Education and Leadership in Glocalization : What does “think globally, act locally” mean for education around the world?
21-24
2014
24
semester is for doing thesis research, and another is for learning at an industrial site. During the practice
site, students work in a team for solving industrial problems under the supervision of placement
engineers, and university advisors working full-time at the placement. Student preparation and the
presence of university advisors working full-time at the placement are the key issuesfactors which
enhance the skills of the students and make the KMUTT-practice school different from other WIL
programs such as internships and co-operative education programs.
According to the concept of practice school, the new WIL program has been established for
undergraduates since 2013. The objective of this new WIL program was to develop ready-to-work
graduates, who possess problem solving skills, communicative skills, teamwork skills and
management skills in science, technology and engineering. In the KMUTT-WIL model,
undergraduates spent one semester or at least four months for project-based learning at an industrial site
under the supervision of placement engineers, university advisors, and facilitators assigned to
develop learning skills of students at the placement. This internship replaces the research thesis found in a
general Bachelor’s degree program.
The aim of this paper was to reveal the structure of the KMUTT-WIL model for undergraduates and to
discuss enhancement of the student soft skills during training at the industrial placement.
2. Structure and process of the KMUTT-WIL model for undergraduates
Figure 1. Process flow of KMUTT-WIL model for undergraduates
There are three main steps for conducting the KMUTT-WIL model; defining the industrial problem,
preparing the student, and training in the industrial site Fig. 1. Firstly, the problems impacting on
academic and industrial aspects are defined by executives and employers of both university and
industrial side. In order to define the problem, university advisors have to visit the placement and
have a meeting with placement engineers. It is believed that solving the problems impacting on
academic and industrial aspectsmakes the students become professionals who can adapt theoretical
knowledge to the workplace, andincreases opportunities for technology transfer between
university and industrial site. Prior to entering the workplace, the students
have to be ready to learn under problem-based concepts in the industrial site. Therefore, they are
trained in three main aspects, viz. workplace literacy, communication and teamwork via an activity-based
camp. This preparation camp consists of a lecture about workplace literacy by the HR personnel from
the host company, presentation workshop, and teamwork-learning activity.
Doing project-based learning at the industrial site for at least four months one semester is vital to
the success of a practice school to ensure that students are trained to solve real-life problems, sometimes
with limited data and many constraints. At the industrial site, the students work in a team for solving
industrial problems under the supervision of placement engineers, university advisors, and
facilitators assigned to work full-time at the placement for training and evaluating student’s soft
skills Fig. 2. At least once a week, there is the meeting among the students, placement engineers,
and facilitators. Moreover, at least once a month, there is the meeting among the students, university
advisors, placement engineers, and facilitators. The meeting is one of the methods in monitoring and
enhancing the student’s soft skills. During training, the students have to give the progress presentation
intermittently to the executives and advisors of an industrial site, and university advisors and committee.
One key factor in an enhancement of the student’s soft skills is the role of the facilitators
assigned to work full-time at the placement for training and evaluating student’s soft skills. The
important activities of facilitators during the practice site are coaching the student through on-the-job
training method and meeting, formative assessment e.g., evaluating and giving a feedback of the
student’s soft skill, and coordinating the meeting between supervisors and student.After evaluation, the
facilitators give a feedback to the students; therefore, the students can realize and improve their soft skills.
Figure 2.The essential components of the WIL- KMUTT model
STEP 1: To define the problem impacting on academic and
industrial aspects
STEP 2: To prepare the student prior to training at the
industrial placement: workplace literacy, communication and teamwork
STEP 3: To train the student at the industrial placement and to
evaluate the students soft skills
STUDENT Academic
Advisor Industrial
Advisor
Industrial committee
University committee
Facilitator
Education and Leadership in Glocalization : What does “think globally, act locally” mean for education around the world?
21-24
2014
25
3. Student evaluation
