Empowering Faculty as a Key Driver of Educational Quality

The International School of Tourism recognizes that an educational institution is a strategic mechanism that directly influences the quality of teaching and learning. Lecturers play a crucial role in bringing knowledge, innovation, and academic advancement into the institution. Therefore, this training program was designed to support new lecturers in adapting to the organizational environment, understanding academic operations, and enhancing modern instructional skills.

The program featured lectures and knowledge-sharing sessions on key issues essential to the duties of higher education lecturers. The content was divided into two main areas: strengthening understanding of academic regulations and educational management systems, and enhancing teaching and learning quality through the Outcome-Based Education, or OBE, approach.

Strengthening Understanding of Academic Regulations and Education Systems

To ensure that academic operations move in the same direction and comply with institutional standards, faculty members studied the “Suratthani Rajabhat University Regulations on Undergraduate Education, B.E. 2566.” The session covered the scope of duties and responsibilities of lecturers, including roles as program lecturers, program-responsible lecturers, and course instructors.

In addition, faculty members learned about the semester system, credit calculation, criteria for learning assessment and evaluation, grading symbols and grade values from A to E, as well as graduation requirements and honors criteria. These fundamental elements are essential for lecturers to provide accurate academic advice and student support.

Advancing Teaching Quality through the OBE Approach

The college emphasizes the transformation from traditional content-centric teaching to student-centered learning through Outcome-Based Education, or OBE. This approach focuses on clearly defined learning outcomes as the foundation of educational design.

Faculty members learned the Backward Design process, which begins with identifying expected learning outcomes before planning instruction. This ensures that learning activities, teaching methods, and assessment processes are systematically aligned with the intended outcomes.

The program also included practical training on defining learning outcomes across the four dimensions of the KSEC framework: Knowledge, Skills, Ethics, and Character. This framework supports holistic student development in academic knowledge, professional skills, ethical awareness, and desirable personal attributes.

Faculty members also learned techniques for writing Course Learning Outcomes, or CLOs, in alignment with SMART principles. This enables learning outcomes to be measurable, verifiable, and applicable to continuous curriculum improvement through the PDCA cycle, or Plan-Do-Check-Act.

Preparing for Education in the Digital Era

The International School of Tourism believes that this Faculty Orientation and Development Program is an important step in supporting faculty career planning, promoting collaboration, and, most importantly, preparing lecturers to apply technology and modern assessment methods in the classroom. These efforts will contribute to producing highly competent graduates of the International School of Tourism who can respond to the needs of society in the digital era.