Abstract:

The objectives of this research were to:
1) study the state of e- learning, the factors of designing for virtual classroom, elements and steps of an instructional design model for virtual classroom environment in blended learning for enhancing creative thinking of higher education students, Thailand,
2) develop an e-learning virtual classroom model using collaborative learning and synectics instruction for enhancing creative thinking of higher education students,
3) develop a knowledge management system supporting creative instruction to enhance creative thinking of higher education students,
4) purpose the instructional design model for e-learning, virtual classroom environment in blended learning to enhance creative thinking of higher education students Thailand.

The subjects of this study were:
1) 70 higher education instructors in Thailand from purposive sampling according to the set criteria,
2) 925 higher education students from faculty of education (10 universities in Thailand) by simple sampling,
3) 25 experts in educational technology and communication field, teaching creativity field, instructors in educational technology and communication field from purposive sampling.

Qualitative data were analyzed by content analysis and quantitative data were analyzed by descriptive statistics.

The results were as follows:
1) The factors of designing for e-learning virtual classroom environment for enhancing creative thinking in blended learning in higher education were creative thinking scaffolding, virtual classroom, learning resources, online tools, and learning interactions. The instructional design model was divided into 5 main steps and 11 substeps.

The main steps were
1: Identify the underpinning of learners’ capacity,
2: Design blended learning,
3: Develop media, activities, and learning environment,
4: Perform teaching and learning, and
5: Evaluate learners.

The ID model validation result by experts was 4.59 (at good level).
2) The virtual classroom model using collaborative learning and synectics instruction for enhancing creative thinking of higher education students consisted of 6 components:
1: Virtual classroom,
2: Collaboration and communication tools,
3: Learning contents, media and resources,
4: Roles of learners and instructors,
5: Learning activities and
6: Assessment. Students (experimental group) who participated with the virtual classroom model had higher posttest creative thinking score than pretest creative thinking score significantly at .05 level.

The model was approved by experts at the highest level.

3) The knowledge management system supporting creative instruction to enhance creative thinking of higher education students consisted of 2 parts:
1. Activity plans for creative instruction in 12 weeks
2. A Knowledge Management system consisted of 6 components:

1. Member Login,
2. Content management,
3. Social media sharing,
4. Online chat channels,
5. Website management, and
6. membership management.

The experts’ opinions towards the knowledge management system was 4.62 (at very high level). The students’ opinions towards the system was 4.21 (at high level).

4) The validation result by experts of the instructional design model for e-learning virtual classroom environment in blended learning, the virtual classroom model using collaborative learning and synectics instruction showed that all systems were appropriate and practical to perform in teaching and learning for enhancing creative thinking.

Keywords:

e-learning, creative thinking, blended learning, virtual classroom, knowledge management system, creativity, higher education students, educational technology.