Online IT enterprise workshop

My Fulbright project includes several research projects and teaching. One of the main goals of my work in Thailand is to developing online learning capacities for the Mukdahan campus and to create a workshop using open content. The purpose of the workshop is student development; both on campus and off-campus (potential students in the local region). At this point, the technology (Moodle) is installed and has been formatted with the UBU colors and logo. The project has, in fact, expanded somewhat because the main campus became interested and decided to adopt the technology for the entire university, including the Mukdahan campus. From my point of view that is a huge win.

The content for my course -- IT Enterprise -- is coming from a variety of sources including video from the Stanford "How to start a startup" course, video interviews with famous entrepreneurs (e.g. Zuckerburg), various web sites and content that I have written for a similar program that I teach at Florida State University. April is my last "official" month with Fulbright but I extended my travel plans by a month to make sure I had enough time to collect date for my research, finish my online course, and to train the faculty how to use Moodle. It's going to be a busy month. Regardless, it seems as though I will finish putting everything together, and collect most of the data that I had planned to capture.

A research group is collecting data using a questionnaire I developed using the Unified Theory of Use and Adoption of Technology (UTAUT). We have high hopes for this work in that we will collect data from as many university students in a variety of locations. We'll segregate the data so that there will be some chance of comparing the results. Hopefully, this work will provide some detailed insights into how to design online learning for Thai students -- we think that there are some huge cultural hurdles and hope to learn more about that.

Other work that includes interviews with current distance learning students for a research project that will support the new curriculum we are developing for the Mukdahan campus, interviews with local business leaders and a data-driven research project that Anchalee and I have planned. One of the difficulties for many foreign researchers in Thailand is the language barrier. Thailand doesn't have as many research-intensive institutions and so most Thai professors have a higher teaching load making it more difficult to produce research papers. Anchalee and I are in a unique position as we are both active researchers and she is native Thai. 

I will be in Thailand 8 more weeks and while that sounds like a lot of time I am beginning to feel time pressure. We have accomplished a lot, but there is still a lot of work to finish!