New Era of Education

KOMPAS/WAWAN H PRABOWO (WAK)

Yudi Latif

The education world has been filled recently with spontaneous and irrational responses on discussion about the threat of a disruption era, with a burst of doomsday scenarios without any clear solutions.

In reality, throughout the history of human civilization, life has repeatedly experienced disruption. The stone age ended not because the stone was used up, but because of the discovery of bronze technology as a game changer. The bronze age ended not because bronze was used up, but because of the discovery of iron technology as a game changer, and so on.

Even if there was something different, it was located at the level of density and scale of disruption being caused. If in the past the inter-disruption distance had slowed down -- due to the slowness of the discovery of new technology -- in the present period the inter-disruption range is so tight, with wider implication in its scope and penetration. With the tendency of disruption through such density and intensity, what are the implications for the world of education? Does that mean that it will change the basic principles of education or the badly-needed changes only lie in the approach and methodology?

It must be realized that with the density and intensity of disruption, the world of education cannot be developed as a "ready to use" labor plant. If education is too focused on preparing students to master certain skills, the speed of arrival of new technology will be quicker than the time it takes to teach those skills. In other words, the capacity of the world of education cannot rely on a threat-based approach, but must be developed based on capability-based strengthening.

The world of education is not prepared as a supplier of "bricks" simply because of the explosion of demand for bricks, but the supplier of "clay", which has the elasticity to meet various needs. Capability-based education requires the preparation of learners; humans who are always updated with new developments with a willingness to continue to learn to renew themselves are able to answer all kinds of challenges. At this point, the arrival of the new age does not mean changing the essence of the principle of education.

KOMPAS/HENDRA A SETYAWAN

Christianus Piguno (not pictured), a student at SMAN 1 senior high school in Bantul, Yogyakarta, demonstrates his incubator and Android monitoring application during an education and culture exhibition that was held on Feb. 12, 2019 at the Education and Culture Ministry’s Research and Development Center in Depok, West Java. The automatic turning incubator is also equipped with an automatic temperature and humidity control.

Encouraging creative mentality

The principle of lifelong education must be developed more seriously. With regard to the temperature of our education, Ki Hadjar Dewantara visually defined education as "the process of learning to fully become humans by learning and developing life (microcosm and macrocosm) throughout their life."

Human learners must be equipped with two kinds of abilities. On the one hand they must have flexibility to adjust to the wind of change. On the other hand, they must have strong roots so that they will not be easily broken by the wind. The first requires creative power. The second requires character power.

In growing creative human learners, the task of the world of education is to grow creative minds. Following Peter H. Diamandis, MD (2018), there are at least five characteristics of mentality that need to be nurtured by students. The soul should truly love passion for what is perceived as someone’s talent, interest, choice and dream. The key is to seek out the disclosure of self-potential by directly experiencing the activity of wandering, variety of activities, and experiential learning.

Curiosity by facilitating the process of experimentation and discovery. Students need to be given the skills to learn to ask questions, hypotheses, design experimentation, collect data and draw conclusions. The "wildness" of imagination by allowing nature to develop becomes a teacher. Structured teaching programs based on memorization can dwarf imagination.

The development of students\' imagination can be facilitated by games to surf in cyberspace. Literary works and superhero films and science fiction can also stimulate the exploration of imagination.

Critical thinking as a life lamp. To be able to navigate a new era of life, with a variety of conflicting ideas, fighting over claims, misinformation, negative and baseless news, learning to think critically can help reduce error, commotion, and fooling. Persistence to navigate trials and challenges that all trials and dreams require tenacity for long-term struggle. Schools can facilitate the development of this persistence through competition arena in the spirit of collaboration, also with the narration of famous figures who are able to rise from adversity.

Strengthening character

The effort to improve students\' creative capabilities can only produce constructive and productive work and output if accompanied by character strength that provides the foundation for values of integrity and work ethic. Character education is needed to forge students into good individuals (personal characters) as well as good citizens (collective characters). Personal character can be distinguished by collective characters but cannot be separated.

To be a good person, Thomas Lickona (2011) identifies there are nine core values of personal character that must be developed: courage, justice, benevolence, gratitude, wisdom, reflection, respect, responsibility and self-control.

On how to be a good citizen, Jonathan Haidt (2012) discloses that there are six core values of public morality as a basis for collective character of citizenship: care about the dangers that threaten mutual safety; a sense of justice and appropriateness (fairness); freedom by upholding basic human rights (liberty); loyalty to institutions, traditions, and mutual consensus; respect for the authority agreed upon; and respect the values that are considered the most "noble" (sanctity). In the Indonesian context, the six core values of public morality are contained in Pancasila.

Shifts of approach

All of that requires a shift or adjustment to educational approaches and methodologies. According to Christiaan Henny (2016), there are a number of things that should be noted as characteristics of future education approaches and methodologies. Learning activities in the classroom experience a reversal (flipped classroom). With e-learning facilities, students can have more learning opportunities in a variety of places and times, as well as distance learning and self-study. Therefore, activity in the classroom can be the opposite of the conventional learning approach. The theoretical aspects that are usually conveyed in the classroom can be learned outside the classroom; on the contrary, the practical aspects that usually become homework are even done in the classroom interactively. Classrooms become a vehicle for discussing things that are not yet clear, also become an arena for group work to link theoretical things to practice.

Learning experiences personalization. Students will study with learning tools according to their capabilities. Students who have above average skills in certain subjects will be challenged with more difficult tasks and questions. Students who have difficulties will get more opportunities to reach the desired level. Students will get positive affirmation, which can overcome the loss of self-confidence. Teachers will be able to recognize more clearly, which students need help in what field.

The teachers act more as companion mentors, directors, supporters, and liaison officers with the outside world.

Free choice openness. Even though each subject being taught leads to the same goal, the path students take to achieve that goal can be different. Students will be able to modify the learning process with learning tools that they feel are suitable for them. Students will learn with a variety of tools, programs and techniques according to their preferences. For this reason, students must be involved in the preparation of the curriculum. The teachers act more as companion mentors, directors, supporters, and liaison officers with the outside world.

Project-based learning. Following the trend of career choices in the new era, which is not too tightly bound, today\'s students must be adapted to learning practices and project-based work. They must learn to apply their skills in the short term to a variety of situations. This must start to be introduced in secondary schools. At this level, organizational, collaboration and time management skills can also be taught as basic capital to be developed in later academic careers.

Expansion of field experience. Because technology can facilitate more efficiently the learning of theoretical aspects in a particular domain, the curriculum will provide space for the development of skills in direct experience. Schools/universities will provide wider opportunities to gain skills in the real world according to their preferences. The curriculum will create more space for students to undergo apprenticeships, collaborative projects, and mentoring. The exam will change fundamentally. Because the learning platform will assess student capabilities at each step, measuring their competence on the basis of questions and answers may no longer be relevant. Student competencies will be measured by taking into account developments during the learning process and the application of their knowledge in practice in the field.

As an addition, self-learning skills need strong literacy prerequisites: skills for counting, reading, writing, and speaking. With the presence of a calculating computer and sophisticated statistical analysis software, intelligence that must be further developed is the ability to interpret data. Communication media may change, but literacy capacity must be strengthened. The emergence of the disruption era should not be a justification for abandoning literacy capacity. Primary school education is the foundation for cultivating reading interest, the tradition of writing, and speaking. Without the power of interpretation, the power of reading, writing, and speaking, the development of human creativity does not have a strong foundation.

The desired character traits must enter the student\'s learning environment, both in the classroom, entrance, gymnasium, cafeteria, sports field and other places that are then connected to practical morals.

All shifts in educational approaches and methodologies must be in line with the transformation of character education. Character development is a holistic approach that connects the moral dimensions of education with the social and civil realms of student life. In character education, moral is caught by examples, not taught by memorization. The way to teach it is not isolated in its own subjects, but it is attached to the whole set of curricula and involves the role of the community. The desired character traits must enter the student\'s learning environment, both in the classroom, entrance, gymnasium, cafeteria, sports field and other places that are then connected to practical morals.

In brief, it can be concluded that education is the seed of hope. If a community is hit by chaos, stagnation and adversity, and does not know the key to its emancipation, its ultimate stance is education. Hope of education seeds must prioritize the development of creative and character learners. Education must develop creativity based on diversity of human intelligence with the guidance of a compass that can maintain harmony with the orderly cosmos and harmony of the world. In that way, according to Ki Hadjar Dewantara, human learners could mangaju-aju salira, mengaju-aju bangsa, mangaju-aju manungsa (make someone happy, move the nation happy and make humanity happy).

Yudi Latif, Lecturer at Yogyakarta State University