The Evaluation of the Royal Thai Naval Academy Curriculum (Revised) A.D.2015

Abstract

Objectives of the research were: 1) to evaluate context of the curriculum, 2) to evaluate the input of the curriculum, 3) to evaluate process of the curriculum, and 4) to study the ways to develop the curriculum. Mixed methods research were used in this research, CIPP model was applied. The informants of this research were: executives, lecturers who are responsible for the curriculum, lecturers, and naval cadets. Three instruments in this research compose of curriculum analysis form, construct-interview form, and questionnaire. The quantitative data was analyzed by descriptive statistics: frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation. And qualitative data was analyzed by content analysis. The research findings are as follow:

1. The results of curriculum evaluation context are: the overview of curriculum’s objectives are appropriate, the amount of credits in this curriculum are quite over load, some subject have a duplicate content, Naval Profession training skills and Naval Profession Curriculum are insufficient and not up to International standards.
2. The results of curriculum evaluation inputs are: overall quality of the curriculum’s inputs are at high level, turnover rate of lecturers are high resulting in inadequate amount of lecturers, the guideline to buttress academic works and acquire academic positions are inefficient, some lecturers have inadequate teaching skills, and some learning support equipment are defective.
3. The results of curriculum evaluation process are: the overview quality of curriculum process is at high level, Naval cadets have overload activities, study time of Naval cadets are insufficient especially in English.
4. The guidelines to improve and develop the curriculum are: 4.1) Curriculum component: increase Naval Profession training skills, reduce curriculum credits, improve and modernize subjects contents, and benchmark Naval Profession skills curriculum to International standards. 4.2) Learning and instruction component: manage study-time more efficiently, reduce some activities of Naval cadets, create sufficient systems and management mechanicals 4.3) lecturer administration: fill enough lecturers positions, continuously organize and develop activities for learning and instruction. And 4.4) Technology education component: develop information system for education management, and provide enough learning equipment.