The purpose of this quantitative study was to investigate the factors that students considered important in taking distance learning and attitudes of students toward the technology-based distance learning in Thailand. The three main attitude components that were examined in this study were affective, behavioral, and cognitive. The additional components: usefulness, quality, and interaction of technology used in distance learning in Thailand were also examined in this study.Participants of this study were students at Ramkhamhaeng University in Thailand. The questionnaires were used as survey instruments. The questionnaires were distributed by email and paper. Students could complete the questionnaire either by web or by paper. The questionnaires were distributed to undergraduate students around Thailand by staffs of Ramkhamhaeng University. Valid survey responses were received from 307 students; 148 males and 159 females. Based on the analysis of the qualified data, the sample mean scores were significantly higher than the hypothesized mean scores. Students were considered to have positive attitudes toward affective component, behavioral component, and cognitive component. Students also had positive attitudes towards the usefulness, interaction, and quality of technology used in technology-based distance learning in Thailand.The most important factor that students considered in taking distance learning was their work requirements. By gender, male students considered earning more money or getting promoted as their important factor. Female students considered work requirements as their important factor.Students considered most technologies in this study to be useful. However, some students have not had experience with some technologies that they believed were useful. Therefore, institutes and instructors should encourage students to use technologies that universities have currently employed. Institutes should offer training sessions to both instructors and students, so that they can effectively use these technologies in their teaching and learning. / Department of Computer Science

Graduation date: 1994

Web-based learning has become an important component of education. Higher education institutions in Thailand have become increasingly aware of the widespread use and effectiveness of web-based learning systems. However, the adoption of such learning systems is growing at a slow pace in Thailand. The purpose of this study was to test the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT), that performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, and facilitating conditions have a positive effect on usage intention and adoption of web-based learning systems by instructors, in the Departments of Education at the Rajabhat Universities, Thailand; and to test whether experience of use, age, and gender have moderating effects in the adoption of web-based learning systems there. The research design used in this study was a cross-sectional survey design. Data were collected by means of a self-administered paper questionnaire. The study was conducted among the instructors in the departments of education at the Rajabhat Universities in Thailand. A total of 725 surveys were sent out, 454 questionnaires were returned by the respondents, and 14 were eliminated as outliers; thus, the final data set for the study was 440 samples. The two-step approach of SEM was used to test the model and the study's hypotheses; first, the measurement model was measured to examine the validity and reliability of the data; next, the structural model was measured to test the hypotheses of the study and the fitness of the data to the model. The results of this study revealed several factors that can affect instructors’ adoption of a web-based learning system and which can enhance the web-based learning performance of instructors in the Rajabhat Universities and throughout higher education in Thailand.