Sunday, a black dog, and some thoughts on the community college mission.

Sunday morning, early I went walking in the Sri Nakhon Khuankun Park. The light was beautiful and the low light showed the texture of things. With the sun raising and falling in such an abrupt manner there is little time to catch beautiful cross light. In the winter in Alaska it is all cross-light, or no light at all. As I was walking I heard cadenced chant in the distance, one, two, three etc... People seemed very serious and committed to their exercise. I have only heard this on Sunday, I do not know if it is everyday, but I doubt it. There was boom box music from a remanent of last nights celebration playing in the community.

Joggers and speed walkers were using the park. Even at 5:30 or 6:00 people are using the park for exercise. It is also cooler then. On the weekends there are many people having picnics and feeding fish. The Sri Nakhon Khuankun Park is well used and appreciated.

Yesterday I finally got a picture of the black dog that slept on the porch and that was at the top of the observation tower in the Sri Nakhon Khuankun Park. The dog definitely has a personality.

Every Sunday at the entrance to the Sri Nakhon Khuankun Park there is a market. There are fresh vegetables, fruits, meats, it is fun to go. Jit's mom came with us to the market. Ton wheeled her, it was good to see her out and enjoying herself.

On Friday we rode in a taxi cab with a pretty aggressive driver, there were clues. On the dashboard of the cab was a model of a silver race car, a Japanese Super Tourer. Also the cabs steering wheel was replaced with a smaller racing size wheel. Normally there are Buddha's garlands, and other signs of fate, but not in this cab, we survived.

We went to STOU today, Anne as usual was a great help. I very much appreciate what she is doing, I am thankful for her help. I had a somewhat awkward meeting with Associate Professor Tanit Pusiri the Director of the Office of Educational Technology. He had squeezed us in for a half hour meeting. There was not time to establish rapport. We talked a little about learning objects and Scorm.

Sometimes I do not think that some people in Thailand have an appreciation for practical education for adults. I have not meet anybody, except the wonderful people in Counseling section of the Office of Educational Services, that understands my purpose. If there was ever a country where the Community College mission would be valuable it would be Thailand. STOU does have some similarities in its stated purpose to the community college mission, but I think the faculty might not be ready for the challenge and difficulty of fulfilling that purpose. There is not a perceived prestige in meeting community needs, even in Alaska, we have to constantly educate the faculty about our meeting community needs. Keeping the Community College mission alive in a university environment is always difficult, what I do not see is a comprehension of the importance of the community college. The Thailand technical colleges are not like community colleges. This is just my current impression, and I might be mistaken, in fact I hope I am mistaken.

I had a wonderful meeting with Nednapa. She showed me how she is using the web to share information and to do advising. She is using a Web Board, a threaded discussion software application, to do advising. I think a similar idea would work great at Tanana Valley Campus. I would like to experiment with this idea when I return. Nednapa is a gifted computer user, she creates her own web pages and is an excellent independent learner. I was impressed.

Tomorrow I will meet with the Office of Educational Services department. I am looking forward to the meeting. I feel comfortable there. We will be defining ways that we can work together. I will be eager to share some of this experience with Michele Stalder when I return.

I always need to look at my experiences from different perspectives. Imagine that somebody from Thailand came to TVC, they spoke sub-minimal English. Assume that person wanted to share and collaborate. What would we do at TVC? The only difference in this scenario, and the one I am in, is that in Thailand many people know significant English. In any case it would still be hard to meet the person from Thailand's expectations with an opportunity for significant contribution. My hope is that I could find a person with a similar vision, and a knowledge of the Thai language to collaborate with. To me that person will be Jit! She is being a great help, and does understand what I am doing, especially since she has experienced how Tanana Valley Campus works.

I do not want to be a burden or an obligation. It is hard to explain that I have my own agenda and that STOU is only a small part of my purpose in Thailand. It will all work out, but I do not want people to feel obligated to fill my time or to meet my needs. My sabbatical plan was always broader then STOU. I am still hoping to find somebody to collaborate with on my specific agenda. I am not sure that I will find that person at STOU, but if that does not happen I will still accomplish my goals.