A Complete Needs Assessment in using the Digital Platform for the administration of schools under Songkhla, Satun Secondary Education Service Area Office in the situation of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (Covid-19) epidemic

Abstract

The objectives of this research were: 1) to identify the needs and necessities of using digital platform for school administration, 2) to study the causes of the needs of using digital platform for school administration, and 3) to find out solutions for the needs of using the digital platforms for school administration. The research tools were a needs assessment questionnaire on the use of the Digital Platforms for school administration, which includes dual response questions and a questionnaire on the causes and solutions to the needs and necessities of using the digital platforms for school administration, which were open-ended questions. The data providers were 125 school administrators. The data analysis included frequency, mean, standard deviation, and content analysis. The results were as follows:

1) The collaboration within the school in using the digital Platform to build schools' academic administration was the most crucial issue for the academic administration aspect. They must be prepared to handle the situation immediately and to notify the academic administration committee and school authorities of any issues as soon as possible. The solutions are assigning accountable persons such as head of class level, heads of learning subject groups, or accountable teachers, and using social media for ordering and following up to reduce the communication process and to provide solutions to problems quickly, carefully, and on time. 2) For the budget administration aspect, the most important issue was the communication policies for using digital platform to manage the school's budget to practitioners. If the administrators communicated clear policies, it would enable practitioners to act in the common direction. The solution to this problem is using digital platform to establish school's budget management policy in order to help practitioners work in the same direction by setting scope of responsibility for every part of budget management. 3) For the personnel administration aspect, the most important issue was formulating a policy for using the digital platform in the school personnel administration. It will allow personnel administration authorities, who in charge of hiring new employees, maintain existing employees, training employees, and terminating an employee’s contract to have common understanding and reduce misunderstanding. The solution to this issue is using information technology in personnel administration, such as using a program to record employee performance or using a program to calculate the average base salary, etc. 4) For the general administration aspect, the most important issue was formulating a policy for using digital platform in the schools’ general administration. It will enable the workers to finish their tasks quickly, on time, and be ready for the disruption. The solution is utilizing digital platform in general administration, such as meeting the accountable person or providing policies like online booking building policy, promoting via social media, or having a variety of channels for collaboration. 5) For the use of digital platform aspect, the most important issue is allocating sufficient budget for bringing the digital platform to use in the school administration. It will help developing an efficient schools’ working system. The solution for this problem is that the authorities prioritize and allocate adequate support budget.