**2. Adjustments prior to Covid pandemic**

The impact of disruptive technology results in a lot of transformation of education and instructional operations in Thai universities. Many universities have turned to rely on education transformation strategies in order to expedite the changes. Khon Kaen University, for instance, sets the strategic educational transformation by enhancing outcome-based curricula instead of the former content-based curricula, and by changing from teaching to learning in the instruction system [5]. At the national level, the MHESRI has come up with the new species of graduates project to respond to the needs for manpower in the industrial sector. This is also an important mechanism for the national economic propulsion, which has been put into action through the transformation of instructional and curricular methods and from the collaboration between the higher-education institutions and the industrial sector, government, the civil society, or community toward the university education for the future. The said sectors joined in prototype program design that emphasizes the transformation of content, elements, and curricular structure. The collaboration also involves instructional management that essentially builds learning experiences through working in the "real situation" [6].

It can be said that before the spread of Covid, Thai higher education already altered the system to the smart education, which means the system that targets preparation of manpower with knowledge and abilities to lead their lives and work that responds to the needs of the present digital market [7]. Glasco [8], in addition, explained that smart education is the genre of education for the new generations of digital natives. Compared to the former instructional methods, smart education

#### *Online Teaching and Learning Ecology in Thai Higher Education during the COVID-19 Pandemic DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.100222*

emphasizes interaction, collaboration, and engagement between the teacher and learners and between learners and learners so that sustainable and continuous learning skills will be acquired by the learners. Moreover, outcome-based education has been introduced, in which the learning competency development in learners is the keyword. The instruction emphasizes learning from practices rather than from theories or learning from doing activities to obtain real experiences and from doing the job (work-integrated learning) [9, 10].

McLellan [11] explained that the high-capability Internet technology allows people from every corner of the world to communicate and work together efficiently. Thus, the production sector needs people who are able to use technologies to contact customers or colleagues that are from multiple backgrounds and culture. Manpower building does not, therefore, target only the learning outcomes in terms of knowledge and advanced thinking, but also, the process has to set the competency that incorporates multi-dimensional capabilities. What has been said agrees with the OECD Learning Framework 2030, in which the concept for essential competencies for the future is mentioned. The word competency is not only composed of knowledge and skills, but it also integrates bodies of knowledge, skills, attitudes and values that enable one to move on until one achieves his mission [12].

For the instruction that is based on competency development, the teacher, besides having to answer the important question, "What are the necessary knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values for learners and entrepreneurs?", must be able to answer the question, "How can instruction be designed that will effectively develop knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values of the learners?" [13]. In this respect, the instructional design that develops learner's competency and the said qualities necessitates multiple sorts of activities, which, more importantly, learners should be learning in a real situation. The knowledge content must be accurate and up-to-date, and can be applied in real contexts. Development of skills should be performed in the situation similar to the real workplace, not confined within a laboratory or a simulated venue. It is certain that incubation for good attitudes and values toward what learners do or act depends on the social context of real working condition. Therefore, many Thai universities have been enhancing and provoking outcome-based curriculum and encouraging teachers to apply competencydeveloping techniques such as problem-based learning (PBL), task-based learning, experience-based learning, and work-integrated learning. These methods had not caused any problem during the time before the Covid pandemic, since in general, they were conducted in classrooms and through a practicum at workplaces.
