Learning of a little yet powerful story

 Hi to all! I just got back from Thaksin University (TSU) and wish to share with you what I did and learned from its students and faculty ka.

It was from the Fulbright office to ask if I could help offer a session on, 'Personal and Professional Development'. As it's along the line of what I've been doing, I crafted the session with help from a Fulbright Specialist and friend, and my former colleague ka.

One little activity that I still find very interesting is to ask the participants to think of who they wanted to be for one day (except themselves) and why so.

Every time, we'd get some different answers with special reasons ka. This time was no different and it gave me good lessons ka.

One student said he'd wish to be Elon Musk.....right away, we heard some disapproving sounds. He was talking about Elon Musk's intelligence and what he's done to contribute to the world. Then, he mentioned that he's seen families who are in poverty. He'd love to get some funding from Musk to share with this disadvantaged group.

Why do I raise this story?

1. Considering what Elon Musk has been doing since President Trump is in office, quite a number of people see Musk's actions as negative over positive so it's natural for some to have their fast reaction out of their feeling negative of Musk.

2. It taught me how listening could become really powerful. Thanks to this student who stayed calm to express his view all through. I paid very close attention to him to capture his intention to highlight it to the group.

3. This student's response, after all, has shown his caring and with purpose beyond self mak ka. Too bad I didn't have time to discuss with him what made him want to do it...from his own observations? from any university activities? or from where/who?

4. If we further explore this matter, we could learn so much more about life in the south, what actually is needed, who,could become key stakeholders, especially younger ones, how funding could be best effectively offered and used......quite a few things to do and act na ka.

A little story but I learned with admiration to this student ka.

Cheers to น้ำใจ from many kind hearts that we still witness in our lives ka.

Knowledge Diplomacy vs/and Soft Power

Hello all! I've been a social girl these days with quite a few get-togethers but the one I wish to share is a talk about Jane Knight who I will consider legendary for internationalization/IZN ka. This time it isn't about IZN but her insights on 'Knowledge Diplomacy/KD' that is discussed along with 'soft power/SP'.

Jane Knight has given this definition to KD ka: 'the process of building and strengthening relations between and among countries through international higher education, research, and innovation.'

She's offered the following as key messages:

1. International higher education in research and innovation (IHERI) plays a role in international relations using both collaborative and competitive approaches.

2. IHERI actors and activities can be the same for KD and SP but intentions, values, modes and outcomes differ.

3. There are similarities and differences between KD and science, cultural, education diplomacy

4. Knowledge security in IHERI cooperation requires more attention.

My thinking is as follows:

1. KD is clear for its level standing....being at the policy and international level while IZN is for the higher education institutions and sector to play both at the institutional and international level (not as expansive at the international)

2. Mentioning SP at the current self-defined usage in our country is hard to understand ka. Jane Knight made it clear along with Joseph Nye's definition that intentions and values to use SP are basically for the politics with dominance, control and more upper hand approaches.

3. KD through IHERI leans more toward a gentler relationship, I think, with a larger pool of stakeholders far beyond higher education and its regular stakeholders.

4. KD, for me, could be on the less positive side when thinking about technology advances and geopolitics ka. Those with more advances with ownership could possibly turn to become 'extreme' turning 'Knowledge Diplomacy' to ' Knowledge Dictatorship'......right away, it could become 'soft power' ka.

5. To spread actions on KD, it's challenging to move our university minds further away from IZN (and they'll resist thinking that it's something new again when they can't achieve IZN yet). It requires political will at the national level and some select universities to walk down this path....this means very senior national leaders must take it up with understanding of the big picture of own and international standings plus responsibility (including resources) to see it through for years.

Another very interesting issue to think, discuss, and try ka.

How to live (a good life)

 Hello all! Finally, I've got what I really want to share ka.

Last night, I had dinner with a very senior ajarn (88 going to be 89 soon) to learn quite a few things what he thinks about life, the world, and preparation for his transition.

Several things are:

1. He sees that almost all his more senior friends passed at the age of 92 max. 

2. Having seen it, he counts down his life to have serious reflections and write them down, combined with what he's read all along to come up with the following ka:

2.1 What he picked up from Greek philosophy:

- Courage - bold to do good

- Temperance — act with care
- Justice -- do/offer others with fairness

- Wisdom -- acquire mindfulness and intelligence

2.2 His own version about life: 

- Dignity— living with grace 

- Moral strength — staying strong enough not to commit sin

- Trust — making sure we are sincere and do well for others to have trust in us 

- Fortitude — being patient in hard situations, accepting it when done one's best and unachievable

- Sporting spirit -- realizing that life has both win and lose

-  Liberation -- free from any social or personal conditions (to live with freedom and leave the world without any worries)

What do you think ka?

Concerns from a passionate lecturer

 Hello all. Hope you all have been quite safe from the pm 2.5 na ka. I think I suffer from it a bit going out these days ka.

Anyway, I'm home all day to share with you what I learned from a passionate lady whose wish is to teach university students about photography. She has one solid background and direct experiences with her bachelor's and master's in this area from the US. 

Since both of us met for the first time through a good friend of mine, it was an interesting learning session for both of us ka. She came with a list of questions and jotted down notes as we were discussing ka. Very serious dee loei ka.

Here are what she found from her teaching and engagement in the program:

- Admission criteria for students in the program are insufficient to prove that the applicants are qualified enough for it.

- Sections to separate students according to their performance level may not work.

- Students who have financial difficulty could be challenged by the costs of printing quality photos for class discussions and projects.

- Students never express their ideas about other peer's work.

- Students don't seem to be clear of what they wish to do for their final projects.

I admire her for looking at the big picture of the whole program, thinking of 'how' in a systematic way. 

Several points about our talk ka:

- Keep voicing out. It's tough as quite a new and junior lecturer but I told her to continue raising her ideas when possible. Eventually, it'll be heard as she sure means well for the students' achievements, the program and the university. 

- Hopefully she understands her students better. We discussed the nature of students when it comes to discussion.....not that they aren't interested. Rather, it could be because of their prior training and learning to avoid making mistakes, to be too passive to think and express fast, etc. She may need to use their materials as the points for discussion and encourage them to talk from earlier years of the program.

- Turn her classes into 'photography therapy' for students to look into themselves, learn about their real selves, and find their passion.

At the end of our talk, she told me she would put down, 'knowing oneself' as one of the two aims besides (photography skills) for the courses she'll teach ka.

One nice time I enjoyed yesterday ka!