Bangkok--Feb 24--Aziam Burson-Marsteller
Oracle Corporation (Thailand) Co., Ltd. is focused on building an online learning community for primary and secondary students in Thailand. It aims to bring them in contact with the real world via the Think.com website (www.think.com). To reinforce this initiative, the company has organized its first Think.com Experience Exchange Trip that will enable schools who are long time members of the project to visit newly participating schools and introduce to them how to use Think.com. The two new member schools that will be visited on this trip are Ta Chang Wittayakarn School and Anuban Singburi School. The event also aims to share knowledge and program successes with other target schools nationwide.
Khun Nipon Keosuttha, Director of the Office of Education Inspector: Region No.3, Ministry of Education stated, “Technology is an important learning tool, especially for youngsters who will be the major force behind future national development. The Ministry of Education is committed to supporting learning via the Think.com network, which serves as a learning medium for students, teachers and parents. Think.com is a remarkable activity that is in line with the Ministry of Education’s intention to make 2006 the Year of Learning Reform.”
According to Khun Natasak Rodjanapiches, managing director for Oracle Corporation (Thailand) Co. Ltd., “Oracle realizes the importance of improving the learning community through Think.com and provides continual support for this effort. Since its launch in Thailand in 2002, and through the generous support of the Bureau of Information and Communications Technology, the Office of the Permanent Secretary for Education, the project has received momentous successes from the constantly increasing number of participating schools. Currently, 45,854 students and teachers from 263 schools throughout the country are taking part in the project .”
“Oracle has initiated the first Think.com Experience Exchange Trip to encourage member schools to exchange knowledge, experiences and ideas with each other. The trip also allows more experienced schools to share their skills and interesting case studies with new members of the program. Students and teachers will be able to use Think.com as a tool to gain the most value from their teaching and learning experiences,” Khun Natasak said.
The first Think.com Experience Exchange trip brings teachers from three schools who have long participated in Think.com — Triam Udom Suksa School, Bangkok Christian School and Petchaboon Technical School — to share their experiences with two new Think.com members: Ta Chang Wittayakarn School and the Anuban Singburi School.
Mr. Chatri Buasuang, School Director of Ta Chang Wittayakarn School in Singburi said, “At the present, we have 50 students who are active learners using Think.com. In our experience, Think.com is a user friendly website designed for online learning. Even though we have a shortage of hardware and unreliable Internet connections, the students and teachers are very enthusiastic and happy to take part in Think.com. In addition, we conduct training programs for teachers in other subject in the hopes that they can make use of the resources provided at Think.com in their teaching process. For example, a Thai language teacher has asked M1 students to submit their homework via the Internet. We have also provided Think.com training for teachers at other schools. We are highly impressed with Think.com and the 161 schools who develop and frequently upload their online reading books for students at all levels on the site.”
Mr. Chawadol Surakhan, School Director of the Anuban Singburi in Singburi province said, “After learning about Think.com from the training course provided by Ta Chang Wittaya School, we are quite interested in this website. As a result, we have been conducting a pilot teaching program for students in P5 and P6 classes since November 2005. We encourage our students to explore and study on their own to use their imagination and develop a webpage in their own style, using tools provided on Think.com. In addition, it allows them to practice their English with friends in other countries. Think.com enables us to see the other side of the world and has made a radical change in the way we teach and gain real experiences that truly connect us to the real world of learning.”
Apart of the Oracle Education Foundation (OEF), Think.com is designed to expand the online learning community for primary and secondary school teachers and students in a password-protected environment. It allows teachers and students from various member schools worldwide to deploy modern technologies in support of education. Think.com uses Oracle database solutions to facilitate the central hosting, management and implementation process in the USA. Oracle’s Collaboration Suite has been chosen to support the email and web hosting systems, allowing students and teachers to share information within the secure Think.com community.
Think.com is currently used by more than 614,000 students in more than 7,229 schools across 26 countries, including Australia, Canada, Chile, China, Denmark, Egypt, Germany, India, Italy, United Kingdom and United States.
Think.com uses Think.com Version 4 technology, which has been developed to provide an innovative and easy-to-use experience to users. Its unique infrastructure includes:
New colorful design with enlarged web page
More efficient navigation with three core tabs, including My Site, a Colleagues’ Site and Group Site
New management functionality that allows teachers to handle each school’s community more efficiently, making its faster and easier for students to retrieve content
Students are provided with email accounts
New display feature enables schools to determine internal communication within the school or contacts with the world’s communities
New learning lessons about Internet safety and good etiquettes
Automatic links to ThinkQuest, which is handled by the Oracle Education Foundation
“We have also launched the Oracle Academic Initiative designed to boost knowledge about Oracle software technology and system solutions among university students and faculty,” said Khun Natasak. “To date, over 10,000 students and academics from more than 20 leading universities nationwide have participated in the Oracle training sessions.”
Interested schools can apply for program membership at no cost at www.think.com.
About the Oracle Education Foundation
The Oracle Education Foundation sponsors ThinkQuest and Think.com, free online programs for the primary and secondary education community. It also makes grants to select schools and non-profits to bridge the digital divide and promote global collaborative learning with technology. For more information please visit http://www.oraclefoundation.org.
About Oracle
Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) is the world’s largest enterprise software company. For more information about Oracle, visit our Web site at http://www.oracle.com
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