Visiting the Non-Formal Education Center in Phra Pradaeng

Visiting the Non-Formal Education Center in Phra Pradaeng

We will visit the Non-Formal Education Center in Phra Pradaeng today. Jit just confirmed the appointment. I guess I need to start getting ready. I like Phra Pradaeng, it is small enough not to be overwhelming, but there are excellent photo opportunities. I am starting to know where I am in Bangkok, I never thought that would happen.

I am working on the Access database for the STOU counseling department this morning. I wished I had a good reference book! When I am working on this database I need to remind myself that it is just a rough sketch of a potential database. Creating an Access database is like diving down a rabbit hole in Alice in Wonderland, what seems simple becomes complex! Anyway I have to keep repeating to myself, "It is only a sketch!" and "Keep it simple!" When I was visiting the hospital last Tuesday, and waiting, and waiting, I spent some time outlining possible fields and queries. I am glad I did this preliminary thinking. I will be glad though when this project is done. Oh well, another new learning opportunity.

We visited the Non-Formal Education Center in Phra Pradaeng today. The closest educational institution in Alaska would be a combination of the Adult Learning Program in Alaska and the Tanana Valley Campus Workforce Development program. The relationship between ALPA and Workforce Development to TVC is also similar. During the last semester there were 2500 students enrolled in the Phra Pradaeng region. There are eight centers that are located in malls, Wats, and buildings in the community. Right now there are no courses in session. The new courses will begin in November. We will visit the Non-Formal Education Center at the Wat by the Banglepheau floating market in November. The Non-Formal Education centers have both part time and full time teachers. Some of the course series can last from two to three years. We got some literature that describes the curriculum and course offerings that Jit will decipher for me.

The Non-Formal Education Center teaches computer application skills, Microsoft Office, and has some special courses on computer maintenance. When the centers re-open in November I will spend ,some time visiting. I also hope to see more clearly how the Community Colleges interface with the Non-Formal Education centers. The person we met from Ranong said there was a strong relationship. I also asked about Linux, the people were aware of the People PC program, but they said that the people strongly preferred to use Windows.

The Phra Pradaeng area has many factories, there are good employment possibilities. The Non-Formal Education centers works with the companies to prepare the workforce to meet job requirements. There was a hint that some employers did not encourage people to continue to pursue their education, they did not want to lose qualified employees.

We went shopping in Phra Pradaeng, ordered glasses and finally, left the film off to be developed. The resolution will not be what I want, but at least I will have something on a CD. I can then make a CD to have some prints made for the community and to share on the web. We will see tomorrow how they turn out. The machine is a Noritsu and the shop looked very clean and well organized. There were three public computer stations with Photoshop available for people to use. When I was there the staff was editing a variety of photographs. I will try the Fuji shop the next time I get film developed. Phra Pradaeng is the closest we have to a neighborhood town on this side of the river. On the other side of the river, of course, in Bangkok.