New system to focus on science and maths in selected schools

An award-winning firm is preparing to introduce the initiative, called LEARN Education, to many schools across the country. And the educational innovation has already garnered positive results at 30 test schools. 

“Student performance has improved by 31 per cent in the Ordinary National Educational Test (Onet) during the three years that the LEARN Education system has been implemented,” said Tanin Timtong, managing director of Learn Education.

Conducted through collaboration between the firm and Sahawit School in Suphan Buri province, the study shows that the LEARN Education system has made learning at schools all the more interesting, fun and efficient. 

Today, the LEARN Education system is being used in 30 schools nationwide.

“We plan to increase this number to 40-50 schools by the end of this year,” Tanin said. 

He described this innovation as a computerised system that has incorporated the essence of the Education Ministry’s science and mathematics curricula with advanced computer-assisted tools. 

 

Blended learning platform

“This tool makes learning more effective, interactive and readily accessible for students. They can take a look at the content at any time that is convenient for them,” he said.

The system also serves as a one-on-one blended learning platform that helps teachers conduct their classes, as well as immediate post-learning evaluation tests, more effectively, he said. 

“All this will hopefully lead to higher academic success for the students,” he said.

Tanin believes this system will also go well with the digital trend. He describes the innovation as a result of his firm’s efforts to utilise technology to help minimise the educational disparity in the Thai education system.

Curricular content is summarised into learning units, making it easy for both teachers and learners to follow. There is also a review section at the end of every unit to test the understanding of learners. 

The content is based on the Ministry of Education’s curriculum, and features illustrations and easy-to-understand info-graphics, all of which are designed to promote student comprehension and ensure that they will not only be able to make the most of the learned knowledge in exams, but also in their real lives. And if the students get bogged down, the content can be adjusted to suit the levels of students in different circumstances. 

The textbooks and teachers’ guides used in the system have been produced by academic scholars of mathematics and science from leading universities. They are designed to help both students and teachers understand the way each course has been worked out and help teachers to conduct their lessons efficiently. 

 

Experienced educators

The company also has teams of experienced educators on stand-by to jump in when schools need support. The supplementary educators can provide training for schools, teachers and students to ensure they all understand their roles within the system. 

“As part of our Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) efforts, we also aim to offer the ‘LEARN Education’ system free-of-charge to schools in need,” Tanin said. “We hope this will help spread education opportunities to reach more students in remote areas of the country. So far, we have offered this to six schools and we plan to increase this to be 15-20 schools in 2016.” 

Learn Education recently won the DBS-NUS Social Venture Challenge Asia 2015, which was organised by the National University of Singapore (NUS) and DBS Bank to identify and support new social ventures that demonstrate scalability and sustainability around the region. 

Learn Education (Thailand) took the first place in this contest, from over 680 projects participating from 30 countries across Asia. It also received the “Change Awards” from the Social Enterprise Awards by TSEO 2014 from the Thai Social Enterprise Office (TSEO). 

The system has also attracted praise from the international media.

Tanin said the The Guardian newspaper in the UK reported that LEARN Education is a blended learning platform that helps teachers improve their skills and enables them to provide more individual attention to students who need support. It said this will lead to notably improved academic performance and truly effective solutions for shortcomings in Thailand’s education system.