Patterns of learning about Thai rural communities in the southern part of Thailand

Results can be summarized as follows: 1. The methods of learning about rural areas found in the curriculums or courses offered by the universities and Rajabhat Institutes in the southern part of Thailand could be classified into 3 styles: lecturing, discussing, and teaching. The teaching methods that lecturers considered the most effective in teaching rural studies was field study. The evaluation of the courses consisted of assignments and activities, a midterm test, and a final examination at the end of the semester. The problems and obstacles could be classified into 3 categories: curriculums they were not up to date and not correspond with real situations, lecturers-the number of lecturers were limited, especially in Rajabhat Institutes, part-time lecturers had to be hired, and learners-the number of learners in each group was too many and learners were not attentive. The problem in teaching and learning management was that the number of textbooks were limited, obsolete, and inconveninet for study outside the educational institutions. 2. Regarding the relationship between the learning process in the curriculums of educational institutions and that of villagers, the learning process found in case studies and courses which provided direct learning for students revealed that educational institutions emphasized mainly on the learning process of their students in terms of the process of project operation. Villagers participated in all steps of project administration. 3. Guidelines for promoting and supplementing the learning of rural areas in southern Thailand should, therefore, solve the mentioned problems by promoting and supplementing the curriculums and courses related to rural studies to make them up to date, correspond with real situations, by promoting lecturer development so that they are academically up-to-date, encouraging students to realize more about the importance of rural areas, to be aware and pround of their local communities, to be expressive of their opinions. In terms of teaching and learning, more emphasis must be placed on the importance of rural studies Up-to-date database should be set up, model communities for learning and development should be built, and local community networks should also be built in order to create linkage in learning among related parties.