KM Appreciation

Happy Monday to all ka.

Last week, I enjoyed KM sessions so much that I promised myself I'd share to this group and copy on my blog ka. These are the reasons why!

1. The first session started with the intention to give us some good understanding about the concept by Dr. Boondee Bunyakij who's been in the KM field for more than a decade. A proposed loop of action was practical from กำหนด (determine what to capture) สร้าง/ได้มา (create/acquire) รวบรวม/จัดเก็บ (collect/store) เข้าถึง (access) แลกเปลี่ยน (exchange) ใช้ (use)....the translation is mine so it may not be exact na ka.

This chart allowed us to ponder on our own focus at present as it showed quite clearly that many tended to have more activities on exchanges than other aspects. It made me pause to think of the whole system and for me to know what we have to know is the most crucial. This loop is filled with details of systems within each simple heading and helped the participants to review clearly, seriously, and systematically ka.

2. Sharing of a Siriraj medical school effort followed the 'principles' part. This was so fun as it offered the participants with real stories that were painful, have paved a solid path for more successes, and hopefully with continuous actions in many years to come.

It was the first time I listened to Prof. Duangmanee Laohapresitiporn (been deputy dean for quality for over a decade) and I couldn't enjoy much better ka....sanuk sud sud to hear stories that generated hope, unity, and joy! I also had a chance to ask several questions in private, what made me even happier ka.

Let me share only some of the keywords/key issues na ka:

 

-  Continuity of key people to lead is crucial....yet, the person(s) must be seen with at least 3 qualities ka-- Passion, persistence, and people-oriented. Ajarn Duangmanee has stood out to the successors to the extent that they asked her to continue serving on this very same position.

- KM must be embedded from vision, mission down to implementation.

- Mobilization of key people is important to gain support and to boost their inner drive... from nurses to support staff like photographers.

- Awards could become great incentives to do better when properly used.

- Don't overlook some little remarks that could be meaningful to them in the way we may not have imagined....this came from an example of a staff who was to be awarded and a poster with her picture was put up in front of a restroom area. Ajarn Duangmanee had it moved after she said what if her mother saw it there. Her mother in fact came to the award ceremony! Little thing means big to many ka!

- Listening is still one of the best to do to maximize the use of diversity of people we have for the best results.

- I think there're several 'powers' for KM and organization to be successful. They are the power of opportunity, the power of storytelling, and the power of asking.

I still feel so goooooood while writing

IaH as New Normal of IZN

Hi, all! Hope Songkran holiday at least helped you stay cool in the shade most of the time na ka.

These days, my attention is on Internationalization at Home (IaH) as mobility has already been ongoing with more students to benefit from quite a few exchange programs available.

One article in University World News entitled, ''Internationalisation at home – Crossing other borders'' by Hanneke Teekens back in June 2013, struck my mind how Thailand has to move ahead faster along with the promotion of IZN and its main activity of student mobility ka.

It was pointed out that the term IaH was coined about 15 years ago to refer to "inclusion, diversity and reciprocity in international education, crossing borders by reaching out to 'otherness'". While we're still struggling building our university community's understanding on diversity, IZN itself has gone much further for us to take it up and perhaps, brand it as our 'New Normal".

More innovative ways to promote IaH have to be taken up seriously and thought through. The author made it clear by saying that strategies would be needed at all levels as IaH couldn' t happen by itself. I often see our university circle raise its hope that by letting domestic and international students mix together with a few activities (international day, study visits basically for international students, etc.) organized, they would develop their international competence like intercultural sensitivity. Well! I certainly disagree ka!

This article gave a few good questions, e.g. How do we deliver the curriculum in such a way that all students profit – learners from different backgrounds at home and from around the world? How can they learn from one another? What can universities do to promote social activities outside the classroom in the local community?
Motivation of students for them to be engaged and participative for their own learning is crucial. Have we done enough about it or even started thinking about it?

What types of projects/activities along with quality management would work in our context dee ka?

IZN dimensions

This Monday must be a great one for many of us who yearn for holidays na ka.

I've read a few articles in International Higher Education Spring 2016 and would like to highlight what I found most interesting ka.

1. Philip Altbach and Jamil Salmi in the article, "What is the 'Special Sauce" for University Innovation?" discuss the sense of innovation successfully nurtured at MIT. After helping universities in other regions develop "Mini MITs" from Moscow to Portugal and Singapore, it hasn't been successful.....very EdPEx ka--it's contextual and cultural with differing combination of many things even after having tried to focus on research, funding, accountability, autonomy and faculty's commitment, etc.; the innovation DNAs couldn't be transferred!  Create our own sauce from our own recipe which could be fusion of experiences too na ka!

2. Kevin Kinser and Jason E. Lane in their article, "International Brach Campuses (IBC): Evolution of a Phenomenon" point out that "cross-border higher education is no longer unusual" as according to CBERT (Cross-border Education Research Team at the State University of NY) data, it shows that 44% of IBCs in operation have increased from 160 in 2009 to 230 end of 2015 and at least 27 were closed down.

3. Robin Matross Helms and Laura E. Rumbly have analyzed from the recent study by the ACE and CIHE (American Council on Education and the Boston College Center for International Higher Education) and identified 5 main categories of policies in place worldwide:

- Student Mobility which is most common

- Scholar Mobility and research collaboration, notably in Europe

- Cross-border education, including MOOCs

- Internationalization at Home (IaH) -- rapidly emerging critical and should follow to see future policy developments

- Comprehensive IZN, mentioning among others, Canada and Malaysia (IZN Policy for Higher Education Malaysia)

Both authors discuss that longer term outcomes and impacts of policies have yet to be seen considering the newness of the policies and a number of factors involved. They also add that national policies on IZN need to consider institutional priorities for both parties to understand their roles and achieve successful outcomes. The next level of IZN is "IZN of IZN"!

4. Uwe Brandenburg writes an article, 'The Value of Administrative Staff for IZN', which struck me a lot ka.

It says HR of the universities needs to place increasing importance to the recruitment and development of administrative staff to work on IZN, looking at the following three levels as they're interconnected from personality traits, to attitudes and competences, and work environment.

Their prior international experience has a stronger impact on internationality than developing the capacities of staff through IZN activities...simply put, I'd say ..."Don't just hire anyone who has proficiency in English like what we've seen in many universities ka!"

Personally, university administrators have also had to nurture strong IZN team who is mainly their permanent staff so they can help sustain IZN-related policies and activities while offering ideas to new administrators who take over every time there's a change in the top management ka.

Happy Songkran with lots of cool time that showers your hearts with happiness amid this summer na ka.

self-reflections and morality

Greetings to you all and hope you’ve already started a very nice Monday morning na ka.

These days, I’ve been skimming through a few articles and would like to share about several things that have been on my own agenda whenever I give talks ka.

1. Self-reflection: My 11 years at Fulbright has made me become an advocate of it. I also thought back to the school days when nuns always told us to review daily how our day went to see what we had done well or what we had to improve. It may have shaped my thinking to be part of me today too ka. I now feel even more thankful of all the teachers, especially all the มาแมร์ !

I’ve found one, saying that self-reflection is the one key trait that all great leaders share.

Gianpiero Petriglieri, at INSEAD, stresses the importance of “active self-reflection as a component to becoming a better leader”. It should start from recognizing that we all tend to make an assumption and must be aware that our view of the world and our own behavior “may not be entirely accurate”. We need to “actively look for facts that run counter to the assumption--practise our self-awareness”.

Daniel Dobrygowski points out that “self-reflection requires that you question your assumptions and your habits and ask whether they are useful in dealing with the world around you.”

Check this website out ka-- https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/03/key-trait-all-great-leaders-share

2. Top 5 leadership competencies: when 195 global leaders were asked to rate 74 qualities, the top ones show clearly focus on morality, still stress communication and flexibility ka.

• Has high ethical and moral standards
• Provides goals and objectives with loose guidelines/directions
• Can clearly communicate expectations
• Has the flexibility to change opinions
• Is committed to ongoing training
   
  Check this website out ka-- https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/03/how-many-of-these-leadership-traits-have-you-mastered

With more population amid fierce competitions and materialistic minds, the first on the list doesn’t surprise me. I only wonder how our informal, non-formal, and formal education can nurture morality. While our assessment craze seems to focus on easier-to-measure indicators, have we unfortunately distanced our people from ethical and moral dimensions? We discuss a whole lot about leaders as role models but when we look around our communities and country, how many can be our true role models?

Perhaps more time to reflect our leadership needs to include this very aspect of ethics and morality as the most important one to determine how individual leaders have behaved and how to further make improvements to be seen as a role model ka.