to give the kiddies tablets as a substitute for developing their brains. They'l end up knowing nothing which is just the way the government wants them.
Add to this the Education Minister's ridiculous plan to have kiddies assess their teachers, and Thailand is going back to the middle ages. Thai students are notoriously, lazy, unmotivated, and uncaring towards their studies. Imagine the feedback teachers wuld get if they were dumm enough to push students. No! Better to let the kids run riot, play games on their computers and phones, and tell them a few jokes. That way, the kids will like their teachers and give them good assessment. Does not take Einstein's mind to realize that success in teaching will therefore mean not actually doing such. This approach makes sense from PTP as their leader once said that students do not need education, they only need to enjoy school so teachers should tell jokes.
The two above schemes may mean that Thailand ends up with some of the best video game players in the World, but the country needs a lot more educated people than it currently has. it ain't gonna get them with these two policies, only a lot more less-educated youngsters. Watch the politicos rejoice when next years uni exams are even lower than this years. Also watch them rejoice when, of course, they get the kickbacks from this project.
Posted 2012-02-07 20:52:02
A friend of mine who works in the I.T. industry here in Bangkok has seen the latest proposed dial up network diagram for the schools that are currently experiencing bandwidth problem vis a vis these tablets.
I have published a copy of the plan below for our general edification concerning the connection problems and the proposed format for solving said problems..
Edited by siampolee, 2012-02-07 20:53:24.
Posted 2012-02-07 21:36:43
woodyleonhard, on 2012-02-07 07:50:00, said:
This project definitely has potential. Much depends on the execution.
One big problem at this point: the schools with satellite-only access are going to be in a world of hurt. I wonder how many of them can be converted to HSPA "3G"? The government may find it more cost effective to get HSPA out into the boonies, rather than trying wired connections.
(You cynics in the crowd should realize that Apple just proposed doing something like this in the US through its iCloud services and iBooks Author. At least in concept, it makes a lot of sense.)
Yes, but the US has a thousand times better telco infrastructure than Thailand will ever have.
You would think someone would have thought of connectivity issues for schools in Nahkon Nowhere prior to moving forward with such a program.
Posted 2012-02-07 22:20:40
pastitche, on 2012-02-07 17:23:33, said:
<snip>
You have to be off to work at 5:15pm? Obviously not a teacher then - so why the interest?
DOHHHHHHHHH...The fact that i'm off to work at 5.15pm (2nd job) Kinda shows that i am a teacher. If i was a rich expat i would have more time on here making stupid statements..... 
Posted 2012-02-07 22:31:53
REM, on 2012-02-07 10:39:27, said:
And this is a surprise???? We all knew this last year, now they're just acknowledging it!!! I wonder when they'll launch their satellite for the other 16,000 schools???? Maybe that will big brothers saving grace?
Also, I don't see those kids reading books on those tablets.........
The few kids that have them at my school just play games with them - I asked them if they have MS office on them, but they don't!!
The principle of the idea is fine, but execution by teachers, software availability, Internet connection, maintenance of the units will be very problematic. They should instead focus on reducing class sizes (building more schools), better teacher training, more relevant curriculum, etc, before even thinking about tablets. Some schools don't even have properly functioning computers (such as my staffroom lol)
Posted 2012-02-07 23:12:26
How about a new project to fibre connect all the schools? Sounds like lots of money to spread around and everyone will be happy 
A bit like the government budget to pay the bail for the red shirts...
Edited by MaiChai, 2012-02-07 23:13:12.
Posted 2012-02-07 23:28:43
Having taught in Thai schools for 9 years, the kids are not lazy or inherently disinterested, in fact the vast majority are really nice little human beings who are willing to have a go at everything. That some get educated despite the system is a huge credit to those individuals.
The system is failing them (excuse the pun).
I can only conclude that there is a determined effort to keep them uneducated that stems from the ministry. Cheering, rote learning, compulsory passing, lining up, strict haircuts, hell 10 years ago most students were not allowed to ask the teacher questions - no, really! It was deemed to impolite to question one's superior.
Far easier to indoctrinate a population of their low standing in society by starting when they're young, then the ruling class can run roughshod over them to their hearts and wallets content.
This tablet policy was obviously not thought out, but then again, it never was intended for the betterment of the students.
It was intended for the parents and to get their votes. And it succeeded brilliantly and the objective has been reached and there will now be a light coating of whitewash applied - just enough so that the ruling class can proclaim that they tried and because the parents are conditioned not to question superiors, the whole self serving political patterns will repeat.
Sounds ridiculously daft doesn't it?
I invite any teachers out there to refute my beliefs though.
Edited by weka, 2012-02-07 23:32:12.
Posted 2012-02-16 22:18:53
KeyserSoze01, on 2012-02-07 21:36:43, said:
Yes, but the US has a thousand times better telco infrastructure than Thailand will ever have.
You would think someone would have thought of connectivity issues for schools in Nahkon Nowhere prior to moving forward with such a program.
Exactly. They are trying to build a seven-story building from the top-down.
I was an IT Program Manager for the Washington DC Government for the last six years and we spent a great deal of time shoring-up the network infrastructure of the DC School system before trying to do any kind of IT modernization in the classrooms. It makes absolutely no sense to start deploying network-dependent services when there is no usable network in place. I'm surprised that I even have to point this out; it should be a no-brainer even to the layman.
We deployed a great deal of fiber under the streets of DC, which probably isn't wise for a water-logged country like Thailand. I don't have the knowledge of the lay of the land here, nor do I know how far-flung the schools are from each other, but it makes sense to start deploying some kind of robust wireless technology like WiMax where each school can be a subscriber station. And WiMax isn't ungodly expensive and there are countries in Southeast Asia that can sell us the technology. I believe South Korea exports a good deal of WiMax hardware.
Posted 2012-02-16 22:25:18
woodyleonhard, on 2012-02-07 07:50:00, said:
This project definitely has potential. Much depends on the execution.
One big problem at this point: the schools with satellite-only access are going to be in a world of hurt. I wonder how many of them can be converted to HSPA "3G"? The government may find it more cost effective to get HSPA out into the boonies, rather than trying wired connections.
(You cynics in the crowd should realize that Apple just proposed doing something like this in the US through its iCloud services and iBooks Author. At least in concept, it makes a lot of sense.)
Woody, I thought sat connections were pretty good these days? What's the performance normally like now?
Posted 2012-02-16 22:28:21
KeyserSoze01, on 2012-02-07 21:36:43, said:
woodyleonhard, on 2012-02-07 07:50:00, said:
This project definitely has potential. Much depends on the execution.
One big problem at this point: the schools with satellite-only access are going to be in a world of hurt. I wonder how many of them can be converted to HSPA "3G"? The government may find it more cost effective to get HSPA out into the boonies, rather than trying wired connections.
(You cynics in the crowd should realize that Apple just proposed doing something like this in the US through its iCloud services and iBooks Author. At least in concept, it makes a lot of sense.)
Yes, but the US has a thousand times better telco infrastructure than Thailand will ever have.
You would think someone would have thought of connectivity issues for schools in Nahkon Nowhere prior to moving forward with such a program.
Regarding the USA, it is not everywhere. And some large communities only have a single provider. But that is not an issue for Thailand.
It is possible that the tablet project will push the braodband build-out in Thailand.
Posted 2012-02-16 22:32:29
tlansford, on 2012-02-16 22:28:21, said:
It is possible that the tablet project will push the braodband build-out in Thailand.
It should. The providers will probably be paid quite well to get the connections to all the schools. And even if they aren't (probably, especially if they aren't), once they are at the schools it won't take them much to get to a lot more houses, where they'll be able to make considerably more money.
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