The 14th APEC-Khon Kaen International Conference 2019
Khon Kaen University holds the APEC Conference that accents ASEAN Education development with scholars from 10 countries looking at the future curricula based on AI and the Education Transformation strategy
November 18-20, 2019 – Ministry of Higher Education, Sciences, Research and Innovation and Khon Kaen
University by the Institute for Research and Development of Teacher Profession for ASEAN and Center for
Mathematics Study organized the 14th APEC-Khon Kaen International Conference 2019 under the title, “APEC
MEETING IN DIGITAL ERA: AI FOR EDUCATION” at the Institute for Research and Development of Teacher
Profession for ASEAN (IRDTP), Khon Kaen University. Participants included specialists in curriculum and AI for
Education from 21 APEC Economy Zone from 10 countries. The opening ceremony was held on November 18,
2019 with Assoc. Prof. Dr. Maitree Intaraprasith, Vice President for Education of Khon Kaen University conveying
the reporting speech and Assoc. Prof. Charnchai Panthongviriyakul, M.D. Acting Khon Kaen University President
made the opening address. Khun Laksamon Samansin, Director of the International Higher Education Resource
Utilization Promotion Group, Office of International Higher education Strategy, Ministry of Higher Education,
Sciences, Research and Innovation made the welcoming speech to participants.
From the collaboration of Thai and Japanese governments in APEC Human Resource Development, a
Working Group for HRDWG was formed in 2006. There were 4 projects joined by the members, emphasizing
the thinking skills for the 21st Century: 1) APEC Lesson Study : Best Practice from Japan (2006 – 2009) 2) APEC
Lesson Study: Emergency Preparedness Education (2010 – 2012) 3) APEC Lesson Study: Cross – border
Education (2013 – 2018) 4) Inclusive Mathematics Education for Sustainability in Distal Era (2019 – 2021).
Budget has been allocated from APEC Central Fund, MEXT, Japan CRICED, University of Tsukuba, Ministry of
Higher Education, Sciences, Research and Innovation and Khon Kaen University. This conference was the first
conference of the 4th project in education and was cooperated by Institute for Research and Development of
Teacher Profession for ASEAN (IRDTP), and the Research Center for Mathematic Study was responsible for the
meeting under the topic, “APEC-KKU Meeting in Digital Era: AI for Education”.
Assoc. Prof. Charnchai Panthongviriyakul, M.D. Acting Khon Kaen University President revealed in the
interview with the media after the opening ceremony that artificial intelligence has become part of our lives and
will even increase in the future. Therefore, we have to prepare human resources that know, understand and
see the importance of education from all levels starting from kindergarten. The conference picked up this issue
for exchanging of ideas and to find the conclusion for the education for our children so that they are prepared
in terms of AI. This will be supported by University of Tsukuba, Japan, Khon Kaen University, Ministry of Higher
Education, Sciences, Research and Innovation and Japan’s Ministry of Higher Education, Sports, Research and
Sciences. The conference has been organized for the 14th time this year. Japan and Thailand take turn in
being the host.
Khon Kaen University has the Faculty of Education that has for a long time developed many important
innovation projects such as in mathematics study. This is carried out under the Research Center for
Mathematics Study, that has upgraded the instruction of mathematics at schools at various grades. The
foundation of Institute for Research and Development of Teacher Profession for ASEAN is done to more
effectively propel the role of KKU in this regard. There are collaboration with international network and
development of instructions in many topics for schools around the country. This conference well reflects the role
of the institute in educational development,” Assoc. Prof. Charnchai Panthongviriyakul said.
The conference featured special talks by many world class specialists, i.e., “Studino-Robot Programing
Edition” by Prof. Masami Isoda, University of Tsukuba, Japan Prof. Hee-chan Lew, Korea National University of
Education, Korea Prof. Roberto Araya University of Chile, Chile; “Statistical thinking: aims and school practice”
by Prof. Ivan Vysotskiy, Moscow Centre for Continuous Math Education, Russia.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Maitree Intaraprasith, Vice President for Education related that the project has been
ongoing for 14 years with the Ministry in Japan cooperating with Khon Kaen University and University of
Tsukuba, Japan, that act as implementers. The topics are divided into 4 phases, the first being locating
innovations, followed by disaster management, education with no boundary and AI for education this time.
From now on AI will live with us and schools have to be able to tackle this.
“I intend to design a new curriculum that responds to thinking skill just like the computer. This does not
mean turning human to computer, but in order to live in the world of AI, we have to understand its potential
and what we have to add to ourselves so that we can live with it. For example, we should have creativity,
human relation, or imagination. We are concerned that the present education may not be able to answer the
changing situation. Therefore, we asked the world curricular specialists to meet with AI specialists. This results
in the project being ranked the first of APEC this year as a 3-year series. This year we talk about the curriculum
of Grades 10-12, next year it will be Grades 7-9, then the primary level. This directly answers Khon Kaen
University’s strategy in Education Transformation, especially the issue of AI for All. It is also the new Platform of
Ministry of Higher Education, Sciences, Research and Innovation,” Assoc. Prof. Dr. Maitree Intaraprasith ended.
News / Photos: Udomchai Supannawong
