International Journal of Information and Education Technology, Vol. 4, No.

2, April 2014

A Perspective on Blended-Learning Approach through

Course Management System: Thailand‟s Case Study
Nalin Simasathiansophon, Member, IACSIT

 [2]. Indeed, blended learning approaches are increasingly

Abstract—Blended-learning approaches are now widely used implemented in several learning settings. Reference [3]
in Thai education. Most of schools and universities have suggested that the emphasis so far has been mostly related to
attempted to use the innovative learning approach to interact the delivery aspects of technology which concerns access to
with students as well as to deliver education resources to them.
E-learning, for instance, has been commonly combined with
instruction and information. In fact, relatively little attention
traditional classroom setting. One of the most popular has been paid to learning design technology in Thailand.
e-learning techniques that has been adopted in Thai education Most universities tend to select appropriate learning
is course management system (CMS).Recently, course technologies, and designing activities based on a single
management system plays the important role for students who criterion - availability.
require a time schedule flexibility. This has also created more The study of [4] “The Internet and Education for the Future”
chances for student interactions with teachers as well as peers
through online discussion site. Furthermore, using CMS allows
stated that the total of Internet users in Thailand increased
students to access the contents anytime from inside and outside since 2000. With cost effective, the Internet access available
the classroom.This study analyses the perspective of students in Thailand has been augmented. Since then, the styles of
and teachers on CMS; discusses benefits and challenges of e-learning being used in Thailand are web-based instruction,
blended-learning approach; recommendshow to web-based interactive learning environments, and web-based
effectivelyadapt traditional classroom setting with multimedia presentations [5]. The research of Intrapairote
blended-learning.The results illustrated positively perspective
from both students and teachers. However, active learning
and Srivihok [6] illustrated that there wereincreasingly of
environment and responsibility of students should be enhanced using e-learning as the web-based pedagogy among
when adapting blended-learning approach. universities in Thailand.
Among those e-learning techniques, web-based interactive
Index Terms—Blended-learning approach, course learning environments, also known as a Virtual Learning
management system, e-learning, education technology. Environment (VLE), or a Course Management System (CMS)
has beenpopularly adopted in high education. The reason is
that its platform could be use with almost all devices, such as
I. INTRODUCTION laptop, desktop computer, smartphone, or even tablet
Currently, technology application has been widely used for computer. These devices have been classified as basic
education in Thailand. There is a provision of learning technologies in which it delivers contents,
student-centered approach, in which learners are fully interaction forum, and learning activities.
developed according to their potentials. The main strategy of The purpose of this paper is, firstly to analyse perspective
education development of the Ministry of Education of students and teachers in International College, Suan
2012-2015 is to equalize education to international level Sunandha Rajabhat University who used the CMS. Secondly,
through the usage of modern education technologies [1]. benefits and challenges of facilitatingblended-learning
Education technology, sometimes termed EdTech, is the approach will be discussed. Finally, the way of effectively
study and ethical practice of facilitating e-learning, which is use blended-learning approach will be recommended.
the learning and improving performance by creating, using
and managing appropriate technological processes and
resources. These technologies can refer to both hardware and II. LITERATURE REVIEW
systems. Tablet computer, for example, is hardware that Thai There are hundreds of articles relating to „blended learning
government introduced for primary school students in order approach‟ has been written and published. For instance, the
to enhance student learning efficiency. study of Ausburn [7] examined elements of the course design
After the strategy of the Ministry of Education has been in blended learning environments that combine face-to-face
announced, educational institutions are attempting to adopt contact with web-based learning. A survey questionnaire had
modern education technologies with learning been developed to assess a number of variables, including
activities.Blended-learning, for instance, isa very famous gender, learning strategies, initial level of technology skills,
approach among higher educational institutions in pre-course experiences with technology-based learning, and
Thailand.It involves the integration of traditional classroom number of pre-course experiences with self-directed learning.
face-to-face learning experiences with e-learning experiences She also asked her participants to select and rank their
preferred course elements and instructional goals. Ausburn
Manuscript received August 25, 2013; revised November 11, 2013. found that students with different characteristics have
Nalin Simasathiansophon is with International College, Suan Sunandha different preferences in terms of course features and
Rajabhat University, 1 U-Thong Nok Rd., Dusit, Bangkok, 10300, Thailand instructional goals. She also suggested that some differences
(e-mail: [email protected], and [email protected]).

DOI: 10.7763/IJIET.2014.V4.392 172

International Journal of Information and Education Technology, Vol. 4, No. 2, April 2014

in learning came from the different in gender, preferred IV. RESULTS

learning strategies, and past experience with technology and The perspective of students and teachers who uses modern
self-directed learning. education technologies as a blended-learning approach has
This also supported by So and Bonk, who examined the been analysed. The results outline the benefits and challenges
roles of blended learning approaches in computer supported of blended-learning approach for each constituent group as
collaborative learning (CSCL) environment [8]. The research well as recommend how to efficiently use modern education
was conducted by using the Delphi technique to enable technologies for blending with traditional teaching technique.
researchers to recruit experts from all over the world.
SurveyShare, a web-based survey tool, had been used for the A. General Information
study in order to overcome limitations in Delphi process A summary of the first section is provided in Table I. The
using paper-based surveys. The result indicated that blended most preferring type of hardware for students is laptop due to
learning approaches are useful for communication and its functionality as well as portability. Meanwile, the majority
knowledge co-construction perspectives, especially of teachers preferred to use desktop computer as hardware.
flexibility and time-efficiency are advantages of this The survey students said that they use laptop for searching
approaches. An interesting result is that the effective and doing assignment during class time and outside of class
collaboration will depend on how the course is designed to time. It should be noted that there is a growing trend of using
involve interaction with others. Thus, the authors suggested smartphone as education technology among students. This is
that instructors need to carefully design the degree of probably because Third Generation (3G)
interactive involvement within the course. MobileCommunications system makes smartphone more
In the Australian study, a blended learning approach has convenient and even faster to access software. On the other
also been widely adopted in higher education. Delaney et al. hands, smartphone is not popular among teachers due to its
[9] studied the adoption of a blended learning approach to functional limitation. While desktop computer can download
teaching the first year accounting course at one of a large or upload course content, test, and activity, smartphone is
Australian universities. A pre and post survey had been only suitable for downloading, not uploading. One of survey
conducted to assess student‟s views on this approach. The teacher reported that some students could not uploading their
result of the study suggested that students consider the assignments into CMS so they had to submit as a hard copy.
blended approach as a positive innovation to their learning Consequently, they received a score delay. Fig. 1 illustrates
experience. The result indicated that adopting blended type of hardwares preferences.
learning environment has a favorable impact on student
learning outcomes, their overall satisfaction with the course
and student performance with respect to overall assessment.

III. METHODOLOGY
A. Research Framework
The research is a pilot project that used International
College, Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University, Thailand as the
case study. It is a survey research that aims to explore
benefits and challenges of blended-learning approach
Fig. 1. Types of hardware.
through the usage of CMS from student and
teacherperspectives. The subjects have been selected from
students and teachers who were studying and teaching in
International College, Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University at
second semester, 2012 academic year. The sample is
convenience sampling, consists of two groups: 112 students
from third year, and 18 teachers.
B. Data Collection
The survey instrument consisted of three sections: general
information; experience; and opinion. The first section
contained four questions requesting gender, type of hardware
that students and teachers mostly use, and the usage of CMS. Fig. 2. Usage of CMS.
The second section included students and teachers responded
on a scale of (1) totally disagree to (5) totally agree. These According to Fig. 2, 28.57 percents of survey students
questions focused on their experiences relating to the usage accessed CMS once a week. For this group, their primary
of CMS, including attitudes to time flexibility, convenience, focus was contents downloading whereas students who
and skill development. The third section is an open-end accessed CMS once a month tended to concentrate only on
question asking their opinions about using blended-learning making a quiz or test. Despite this result, some students said
approach whether it can assist them in 1) their that their testing outcome was better than taking in-class test
learning/teaching area, 2) improve the performance in because there was no pressure from lecturer and friends. It
assessment, and 3) to meet educational objectives. was more likely to be a self testing.

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International Journal of Information and Education Technology, Vol. 4, No. 2, April 2014

TABLE I: GENERAL INFORMATION The result of teacher experience is shown in Table III.
Student Teacher
General Information sample sample
TABLE II: STUDENT EXPERIENCE USING CMS
(n = 112) (n = 18)
Gender 1. Male 22 8 Mean
Experience using CMS
2. Female 90 10 Response
Types of 1. Desktop Computer 26 9 I used the CMS both during the class time and outside of 3.12
hardware 2. Laptop 37 4 class time
3. Tablet 15 2 I used the CMS effectively to learn course content, 3.47
4. Smartphone 34 3 complete and submit my work, and share my thoughts.
Usage of 1. Once a week 32 10 I effectively used the tools of the CMS for 2.94
CMS 2. Twice a week 28 5 communicating with other students and my teacher.
3. More than 2 times a week 23 1 I did a variety of different things in the CMS. 2.65
4. Once a month 18 - Using the CMS helped me to learn new concepts, 3.59
5. Twice a month 11 2 information, and skills.
Using the CMS helped me to schedule my time. 3.12
By using the CMS, I discovered the areas in which I was 2.87
For teachers, more than 50 percent spent one time a week having difficulty.
to develop their course content on CMS. It is interesting to I enjoy the subject with blended-learning more than 3.41
note that time spent on CMS depended on the design of the traditional learning.
I would like to do blended-learning class again. 3.06
activities. Teachers who spent more than 2 times a week in
developing their CMS usually designed activities relating to TABLE III: TEACHER EXPERIENCE USING CMS
the use of communicating skills. In this case, drop box, e-mail, Experience using CMS
Mean
and discussion blogs had been used as communication tools. Response
I applied CMS with my class. 3.16
Those students who were assigned this kind of task became I used the CMS effectively to upload course content, 3.76
skilled in terms of communication, discussion, and even assign homework, and give feedback.
enhance their computer skills. I effectively used the tools of the CMS for 3.42
communicating with my students.
B. Benefits Using the CMS helped me to schedule my time. 2.92
Using the CMS can improved student‟s outcome. 3.98
The result from Table II shows that students who have Using the CMS give me more time to interact with 3.74
been involved in blended-learning class are generally very students.
positive about their experiences. They said that CMS is very Using the CMS enhanced students‟ participation in 4.12
learning
helpful since they could learn course content, submit
homework and share their opinion with others. Due to the
improvement of standard technologies in Thailand, such as C. Challenges
mobile phone and computer, accessing software become The study indicated that students encountered a number of
easily. The survey students said that it is very convenient to challenges with blended-learning style. The three main
access course content on CMS via laptop or mobilephone. challenges identified were; problem with responsibility for
Furthermore, they enjoyedsubject with blended-learning learning, difficulty with technologies, and the changing
more than traditional learning style and preferredto do format of teaching.
blended-learning class again. The study of learner autonomy in Dhurakij Pundit
Teachers who combined blended-learning format with University [10] suggested that Thai students had problem
traditional format are also positive with their experiences. with capability of being responsible for their own learning.
Almost 80 percents of teachers said that they would The notion of being passive learners makes it very difficult
recommend using this approach to others and planned to for Thai students to take their responsibility in traditional
applied a blended-learning again. The reasons for this high learning format. Therefore, they might be unprepared for the
level of agreement are as follow. active learning role in blended-learning class.
In case of International College, Suan Sunandha Rajabhat Technologies related problems usually occur with the
University, all teachers are required to use CMS. It allows procedure for accessing the CMS. The problems range from
teachers to upload content, assignment, video clips, and web logon information and downloading large files to accessing
site address that related to the course contents. In advance video clips in CMS. Moreover, students who are not familiar
level, some teachers conducted quiz for students and ask with CMS usually used only the download function. They
them to do it at home. Surprisingly, the scores of the quiz rarely used discussion blog. Problems that persist throughout
were higher than students who took a quiz in class room. This the semester may affect learning ability of students.
is because they faced lower pressure than the class room test. The third problem rested on the changing format of
Using blended format also reduced time spent in class. teaching. A student who was familiar with traditional
Although there was a normal lecture class, it has been learning format often has a problem with adopting
decreased from three hours to only two hours, with one themselves into blended-learning format. Some teachers
hourof group activities. These activities mostly took the form discovered that their students rarely participating in CMS.
of group discussions and problem based learning. Students Even though they downloaded course content, they rarely
were asked to research a case study on web site in advance, participated in discussion blogs or e-mail. For this group, the
and then dissolve a case in group discussion blogs using CMS level of participation in learning was quite low and, if they
whereas teacher‟s duty was only an assistant for them. This had to, they would participate in discussion blog only they
not only reduced time spent in the lecture, but also gave more had been asked.
opportunities for teachers, as a role of assistant, to Another problem occurred with CMS itself. Since it is an
communicate with students and give a feedback to their work. open source for education institution, there is a limitation on

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International Journal of Information and Education Technology, Vol. 4, No. 2, April 2014

the size of files. One survey teacher accounted that uploading also to Asst Prof. Dr. Janchai Yingprayoon for giving
video clip that contain more than 100 Mb was very difficult. insightful comments and constructive suggestions. I would
Same as uploading a file, if that file is more than 10 Mb, CMS also like to show the greatest appreciation to Ms. Bavornluck
will not accept it. Kuosuwan for her support and encouragement. Furthermore,
I would like to express gratitude to Suan Sunandha Rajabhat
University to give me a supportive of both fund and
V. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION suggestion in every step. Last but not least, I want to thank
The results of the study suggested that students and my parents for their endless love and support for this paper.
teachers have positive perspective with blended-learning
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Nalin Simasathiansophon was born in Khon Kaen
how to use a discussion tools in CMS in order to enhance province, Thailand on the 23rd March 1986. She
students‟ ability to adopt with blended-learning format. received bachelor of art in hospitality management
from Kasetsart University, Thailand in 2007. A year
later, she continued her master degree in international
ACKNOWLEDGMENT business in University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia
This research would not have been possible without the and finished the degree in 2011.
After finishing her degree, she‟s immediately
support of many people. N. Simasathiansophon would like to worked as a lecturer in International College, Suan
thank Asst Prof. Dr. Krongthong Khairiree who was offered Sunandha Rajabhat University for International Business program. In
invaluable assistance, support and guidance with this paper. I addition to teaching, she has conducted two researches and also be a member
of International Conference of Organization Innovation.
would like to thank my partner, Duke, for his kindness and
support he has shown during the difficult time. Special thanks

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