Author : Porntip Udomsin

Summary : This study sought to identify the graduates' perceptions of the adequacy of Distance Education Training Program (DETP) for extension agents and their level of job performance as evaluated by the graduates and their employers. The study was conducted in Thailand involving 182 graduated KTs and 182 KAs as respondents chosen by simple random sampling. Data were gathered by means of mailed questionaires. These were analyzed using frequency counts, percentages, means, ranking, standard deviation, T-test, Chi-square test, and log-linear analysis were utilized for the data analysis. The graduates KTs had a mean age of 31.1 years. The majority of them were males, married, and had a mean grade point average of 2.60. On the average, KTs were highly motivated to work. Their average monthly salary was 4,203 baht. The graduates perceived their DETP as "adequate" in terms of meeting job requirements. The graduates and employers evaluated the graduates' job performance as "good" but the graduates rated their level of job performance in extension service, planning, reporting and overall level of job performance higher than their employers did. The Chi-square test revealed that civil status and motivation to work of the personal variables and all variables under adequacy of DETP of the situational variables were found to be highly significantly related to job performance. The log-linear analysis indicated that all of the 13 independent variables can very highly predict the probability of increasing or decreasing the graduates' job performance. Motivation to work and adequacy of course blocks and curriculum content were highly significantly related to job performance while age and adequacy of printed materials had significant relationship with the job performance.