ACADEMIC OUTREACH DURING COVID-19 LOCKDOWN AT A UNIVERSITY LEVEL: USING MOOC AS A STRATREGY

Abstract

The objectives of this research were twofold: 1) to develop an online course on Thai culture as a substitute for physical international inbound student mobility during the COVID-19 pandemic and 2) to implement and assess the online course in terms of media quality, content, and the knowledge and experience gained by the students who participated in the course. This research was an experimental development research consisting of two parts. The first part involved course development, where the researcher created a course curriculum encompassing the rationale, course objectives, learning objectives, and a course description. This curriculum was utilized as a research instrument, with the results reported in a narrative format. The second part focused on course implementation and assessment. The population in this part consisted of students who enrolled in the course. The data were gathered from the overall population. Nevertheless, since course assessment participation was voluntary, this study's informants consisted solely of students who both completed the course and submitted the online assessment form. In turn, a total of 235 foreign students, majority from ASEAN countries responded to the course assessment. The data gathered during this phase were quantitative and subjected to analysis using descriptive statistics including frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation. The findings revealed the successful development of an online course, in the form of Massive Online Open Course (MOOC), titled “Business Etiquette in Thailand”. The respondents consistently rated the media quality, content, and knowledge and experience gained as highly satisfactory with most responses indicating “strongly agree” for all components. The most frequently mentioned comment regarding the course was its quality and interesting nature, while the primary suggestion was to offer more courses of a similar nature. The findings of this study contribute to the ongoing exploration of alternative modes of intercultural learning during challenging circumstances for providing to inbound students.