THE EFFECTS OF USING PROBLEM-BASED LEARNING TO PROMOTE INNOVATIVE THINKING SKILLS
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.55003/IJIET.7204Keywords:
Innovative thinking, Problem-based learning, Public administration students, Digital public service, Higher educationAbstract
This study aimed (1) to compare the learning achievement of third-year Public Administration students at Prince of Songkla University, Surat Thani Campus, in the topic of public service design and transformation in the digital era before and after the implementation of Problem-Based Learning (PBL), and (2) to examine the development of their innovative thinking skills. The participants were 177 third-year students enrolled in the “Digital Civil Servant Competency Development” course during the first semester of the 2024 academic year. The research instruments included a PBL-based instructional plan, a learning achievement test on designing public services and new public sector operations using digital technology, comprising four essay questions (IOC = 0.82, difficulty = 0.68, IDisc> 0.30), an innovative thinking assessment form covering six aspects—interpretation, generate, collaboration, reflect, representation, and evaluation—using a five-point rating scale (IOC = 0.85), and a rubric for evaluating digital public service design. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation) and inferential statistics (paired sample t-test). The results showed that post-intervention learning achievement scores were significantly higher than pre-intervention scores at the .05 significance level. Furthermore, students demonstrated a statistically significant improvement in innovative thinking skills, the mean differences across dimensions ranged from 2.10 to 2.65, with correspondingly high t-values (25.40–37.11) and very large effect sizes (Cohen’s d ≈ 1.91–2.79). Evaluation of group projects revealed that 42.86 percentage (15 out of 35 groups) achieved a high level of performance in designing digital public services. These findings suggest that problem-based learning is an effective pedagogical approach for fostering innovative thinking and enhancing digital competencies among public administration students, thereby contributing to the capacity building of future civil servants in the digital era.
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