WRITER: CHITTIPA NGAMKROECKJOTI, HO CHUN LOG, KRIT CHIENPRASERT, LI YULONG, PINMANUS NOWAYUT, SINCHAI THIANTHAOWAN, AND IBM STUDENTS UNDER THE MBA FAST TRACK CLASS 3-2022

Introduction

          "NaSatta Heritage Park " is considered as one of the significant 16-acres Real World Learning (RWL) located in the Ratchaburi Province, Thailand. It is a tourist attraction of, formerly known as "Thai Human Imagery Museum", has been modified to a new, contemporary, and advanced technology format. This Park has explained itself as an open-air complex narrating Thai history & culture through sculptures & life-sized wax figures. There are more than 76K followers and more than 70K likes NaSatta Facebook, 1.8K followers 1,099 posts in its Instagram, more than 7.2K in line official. Bangkok Post is considered NaSatta Park as one of the six festivals to brighten up visitors’ world in November 2022.

          Under the concept of “Knowledge outside the textbook, Peace in the embrace of nature,” you will find simple happiness, peace, and colorful knowledge through modern technology and shady nature that perfectly combines all elements together. NaSatta becomes a destination to relax and enjoyable experiences along with Thai religion, history, and forestry nature. However, How to make cultural authenticity a learning experience in the real world?

          Thailand has several international programs in both private and public universities. In 2022, there are 160 international schools over 18 cities in Thailand. Moreover, in high education, there are 12 public universities, 39 private universities and 49 colleges with the fee range between $1,000 USD to $42,000 USD. Moreover, based on the 2022 World Bank report, tourist arrivals to Thailand are projected to be growth of 4.3% and 3.9% for 2023 and 2024, respectively. In order to convey the RWL environment about Thailand culture like Buddhism religion, and its history to Thai and international students as well as tourists, NaSatta can be considered as one of their next normal choices in the post-pandemic period.

Real world learning (RWL)

          Real World Learning (RWL) involves schools/universities students engaging with community partners and industry experts in authentic, relevant problems, projects, and experiences that develop career awareness and readiness. RWL concept was developed to ensure that all students are ready for life beyond high schools and universities. This approach will provide them in learning for the great care about the content. Moreover, fostering an authentic learning environment for students is critical because of its huge investment cost in the area and require human resources skills, in spite of this, NaSatta has well-aligned with RWL impression as “make the whole world as classroom, can learn from anywhere and any times up to learners convenient and time” The followings are the RWL concept.

  1. The implementation of new information within a viable, natural environment so as to not only support the learner’s conceptual framework of understanding around the information but also towards developing a deeper understanding of the information newly learned and respond to questions around the viability of the newly acquired knowledge or deeper understanding within a space in which the information will be desirable and naturally implemented.
  2. Learning that happens outside of the classroom in a real-world setting, such as the outdoors or a museum.
  3. A kind of learning, which incorporates authentic investigations with complex goals and involves students’ beliefs and values while creating opportunities for them to solve problems.

          From the environmental sustainability point of view, NaSatta can be weighted as the circulated place (re-)used in seasonal and several religious occasions which can be well-served the Circular Economy concept. Furthermore, to sharing know-how and best practices as well as capacity building, Thailand and the European Union have foster cooperation to serve this Circular Economy concept since 2021. Moreover, circular economy will support Thailand’s resilient recovery amidst rising global risks.

Circular Economy

          In 2022, the European Union (EU) produces more than 2.5 billion tonnes of waste every year while U.S. landfills are filled with 139.6 million tons of waste, including: 30.63 million tons of food, 26.82 million tons of plastic, 18.35 million tons of paper and paperboard. Asia produces about 760,000 tonnes of municipal solid waste (MSW) per day, or approximately 2.7 million m3 per day. In 2025, this figure will increase to 1.8 million tonnes of waste per day, or 5.2 million million tonnes per day. These main regions of the world need legislation on waste management to serve circular economy action plans to reduce waste and make products more sustainable.

          The circular economy was created by Boulding since 1968. This concept is about extension of life cycle product. He found an imbalance between the economy and environment. It is the way economies extract, use, then dispose of resources is putting pressure on our natural systems, communities, and public health. The circular economy retains and recovers as much value as possible from resources by reusing, repairing, refurbishing, remanufacturing, repurposing, or recycling products and materials.

          It uses valuable resources wisely, thinking about waste as a resource instead of a cost, and finding innovative ways to better the environment and the economy. The reviews of circular economy strongly motivate and encourage sustainable environments worldwide (see Illustration 1, next page). To reach final destination, every sectors should collaborate including Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) as for example NaSatta circulation idea of RWL area even though several issues rose in the following paragraph.

Illustration 1 – Concept of Circular Economy under the viewpoint of Geissdoerfer and his research team
Source: re-created by the First Author based on Geissdoerfer, M., Pieroni, M. P., Pigosso, D. C., & Soufani, K. (2020). Circular business models: A review. Journal of cleaner production, 277, 123741, p.4.

Is it possible for Circular Real World Learning?

          Even NaSatta is considered as RWL in sustainability environment and narrating Thai history & culture through sculptures & life-sized wax figures, however there are three main concerned that we may have taken into consideration. The main issue is NaSatta has substandard number of visitors and activities during day compared to night time (especially during light display at the end of each year) because the main goal of many visitors coming to NaSatta is to watch light shows at night. This idea conflicts with NaSatta's RWL goal, due to people focusing on light shows more than learning the culture or story that NaSatta presentation.

          The second is that the shortage of several languages presentation to display and guides via QR code as an example. The good content with the chosen major languages like Chinese, English, French, and Spanish will attract higher number of nationalities that want to learn about religion, culture, and history in Thailand. Moreover, the updated content about other countries in Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) like ASEAN summit hosted by Thailand in 2030s should be well-prepared in advance before then.

          Besides, digital technology of the current devices are still far distant to the statement of “learn from anywhere at any time.” With the triple of languages, rich in historical and religious content as well as advanced technology, NaSatta will be closer to becoming the top and smart real world learning opportunities for students in Thailand.

  1. NaSatta may consider promoting the daytime events in order to attract students in the provinces nearby. The promotion of learning and drawing spots of each sub-region (north, south, north-eastern, and southern regions) village will be interested in amateur and practical artist and architectures. The Thailand master monks in each sub-region reflect the beliefs, attitude, values, and deep practices of meditation within the society.
  2. Up skill training of languages and extra services mind should be well-plan and prepare to their employees profound thinking.
  3. NaSatta creative breaking spots under the shade during the day time program may be necessarily during the summer and rainy season in the mid-year.
  4. As for the rich and deep contents, NaSatta may create the team project challenge among schools/universities in which kind of those contents will attract more visitors along with diverse languages.
  5. The promotion for visitors’ social media perception like Facebook, Instagram, and line by viewers’ points of view.
  6. Use digital technology to fit the concept of access anywhere at any time. For example, metaverse or virtual reality for those who can’t visit the real place.

Real Actions needed to be Taken into Consideration

  1. Advertise of additional promotions on every holiday season to come each year. Songkran festival will be on in April. Several religious ceremonies are for example Makha Bucha day in the third lunar month; Visakha Bucha Day in the sixth lunar month; and Asahan Bucha Day in eighth lunar month. Especially the Labor Day will be the holiday of every company in Thailand in May. Celebrations of worldwide are also popular in Thailand like Valentine’s Day, Halloween, Easter, Christmas, and New Year. These occasions transform the perception of never visit to become frequent visits.
  2. Increase period by period various exhibitions will welcome more visitors worldwide. In addition to China, there are, for example historical persons as well as Chronological events of countries in ASEAN, Europe, United States of America, African continent, and other regions.
  3. Other than Ongkuliman story, NaSatta may consider to add extra contents as for example of all Buddha biography or the famous ten incarnations of the Buddha that will rotate each incarnation that last long for 2-3 months then move to others. These actions will highlight this religious jigsaw piece to become one of the most popular religious fanatics in Ratchaburi province.
  4. Collaborate with other institutions/associations to hold special events to strategically pull visitors/subscribers onto NaSatta.

          NaSatta is one of the best real world learning and tourist locations in Ratchaburi province, Thailand. However, to arrive as a famous and recognized international and regional level of real world learning place, several approaches to propose as the above will be a real challenge to their strategic planning. However much NaSatta plan it right, the better pull strategy they use prior to reach the definition of circular real world learning goal.

References

Geissdoerfer, M., Pieroni, M. P., Pigosso, D. C., & Soufani, K. (2020). Circular business models: A review.
          Journal of Cleaner Production, 277, 123741. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.123741

https://web.mit.edu/urbanupgrading/urbanenvironment/resources/references/pdfs/WhatAWasteAsia.pdf

https://www.bangkokpost.com/life/arts-and-entertainment/2442154/6-festivals-to-brighten-up-your-world

https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/headlines/economy/20151201STO05603/circular-economy-definition-
          importance-and-benefits

https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/headlines/society/20210128STO96607/how-the-eu-wants-to-achieve-a-
          circular-economy-by-2050

https://www.facebook.com/nasatta.thai

https://www.gettingsmart.com/2021/10/26/real-world-learning-case-study-kansas-city-region/

https://www.international-schools-database.com/country/thailand

https://www.mfa.go.th/en/content/thailand-and-the-european-union-foster-cooperation?page=
          5d5bd3cb15e39c306002a9b5&menu=5d5bd3cb15e39c306002a9b7

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g1028727-d19630022-Reviews-Nasatta_Thai_Heritage_park-
          Ratchaburi_Ratchaburi_Province.html

https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2022/06/29/circular-economy-key-to-supporting-thailand-s-
          resilient-recovery-amidst-rising-global-risks


Lalonde, L. (2023, February 2). 6 best universities in Thailand for international students. Ling.
          https://ling-app.com/th/best-universities-in-thailand/

Thai learning center "NaSatta'' (2018) PaaPaii.com. Available at:
          https://paapaii.com/travel-nasatta/ (Accessed: February 21, 2023).

What is real-world learning (no date) IGI Global. Available at: https://www.igi-global.com/dictionary/supporting-
          community-engagement-through-real-world-instructional-learning/37738
(Accessed: February 21, 2023).

Nasatta Park. (n.d.). https://www.nasatta.com/th/

Nasatta Park. (2023, March 14). Facebook https://id-id.facebook.com/nasatta.thai/photos/?ref=page_internal

Authors Contribution

Conceptualization, C.N., methodology, C.N., resources, C.N., K.C., S.T., and P.N., writing – original draft preparation, C.N., S.T., and P.N., writing – review and editing, C.N., H.C.L., L.Y.L., supervision, C.N. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the article
C.N. = Chittipa Ngamkroeckjoti (IBM Instructor and the First Author)
H.C.L. = Ho Chun Log (student)
K.C. = Krit Chienprasert (student)
L.Y.L. = Li Yu Long (student)
P.N. = Pinmanus Nowayut (student)
S.T. = Sinchai Thianthaowan (student)
Other students have cooperatively shared their comments to improve on this article.


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