UNS — The Master Program in Education Technology (TP) Universitas Sebelas Maret (UNS) Surakarta held a general lecture with an educational expert on the “Education Technology Trend in Digital Era” on Wednesday (23/9/2021). The general lecture was conducted through Zoom Cloud Meetings and offline sessions in UNS Inn, with a total of more than 180 participants.
The general lecture was held as a follow-up or partnership between UNS, especially the Doctoral Program in Education Science and Master Program in Education Technology FKIP, and the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization Regional Open Learning Centre (SEAMEO SEAMOLEC).
Two speakers from SEAMEO SEAMOLEC and UNS were invited to this general lecture. R. Alpha Amirrachman, M. Phil., Ph.D., the Director of SEAMEO SEAMOLEC, and Prof. Dr. rer.nat.Sajidan, M.Si., Vice-Rector for Planning, Partnership, Business, and Information Affairs UNS. The Head of Master Program in Education Technology, Dr. Triana Rejekiningsih, stated that previous collaboration between FKIP UNS and SEAMEO SEAMOLEC has brought innovation and strengthened the innovative learning media for students. The Dean of FKIP UNS, Dr. Mardiyana, M.Si., also stated in his opening remark that FKIP UNS and SEAMEO SEAMOLEC have a long partnership history, and he greatly appreciates the general lecture.
“The partnership that has a direct follow-up and does not stop at MoU signing, but has real activities. Hopefully, this partnership could contribute to the improvement of education quality in Indonesia. Especially amid the pandemic that demands us to create diverse innovations,” Dr. Mardiyana said.
SEAMOLEC Introduction
R. Alpha Amirrachman, M.Phil., Ph.D., opened his session with an introduction on SEAMOLEC performance in supporting educational development in its member countries. One of SEAMOLEC’s focuses is sustainable human resource development to utilize open education and distanced learning started in the pandemic. The missions are achieved through four main duties: training with partners, research and development, information dissemination, and consultation. In SEAMOLEC, the development of distanced learning with partners consists of planning, development, implementation, and evaluation.
In the preparation process, SEAMOLEC plans the development activities and identifies program development needed by partners, including competencies development, infrastructure, and other supporting requirements. In the development process, learning media ide developed based on the identified needs before it is implemented following five indicators. “Management of learning implementation, communication process, students’ responses, learning activities, and learning outcomes. The outcomes are learning implementation report,” R. Alpha explained.
The Urgency of HOTS
In the second session, Prof. Sajidan emphasized the importance of stimulation of Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS), which still need to be provided even though the learning process was implemented digitally. The stimulation is in line with the skill requirements in the industry 4.0 era. The Vice-Rector added that the learning process needs to maintain the balance between cognitive capacity and social complexity, which often creates a blind zone (mystery) between both components.
“This is the homework for Education Technology Program to bring this into online learning. The key is innovation. HOTS is the Transfer of Knowledge,” he stated.
Prof. Sajidan also explained that system and material adjustment are needed in the hybrid learning system to determine when a material should be delivered online and when offline practice is needed. Humas UNS
Reporter: Kaffa Hidayati
Editor: Dwi Hastuti