Let’s take a quick look at our school, shall we? In our classrooms, we have books, a whiteboard, stationery, a fan or an air conditioner and maybe even a monitor. If we go to the library, we see bookshelves, lamps and computers. If we were to go to other areas, we might see a few things these places have in common, such air conditioners, fans, computers, monitors and even projectors. These tools designed to make our studies comfortable and easy.
But what was studying like back then? Like waaay back then. Was it as easy and comfortable as how studying is like today? What is the first thing that pops into our minds when we were to imagine how it was to study in the past? To make it easier, let’s dive into the past ourselves!
If we go back to the time where Indonesia was colonized by the Dutch army, the education system in Indonesia was designed to meet the interests of the colonialists. Education tends to be elite and limited, with only a handful of people gaining access.
After Indonesia declared its independence in 1945, the remaining education system was fragile and not organized. In addition, there weren’t many teachers at the time, as most of them had been Dutch or Japanese. Very few Indonesians had experience in managing schools.
A slight improvement on the access of education in Indonesia started on the same year when Indonesia declared the 1945 constitution where “every citizen has the right for education”. The Ministry of Education, Instruction and Culture was founded with its first minister, Soewandi.
This new foundation seeks to create an education that is anti-prejudicial, -elitist, and -capitalist to advance nationalism of the new republic of Indonesia! Let’s take a peek of the curriculums that had been held back then…
The “1947 lesson plan” curriculum was the first curriculum used by the Indonesian people. At that time, the term “curriculum”, was not very popularly used. Then, the 1975 curriculum was created along with the emergence of the concept of “management by objectives,” which was popular at that time in Indonesia. This curriculum is intended to make education more effective and efficient.
However, the 1975 curriculum was widely criticized because it was considered to be burdensome for teachers with details in each lesson. The 1984 curriculum then introduced a process skills approach. Through this approach, education places more emphasis on the process, without forgetting the goals set out in the previous curriculum.
Further into the future, the 2013 Curriculum is the result of the development of the Computer-Based Curriculum which was implemented in 2004. This curriculum is aimed at developing education that includes knowledge, skills and attitudes.
Then comes the curriculum we all know today, The Merdeka Curriculum. The Merdeka Curriculum is the result of an evaluation of the 2013 curriculum which was deemed too ambitious and oriented towards high standards, but did not provide enough opportunities for students to really understand the material being taught, as quoted from the book Merdeka Curriculum written by Dinn Wahyudin and friends in 2024.
Basically, The Merdeka curriculum provides flexibility for educational units to adjust the learning system freely or “independently”.
Enough with the history of curriculums after curriculums in Indonesia. Just… when was digital transformation even used in the education sector? What made it happen?
Well… what if we go back to the year of the COVID-19 pandemic, which was at the end of 2019. It was then that nobody was allowed outside of their homes even to go to schools or offices. To overcome the difficulties presented by the global pandemic, organizations across the public and private sectors have accelerated their digital transformation. In fact, in 2021 alone, internet penetration in Indonesia has reached around 70%.
Remember that? Students have to take long-distance lessons with their teachers and friends using apps like Zoom and Google Meet. Keep their lessons tracked and organized with the help of Google Classroom. That is when digital transformation come in handy in education sector.
Fast forward to this very day, we can still make use of digital transformation in our schools with our phones, tablets and even laptops. There are numerous benefits we can get from digital transformation in school. Benefits that weren’t even possible back then without technology. What are those benefits? Here are some of them…
- Searching Information in a short period of time
With the use of search engines like Google, Yahoo!, Bing and much more, we could find the information we were searching for in just a click of a button. Which means we can save much more time in finding information for our studies.
- Make learning more interactive
To keep the students’ energy and motivation up and running, we could play but still learn at the same time with the help of apps like Kahoot! and Quizziz. These apps could make learning more interesting in interactive ways, adding the fun into their classroom.
- Improving a collaborative learning atmosphere
Since it is easy for teachers to create and manage groups consisting students with various tasks, it makes it easier for student teams to write information together and present it, even over long distances.
- Saves papers when there are tests or paperwork
Nowadays, we could take tests on websites like Google Forms. Many teachers prefer this because it saves paper and the score comes out easily once submitted. This way, teachers could save more time and paper in managing the students’ tests and making documents.
Now we know all the facilities digital transformation has to offer. Thanks to that, we could still stay motivated when studying. Although digital transformation can be useful in our studies, there challenges we may have to face. But why would something so useful be a challenge? Well, I’m going to explain just that.
Like I said, even digital transformation can create challenges for all of us. For instance,
- Access to negative information
All information will be easy to find on the internet, unfortunately not all information convenient on the internet is appropriate. There are already many sources of information that gives a negative impact to a student’s moral development.
- Higher chances of cheating in exams
With the access of search engines and even AI in the students’ hands, the chances of the students taking advantage of it in exams increases. Especially when the test or exams are held on websites or applications such as Google Forms, all they have to do is just copy and paste the questions on the search engines.
- Access Gaps Occur
Apart from its benefits, digital technology will require willingness not only morally but also materially. Economic and social disparities for each student will play a part in the use of digital technology.
Then, what should we do to avoid those negative impacts?
First, we should know that for us students, our brain isn’t fully shaped. Whaat? Yes. Our brain literally still continuing to grow until we reached our mid 20s when the frontal lobe fully develops. The frontal lobe of the brain is located directly behind the forehead. It has a job to control over many abilities including the way you think, the way you move and the way you remember things.
In what state are we at, when our frontal lobe is not fully developed?
- We are still unable to make decision
- We can’t plan in a structured way
- Our emotions and self-control skills are still developing
- We are still impulsive with our actions
During this developmental period, we required assistance from our parents for specific abilities we are still unable to perform. Hence, parental control is the key to ensure we will not go the wrong way. In the digital transformation, parents’ involvements can shape our behavior and protect us from unexpected consequences.
Now let’s move on, to the fact there are at least two (2) smartphone systems right now, iOS and Android. In Android, parents can download the app called Family Link that links our devices with theirs. Whilst for iOS, parents can manage the controls in the Screen Time settings which linked with password only parents know. These parental controls allow parents to …
- Check the child’s device usage, screen time and content restrictions based on their age
- Manage the child’s apps and website permissions in supervised devices
- Set screen time limits on the child’s device
My devices are controlled by Family Link and iOS time limit too. Like my phone which uses Family Link has a downtime from 21.00 – 08.00 which means my phone is shut down and can’t be opened between that time, and also blocks a few apps and websites. On the other hand, my tablet has time limit set on the gaming and drawing apps.
During school time, whenever teachers ask us students to browse some materials, I need to get approval from my parents through the websites required from the lesson, which automatically send messages to my parent’s device and once its allowed, I can browse into that specific web. Just a few seconds, but it protects me from irrelevant source or inappropriate content.
As for the school exams, I believe schools should provide assessment system that prevent children from switching screens, and tighten supervision in each class. If schools can’t go through with this, it is recommended that specifically for the exam, it should be paper based so that it is more objective, even though daily learning has transformed to digital. Otherwise, school will jeopardize students’ ability to stay honest and learn at their best. Student’s brain and psychological development will be at stake if schools neglect the importance of the right exam methods.
I recall that one time we were in the middle of an exam which was held in Google Forms and it was a coincidence that my friend’s screen was facing my way. Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t trying to cheat, I was just curious why isn’t her screen showing Google Forms? Instead, I saw a huge logo on the top left of her screen that says, ChatGPT. It then looked like she was pasting some sort of text, I squinted my eyes and I saw the text, it was one of the questions of the exam, including its multiple choices. If you’re asking me, how did I know it’s one if the exam questions? Well, because it’s precisely one of the questions I already answered.
I reported this to the teachers and explained to them everything exactly the way I explained this to you, fellow readers. The teachers thanked me for reporting and I wasn’t curious enough to want to know what happens to the student I reported. Not long after that, the teachers announced our scores and the student I reported got a good score. Although my score wasn’t as high as hers, I was somehow proud of myself, not because of the restrictions my parents equipped me, but because I chose to be honest.
As a student of Sekolah Indonesia Kuala Lumpur, I am more than grateful to have online-based learning experience since my last years of elementary school. Using online learning tools to help us in school saves us a lot of time and energy. On top of that, I enjoy it when teachers use interactively fun ways for us to learn using apps like Kahoots, Zep Quiz and Quizziz. This way, I have the motivation to keep studying. But of course, every transformation comes with repercussions. To support my school, I want to recommend a few things that I hope will make a betterment for the teachers and also the students.
- Continue developing a fun project based learning experience, using interactive learning material that stimulates students’ participation and curiosity.
- Strictly supervised assessment system and making use of specific applications or forms that prevent students to switch screens, screenshots and also send chats through messaging application during daily assessment, mid-term or final exams.
- Periodically inspect students’ gadgets to avoid them being distracted with irrelevant application that aren’t suitable for their ages. Involve parents and open communications with them about the rules and regulations for their children’s gadgets in order to be allowed to be used in school premises.
To sum up all these explanation, digital transformation in the education sector is currently a must if Indonesia wants to compete with the outside world. Digital transformation is also needed to increase effectiveness and speed up existing processes, but must be used appropriately and wisely.
I believe digital transformation in Indonesian education sector will only reach its goals with the collaboration of fun school learning method and strictly supervised assessment system. Parental controlled gadgets should also be recommended to all students enrolled in schools that already transforms to digital learning system.
Welp, that’s all I have to convey to you, fellow readers. Remember, use technology wisely not bluntly. It’s better to have a simple score, than having a good score but using help from other sources and not thinking on your own.