Plagiarism and Harassment

 Happy Monday ka.

I was busy managing my next podcast episode this morning and will record another this afternoon to realize that what I shared the past weeks hasn't been shared here ka.

On plagiarism, I've got some great help from Fulbright Thailand. My former colleague has come up with infographics in both Thai and English so if you're interested, please let me know and I'll share with you ka.

I told a few stories to go along with several definitions to stress how we are so very much into copying without feeling and knowing that it isn't the right thing to do....as it has been part of our context in the education settings even ka.

This also happened to me personally when my former colleague (Khun Chotima) and I wrote a book chapter that took several years to publish. An ajarn from England asked me to consider taking it back or write one. Another junior told me not to use that version as I could plagiarize my own work which is also wrong. Complicated dee ka. Fulbright Thailand has used some software to check the application essays. If found that over 15% is copied, the person will be put on its black list ka.

I ended this episode by trying to lead listeners to feel the pride and dignity from doing the work by our own selves, thinking also that we would suffer if others copy our work and claim it as their own. Hope some audience would find it helpful ka......I don't know how many have listened for sure but at least the programs stay on!

Harassment is another issue that's so sensitive to our Thai culture. I feel so bad and don't find it funny with the remarks about appearance, dirty jokes, and the ways some talk shows treated their audience. This is tough and it took me a long while to craft the script. 

Again, with help from 2 junior friends (Dr. Romyen from MFU and Director Lakhana from MHESI), I was able to do this episode with confidence, mentioning about #MeToo, what to be considered 'unwanted' verbally or non-verbally....anything that makes us feel uncomfortable and yet, be more aware where and who we talk to since it could mean something different. 

What was added from the two was about how to manage it...by not thinking that it's our fault and it isn't our responsibility for the one who harassed us, by saying it out right to the person, by looking for policies of our universities and agencies, by recording in detail, by talking with friends about it and by reporting to our superiors. In any case, all senior leaders have to make sure that the workplace and institutions are safe enough for the harassed to report the cases. 

In Australia, the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency-- TEQSA has worked with organizations concerned to come up with its policies, examples, and procedures to take actions for all. Wish we could have such practices in place too ka.

Got a few positive comments about the 2 episodes on plagiarism and harassment, which were encouraging. These universal standards could well be integrated with IZN and IaH loei ka.  

Any comment mai ka?

Help plan training and learning

 There's an article I'd like to share as learning and development through training poses as our continued challenge ka.

Got it from https://hbr-org.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/hbr.org/amp/2019/10/where-companies-go-wrong-with-learning-and-development under the title, 'Where Companies Go Wrong with Learning and Development' by Steve Glaveski, Harvard Business Review, October 02, 2019 ka.

Key points I got na ka:

• Bryan Caplan, author of The Case Against Education, says in his book that education often isn’t so much about learning useful job skills, but about people showing off, or “signaling.” I like it because it's sort of a Thai way of saying 'I did', 'It's done.' without much about the outcomes and links to the work.
• People learn best when they have to learn. Mandate busy employees to attend a training session could make little alignment to their needs. I think this is so true when we indicate specific courses and hours of training without looking into what's truly needed in our organizations and what matches our team.
  
• “The Forgetting Curve.” by German psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus, is really interesting and it's an aspect to consider....he found that if new information isn’t applied, we’ll forget about 75% of it after just six days. 
• Lean learning is needed to help acquire/remember what we've learned by learning the core of what is needed to learn, applying it to real-world situations immediately, receiving immediate feedback and refining our understanding, and repeating the cycle. 
• The author also adds that effective learning could include activating peer learning (I think the more we share, the more we remember what we've learned and could better put to use), personalized content, ongoing support, and outcome checks.

On the whole, I think quality HR team is crucial and in the government sector, this needs total reform. It needs to move away from traditional ways of thinking and acting....attendance, routine assessment and promotion, number of hours training , far-too-specific courses for all positions (one size fits all kind of things???), etc.

Instead, HR dept. could plan with more realistic thinking about learning effectiveness along with the organization's vision and mission as well as needs in the future and of individuals. I like it when it talks about ongoing support, not just to tick 'yes, it's done' and to be far too rigid for specific tasks the persons are responsible for. It'd be great to look at the big picture and ability to see the links of one's excelling in knowledge and experiences with needs of the organization collectively. Could try various methods, even peer's role as coach/mentor, not just traditional ways of training and evaluation ka.

Time for new thinking and consideration for the Next New Normal na ka!

IZN of medical education

 Happy Monday ka. 

Earlier on, I read an article (Internationalisation of medical education is now vital by Anette Wu, Geoffroy PJC Noel, Betty Leask, Lisa Unangst, Edward Choi and Hans de Wit  20 June 2020, University World News) that convinced people in the circle that it's time to really focus more on internationalization of medical education as it could be an effective mechanism to enhance global health....."ensuring that future physicians practise medicine within a global frame of reference.........provide the foundation and framework for international leadership and collaboration and provide physicians with skills in cultural competencies, ultimately improving healthcare worldwide and thereby enhancing Global Health."

Frankly, I was glad to read it because it isn't easy to discuss IZN with the medical and science circle when it comes to the firm belief that their own disciplines are already international by nature. Blame it on myself for not being able to find the sound and concise justifications too ka. 

Then, over the weekend, I read another article entitled, 'Internationalization of Medical Education—a Scoping Review of the Current Status in the United States' by the same group of authors, published by Springer on August 5, 2020 ka. (Medical Science Educator https://doi.org/10.1007/s40670-020-01034-8) I think it's a real useful one to share for higher education as a whole ka. Let me point out several ka:

1. From 2000 to 2018, the three themes indicated are institutional partnerships, international learning at home, and student mobility programs.

2. I like it a lot when the authors discussed motivations for IZN which could include quality improvement, provision of access, competitiveness, growth, and financial profits.....yet they stated that the main focus has to offer a professionally relevant education that prepares all students to be interculturally proficient professionals and citizens is the responsibility of the disciplines.

3. Medical schools have to 'prepare all medical graduates to meaningfully contribute to society as professionals who practice locally but are also global citizens'  They need to learn more about 'how to build a larger global medical community using modern technology and social media led by institutional partnerships' as well.

4. Efforts have to be made to ensure that students are able to appreciate the full spectrum of healthcare systems and collaborative opportunities worldwide. More is also needed by medical schools in the US to stress international and intercultural learning outcomes for all students, and on how to teach and assess these outcomes at home under Internationalization at Home (IaH) ka. 

In all disciplines, the key points raised are worth considering with actions ka. 

Cross-culture, innovation, and self-evaluation

My podcast theme today is to share some cross-cultural stories I consider very classic.....by the term 'classic' I mean I keep repeating it until I feel embarrassed as some may have heard them a few times ka. In any case, I continue telling the stories:))!

I shared three stories but the short one is about 'How are you?' shared by one American grantee who ran to help his student who was injured from playing on the sports day. The response to his 'How are you?' was 'Fine, thank you!'....so automatic that it sounded like a parrot speaking English ka. 

When thinking about it further, besides our way to learn English by rote, it's also our own 'feeling grengjai' not for others to feel too worried about us too na ka. 

Khon Thai narak ka.

This made me think of a panel I joined in yesterday on 'Innovation of Educational Administration in the Transformation Era', organized by the National Institute for the Development of Teachers, Faculty Staff, Educational Personnel, Ministry of Education. I was fascinated by the huge area and facilities for training and have seen many opportunities for such space and investment ka. 

I was really impressed with Dr. Wiriyah Ruechaipanit, a panelist who created 'Eduzones'.....my first time to get to know him. He's critical about Thai education and there're quite a few points I wish I could have had more time to talk with him ka. He said whatever he said that got a lot of negative comments, it meant he was successful in doing so. His example was when he wrote about the rights of students to wear their hair longer as it was about their heads. It turned out he was bombarded by a good number of school administrators....some said Dr. Wiriyah isn't even a teacher and how he could know about schools, etc. I thought of a Nobel Prize Laureate who told us to be ready to be disliked when we do something important and different. 

Dr. Wiriyah also said our educational system blocked kids' creativity as administrators and teachers are so used to staying on rules and regulations. We all hear about it often, can't agree more....yet, I think actions to lessen the degree of our education community to be in the rule game aren't that obvious, nor powerful. Quietly, I was happy that our universities have more autonomy and freedom than schools though again, some tend to play by the rules out of their habitual practices.

What I've got out of this panel was that the three panelists (me included) shared the same ideas ka:

- Khon Thai narak mak with lots to share and impress others so we need to know our own strengths and optimize them. 

- When talking about innovation, it's about each and every school administrator to know themselves in order to know how best to become more creative and innovative while learning how to interact and encourage others to be so as well. 

- Diversity and inclusion are still the keys to ignite more ideas and creativity that have to be linked with the change of mindsets to look beyond one's own specialization and sectors.

- As usual, I emphasized several things ka....looked into our own cultural traditions to see what to rid or lessen. The administrators have to be models taking up some universal standards especially issues related to plagiarism and harassment ka.

- Another reminder was that 'Innovation and transformation' must be taken up seriously as appropriate, not because it's been in the trend and they thought it was a must to follow!

I left the conference feeling that even though MOE has tried coming up with advance thinking and guidelines, it has had huge gaps in terms of forward looking, thinking, deployment, and communication as it's still held so tight to cultural traditions it must eradicate ka.