15th APSSA International Conference 2016 Chiang Mai, 26-29 June 2016

NEED FOR NEW SMAC (SOCIAL-MOBILE-ANALYTIC-CLOUD) BASED CURRICULUM FOR YOUTH TO PARTICIPATE IN DIGITAL ECONOMY

AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT Dr. Kuldeep Nagi

Fulbright Fellow (USA)

Assumption University

Bangkok

Thailand

Email: knagi@au.edu

Abstract: Educators and employers in most countries are getting uneasy on many fronts because of the hurdles created by old-economy curriculum and tradional education systems which have dominated higher education for most of the last century. Even the renewed emphasis on Science-Technology-Engineering-Math (STEM) in the last five decades has not been enough for employability in the current market place. With increased penetration of Internet, connectiivity and use of portable and smart devices is forcing many countries to further supplement their higher education with specific focus on SMAC skills to remain relevant. In USA, Europe, Australia several other countries in Asia, universities are creating new programs and courses with a focus on SMAC (Social, Mobile, Analytic and Cloud). The speed of innovations with this synergistic blending Internet + SMAC is quite overwhelming. It is becoming increasing clear that this new combination is necessary for the growth of digital economy and sustainable development in Thailand. New curriculum based on a increased emphasis on SMAC will help new graduates to successfully compete in new digital economy and strategic sustainable development not only in Thailand but also in the AEC.

Keywords: AEC, Digital Economy, SMAC, Sustainable Development, Thailand, Youth,

Introduction: New technologies changing the old pedagogies

Higher education and its role in society is nothing new. It is often associated with the advent of modern society. Historically speaking, all of the world’s universities (Figure-1) do, after all, stem from medieval European institutions. In some countries in Asia, such as Japan, the Western model of higher education was adopted voluntarily. In many other countries, Western style institutions were imposed under colonialial era. South East Asian countries streching from India to Hong Kong were exposed to colonial system of education and commerce. For centuries, Latin was the common language of higher education. In the late 19th century, when universities entered the modern era, German was the main language of science. Now, English has become the Latin of the 21st century, and is the most widely used medium of scientific communication, medium of instruction in colleges and universtites and increasingly of intellectual discourse and means of creating new knowledge around the world. There are well over a million students studying outside their home countries- the majority of them from Asia are studying in the United States, Britain, Canada, and Australia.

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Hardly a week goes by without a critical article in the press concerning the “demeaning” of traditional higher education in Thialand. Similar criticism is now heard in many Westrern countries, which traditionally have been a major exporter of international academic programs to Asian countries.

18th. Centry 21st. Century

Figure-1: Universities- Tradional vs. Modern

(Soure: https://library.nd.edu/medieval/resources/gabriel_universities_coll.shtml)

For the last century face to face (F2F) teaching and learning has been the default mode in every universities around the world. There is plethora of reasrch expounding on the merits and demirts of on campus F2F teaching and learning. In the last two centuries there have been many changes in the chalk-and-talk methodology used in classrooms. With the advent of industrial revolution the chalk-and-talk have been augmented with problem-based-learning, projects, hand-on-learning and feild experiences. For most of the last century various studies have been conducted about the efficacy of classroom teaching. In their book Dunkin & Biddle (1974) cited scores of such studies about effectiveness of F2F teaching and learning.

The advent of Internet in 1970s and its global expansion has changed the mode of teaching and learning. As shown in Figure-2 the class rooms, text books, note-books, paper, pen and pencils are now replaced with virtual classrroms created instantly by connecting to the Internet. In stead of carrying bags full of books students now carry smart devices, ebooks and use cloud based services for all acdemic tasks. It is now possible to learn anything from anywhere, anytime on the mobile devices the students carry with them. But for many instructors working in Thai universities their attention has not yet shifted from the technology tools to the pedagogical practices and use of the new tools and technologies. This has an impact not only on instructor identity but also on the effectiveness of the teaching and the perceptions and satisfaction of the learners.

19th. - 20th. Century 21st. century

Figure-2: Changes in Learning Gear- Bag & Books vs Device

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Elements of Digital Economy in 21 st. Century

Current Thai government's idea of a digital economy is a big departure from previous concepts rooted in old policies over past decades, which were primarily focused on processes embedded in an information or network economy. The new Thai digital economy will be anchored to shifts in technology in 6 core business areas that rely heavily on the Internet. They are telecommunications, broadcasting, IT/ICT, digital content, eCommerce and digital marketing. According to Bangkok Post article these 6 trends, excluding the electronics sector and other ICT-related businesses, generated a combined market capitalisation of 1.2 trillion Baht, or 10% of GDP (Tortermvasana, K. 2014). Digital economy in any country has varying themes but all of them focus on promoting rapid technology innovations for improving quality of life in society by improving education, employment opportunities and health care. To achieve these goals of SD requires increasing efforts to build soft power. Soft power of a country mainly depends upon new business innovations, products and services. New innovations such as Internet of Things (IoT), smart devices and a wide variety of social network have become integral part of our daily lives. The major components of soft power that are driving digital economy are depicted in Figure-3. According to an article posted by Jirapan. B (2014) in Nation newspaper Thailand now have more than 26 million Internet users, 33 million Line members and 28 million Facebook users. Soft powers will enable the country to complete regionally and globally. For enhancing quality of education SMAC can be used as one of the most effective tools. Many countries such as Australia, USA and UK have used their higher education as soft power to attract students from all over the world. Thousands of Thai students go to these countries to persue higher education. Terry Flew (2014) in her West Report placed new technological developments associated with digital media and the Internet at the centre of likely forces for drastic changes in Australian higher education and more market-based or, in the preferred language of modern trend, “student-centered” higher education system. Such developments in many apex universities in USA and Europe have also enhanced their potential to shape the future direction of digital economy.

Figure-3: Elements of Soft Power

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Technology&

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What is SMAC (Social-Mobile-Analytics-Cloud)?

Over the past two decades Thai universities have been striving to integrate Internet technologies with their academic programs. Increasing use of mobile and smart devices and availability of high quality online content require an urgent shift in the ways the universities have been operating. So what should the universities do in this new age of SMAC (Social-Mobile-Analytics-Cloud)? The four components of SMAC as shown in Figure-4 are discussed briefly in the next section. Let us examine how each component can help improve the quality of higher education and influence SD in Thailand.

Social- Selcan, K., Yasemin, G., & Christian, R. (2016) in their paper articulate that with increased use of mobile and smart devices, attempts to integrate social media within higher education have also increased. Universities need to think about new strategies for curriculum that caters to the needs of highly mobile student population. Today’s value-based education requires a sort of traffic controller who can guide students across homes, on the campuses, and in important social settings. Recent attempts to integrate social media within higher education have also increased involevment of instructors, university staff, tutors, counselors, coaches and other groups. Universities need to rethink traditional methods of teaching is silos and allow students to use web based resources such as, Wikipedia, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Google Hangout, Line or any other social media with team-based coordination of teaching and learning.

Figure-4: SMAC

Mobile- With always connected devices and proliferation of 3G/4G network connectivity students are now able to access data from the home, a cafe or any remote location. Everything they need to access for their academic activities are instatnly available. A huge collection of course materials is available on You-Tube and other repositories. Instead of asking students to meet a instructor or tutor F2F, the students can now use any app such as Line, Skype or Messanger to instantly have a audio or video conefrence with the instructor. Several studies have shown the positive affects of online communication and engagement via mobile applications. Donald T. Hanna (2004) discussed seven models as an alternative to traditional residential higher education. Since 2004 many of the

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Analytics Cloud

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models discussed have changed. Online communication using mobile apps is one of biggest factor in changing the mode of teaching and learning. Many instructors anr now experimenting with new paradigms of teaching and learning, such as, flipped classrooms, eLearing and mLearning. Mobile devices have become essential parts of thriving eCampuses in many universities and have brought tremendous increase in the quality of higher education. Now universities instructor and staff can easy notify students about changes in class schedule, calenders, events, grades or any other emergency.

Analytics- Most Thai universities do not have analytic based quality assurance (QA) system. How universities capture, create and use data is changing the way they operate. We are on the cusp of an analytics revolution that will transform how universities are managed, how their academic programs, their success rate, their rankings, their impact in society in general, is measured and analyzed. When new ideas are developed at one country, it takes few years for innovation to diffuse widely across other areas, including education. Big data approaches can now enable universities to share their experience with others. When one university experiments with MOOCs or edX or focuses on one or the other new trends it is able to mine the data of thousands of students to understand the efficacies of lessons and outcomes using freely available analytic tools. Agudo-Peregrina et. al (2014) demonstrated that learning analytics allows teachers, course designers and administrators of virtual learning environments to search for unobserved patterns and underlying information in teaching and learning processes. The main aim of analytics is to improve learning outcomes in the age of digital content which is accessible all over the world with a click of mouse. The most important unit of data for the purposes of analytics in a virtual learning environment (VLE) is about interaction and learning outcomes. But there is no clear consensus yet on which interactions or outcomes are relevant for measuring effective learning. This is the first time in human history that universities have the ability to see enough about themselves through data analytic and be able to build new academic progarms that work qualitatively better than the systems they had in the past. In a nutshell, in this new century, data analytic is becoming a powerful new quantitave approach which will drive QA in higher education.

Cloud- The cloud computing is defined as “a style of computing where massively scalable IT/ICT-enabled capabilities are delivered as “services“ to customers using Internet technologies. As early as 1983 Baldridge and Deal (1983) argued that to understand opportunities for change in universities, one must understand that the external environment is by far the most powerful source of internal change. Delivering cloud based high-quality electronic services to students at low cost is always challenging. Every Thai university, whether private or public, has started identifying all potential opportunities and benefits for switching from existing computing arrangements to cloud services. Many Thai universities including Assumption University located in Bangkok has created a public-private cloud solution which has accelerated adoption of new technologies in every academic program being offered. It is quite obvious that using cloud will reduce barriers to data sharing and bring new capabilities of timely upgrade to curriculum, and support increasingly complex personal data security requirements.

If Thai universities accelerate the use of social networking, embrace use of mobile apps, create more agile system with big data analytic, and leverage the cloud, higher education in Thailand will

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see real improvements in quality. Many higher education institutions are rapidly embracing the potential of cloud technology to improve the way it serves both internal and external constituents.

Youth, SMAC and Sustainable Development (SD)

Rapid implementation of SMAC in university programs, especially those related agriculture, manufacturing, medicine and engineering will enhance numerous options to help realize the Millennium Development Goals being lead by UN not just for Thailand but rest of the world community. It is quite eveident that most Thai universities believe that new technical innovations and new policy options must be initiated to transform IT/ICT into a veritable tool for SD. Implementing SMAC should be part of the first step. Young students across Thailand are already exposed to many technologies available on mobile devices.

Following two approaches or measures highlight the initiatives required by universities to make SMAC drive SD in Thailand.

1) Sustainable Development using 4C Model is becoming the trend of the future

Sustainable development is usually explained as efforts  that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. As shown in Figure-5 traditionally, all the three spheres- society, environment and economy have been closely intertwined. However, in this new century success of SD is increasing dependent on new technologies. New technologies innovations are impacting all the three spheres of SD. New enhancements in computing, conectivity, content and capacity are driving SD in very unprecented ways. Improving 4C (Figure-6) has become a high priority for governments all around the world. Rapid development in new technologies requires rapid responses to harvest the power of new innovations. Higher education have a special role in R & D and leading the charge for SD. Relationship of the 4Cs to SD are briefly descibed in the following sections.

Figure-5: Sustainable Development (SD)

i. Computing: ICT is more than computers and networks. Various thematic areas of SD require innovations in nano technologies, sensors, controls systems and logistics. As portable devices become affordable, and rugged and easy to use without extensive maintenance, security measures or requiring special skills needed to use them will lead to enhnace productity and profits. Use of iPads, Samsung and all kinds of smart devices are changing the face of societies

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and their economies. Computing devices are becoming more and more powerful with increasing procesing power, GPS capabilities and storage. Advent of smart cameras, drones, 3D printing and satellites are the results of advances in computing. The increased computing power is also improving eCommerce which is now become an integral part of SD in Thailand and elsewhere.

ii. Connectivity: Even in a developing countries such as Thailand, the rural areas lack Internet connectivity at affordable prices- the “digital divide” makes the digital economy go slow. Universal access requires new networking and business models, perhaps more public and private partnerships. SMAC is more than just connecting to the cloud. It is about human capacity building for the new AEC which requires integration of all forms of technologies and media, such as mobile telephony, TV, and radio, as well as infrasructure such as fiber optics towers and satellites. Increased connectivity with 3G/4G networks has enabled many universities to turn into eCampuses where students are actively enaged in academics without wasting time to find resources to enhance their studies as well as oersonal potential.

iii. Content: SMAC can only become relevant to SD when it provides relevant content to end-users. Often, this would be program or course-specific content. One advantgae of SMAC is that it becomes a tool to make it easier for instructors and students to become producers of content and new knowledge , instead of just consumers. Getting the right information to students in the right timeframe in the right context with precise level of details will automatically affect the QA in programs and courses. This requires extensive development of appropriate digital content relevant to various academic programs.

Figure-6: 4C Framework of Sustainable Development (SD)

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iv. Capacity (Human): Most instructor in Thai universities located outside Bangkok lack the potential of using SMAC, and, beyond technical barriers, many limitations to incorporating SMAC in many universities are social, cultural, or economic. A first goal for policiy makers and administrators and instructors should be to increase literacy amongst its populace, especially for the historically disadvantaged, such as girls enrolled in the rural universities. Often, the success of SD projects in Thailand is hampered by other complementary institutions, such as NGOs, regulations, legal framework, and supply-chains. Implmentation of SMAC by universities can to a large extent help in eliminating this barrier.

2. Promoting SMAC in higher education depends on two importnat factors

i. SMAC can provide value for all stake holders- instructors and students: SMAC cannot thrive as a charity or a completely free service- it will become sustainable only when it delivers value in highe education. This is not to say that Thai governmental intervention or subsidies to public universities have no role, especially during the initial stages of implementation. However, private telecom companies alone will not drive penetration into underdeveloped regions of Thailand. The challenge is that improving Wi-Fi connectivity on camupses can be costly and may end up beinglong-term efforts for many universities located in rural areas.

ii. SMAC enhances collaboration among stake holders to be locally relevant and sustainable: The challenges for SD are vast, and no single sector can solve it alone. This requires collaboration, sharing experiences, and scaling the programs to make them locally relevant and regionally acceptable (Spada, K. 2014). Many countries including Thailand lack the critical mass for them to undertake the full spectrum of effort required. All stakeholders, including beneficiaries and end-users, must have a voice in assessing its needs, responsibilities, and measures of success. ICT for SD must become a recognized and funded enterpriss by brining together all stakeholders and increase their interactions; by developing metrics for success and efficacy, by enhancing academic rigor; by focuing on real innovations and new challenges; by develoing new models for R& D. Universities through their various academic programs and curricula can leverage potential of SMAC.

Conclusion

With easy access to information due to rapid expansion of Internet and use of smart and portable devices is helping instructors to become a part of student’s virtual world. With direct involvement with SMAC the instructors can easily see what inspires their students. As a consequence, universities also sourcing new modalities of teaching and learning. In other words, universities are adopting SMAC - be it Social Media (You-Tube, Facebook, Pinterest or Linkedin, Google+) Analytic or cloud. However, integration of SMAC directly into academic programs in Thai universities remains slow. So far, SMAC has successfully replaced poor responsiveness which dominated university campuses of earlier decades. But the trends show that use of SMAC is bound to increase with student mobility and multi-national collaboration trends in higher education across the globe. Although struggling, Thai universities and youth have many more oportunities and advantgaes than their counter parts in AEC in strenghtening higher education, digital economy and SD in this new century.

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