The switch to online learning due to the Covid-19 pandemic has prompted a number of teachers to develop creative models of learning
By
Mediana & Deonisia Arlinta
·5 minutes read
Kompas/Heru Sri Kumoro
Fourth-grader Agda Baline Swarahati of SD Santo Antonius of Padua elementary school uses a laptop on Tuesday (9/6/2020) to study physics, sports and health for the final school assessment at her home in Nusa Loka of BSD City, South Tangerang, Banten. The Covid-19 epidemic has forced schools to implement online learning to protect the health and safety of their students and teachers.
The switch to online learning due to the Covid-19 pandemic has prompted a number of teachers to develop creative models of learning. By means of their new methods, they are trying to make sure that students can learn effectively.
To be creative in online learning (PJJ), ideally schools have the supporting infrastructure of mobile networks and internet technology. However, in several regions with limited internet access, many teachers have developed interesting and creative models of learning remotely.
Among them is Sri Wahyu Sarwoko, a teacher at Tengaran 1 vocational senior high school in Semarang regency, Central Java. Sri teaches her students to appreciate life while applying her online learning model. In the practicum for technical competence, for instance, she allows her students to learn from the owners of workshop near their homes or the school.
Sri Wahyu also encourages her students to help their parents with livestock breeding or the family farm. Students are also allowed to assist their parents who have switched from working at a factory to selling food as vendors as an impact of the Covid-19 epidemic.
“If they want to learn to become engaged in businesses like manufacturing clothes, we ask them to be ready at the very least to [promote] their own products. If the clothes they make are sold, thank God for that. The point is that we are getting the students to appreciate the values of life more,” Sri said last week.
The class timetable is published a week in advance.
Hifni Djafar, a 37-year-old teacher who is in charge of an 11th grade class at the Ende Island state senior high school in East Nusa Tenggara, is striving to optimize the WhatsApp messaging application in her online classes. The class timetable is published a week in advance. When the class starts, students check in for attendance with their WhatsApp groups. The classroom material is simplified and sent as digital files.
The explanation of the materials is conveyed through audio-visual means. Question-and-answer sessions are also conducted through WhatsApp. Occasionally, Hifni makes new audio-visual material that is uploaded to YouTube for the students to watch when they have stable internet access.
“Not all students have cell phones [installed with] WhatsApp. Groups of three students [each] have been formed. While following the health protocols, the members of these groups can learn together,” said Hifni.
Kompas/AGUS SUSANTO
Around 300 students of the East Java Gontor Modern Islamic boarding school take part in the Covid-19 rapid testing program on Sunday (12/4/2020) at Patriot Candrabhaga Stadium in Bekasi, West Java.
Technology
Those teachers in cities with adequate internet access are fortunate. They have many choices. The can try out various learning models according to their classroom needs.
Yusfina Hendrifiana, a fourth-grade teacher at Lazuardi Global Compassionate School in Depok, West Java, is one such teacher. She has developed project-based learning models using of cloud-based education applications like Google Suite, Google Docs, Google Spreadsheet and Google Slides. Student-to-student collaboration can occur even though they don’t meet in person.
To learn about the Covid-19 pandemic, the students are guided in making projects that identify the kinds of jobs that have been impacted by the outbreak. They are told to ask people about their jobs and how they relate to the novel coronavirus outbreak. The project results are noted in journals that are designed using the Canva application.
To keep students from becoming bored, Yusfina invites them to utilize Kahoot!, Quizzes and Flipgrid. These three applications are normally used for tests. For their assignments, the students sometimes draw or make videos using applications that are currently popular among teenagers. “They make videos on the correct way to wash hands using TikTok,” said Yusfina.
The creative application of the PJJ is being enabled even more because of the increasing number of online learning applications that are partly developed in Indonesia. Simak Online and Sekolah.mu are just two of these homegrown applications that offer virtual learning solutions.
Simak Online CEO Rizki Akmanda said that the application had been a learning platform solution for a number of schools in Jakarta since 2018. Schools are assisted in designing the features they need for the PJJ, including exams. The exam features also help teachers and parents stay informed about the students’ class assignments.
The platform certainly has some technical limitations, like limited server space that prevents it from operating maximally. Rizki said that this problem emerged when all subscriber schools held their final exams online at the same time. The server went down.
Schools can even ask a team at the platform to develop the features they need.
The Jakarta Education Office is supporting the use of Simak Online. Schools are exempted from paying the platform’s subscription fees. Schools can even ask a team at the platform to develop the features they need. More than 500 schools in the capital are presently using the solutions offered by Simak Online.
“In the beginning, many teachers were intimidated by digital technology. When we offered them training, they were taken by surprise and became confused,” said Rizki.
Sekolah.mu COO Radinka Qiera said that Sekolah.mu had served as both an online and offline (face-to-face) learning platform since 2019. It offers more than 1,000 learning subjects, while 1,000 classes and 500 partners/industries collaborate with the platform.
The strength of Sekolah.mu is in its learning design, which can be personalized. Each student can choose the learning method that best suits them. The Sekolah.mu development program also follows the education curriculum.
Creativity is indeed unlimited. The power of technology is supporting education, especially at a time when online learning has become a safe alternative to classroom learning during the Covid-19 pandemic.
