Thinking Environment and Its Application in Online Learning

Abstract

Thinking Environment’ originally conceived by Nancy Kline, who received the “Listener of the Year Award 2010” from the United States, and abbreviated as “TE” in this academic article, refers to the ten components of thinking for people to think by themselves. The concept is the principle, methods, and components that contribute to effective learning, studying, coaching, dialogue, and dispute mediation in various countries, including Thai society. The components of TE include attention, equality, encouragement, incisive questions, place, etc. This article focuses on introducing TE and its application in online learning in Thailand in order to build the process and environment for thinking and collaborative learning. The first two online classes were taught by Trisha Lord, a lecturer from South Africa, which were organized by Friedrich Naumann Foundation, while the third class aimed to apply the body of knowledge acquired from Trisha Lord. The third online class, held by King Prajadhipok’s Institute’s Course in Promotion of Peaceful Society Class of 12, focused on the same issue with the previous two classes, namely the dissemination of TE components. All three online classes were conducted via the Zoom application in which the teaching formats used rounds, pairing, and thinking council. The issues that were different included the number of participants, the target group, discussion topic, the language used, and duration. The strengths and limitations discovered covered a wide range of topics: the strengths included a variety of teaching styles, a clear procedure, budget savings, support system and the time spent by those involved in travel; the limitations included an excessive number of participants in learning and the fact that online learning did not allow close contact with one another; the things that disrupted concentration included the difference in language used.