On January 11
th and 12
th 2020, through its
Center of Excellence for Teaching and Learning Sampoerna University held “DisruptED”. It was deliberately designed to become a quality professional development platform for educators who are into education technology.
“Our university has a partnership with
Broward College with which we do our General Education core courses during the first two years. Our Two-Degree Program with the
University of Arizona also enables students to get a U.S. bachelor’s degree without stepping out of Indonesia,” stated Manoharan Karthigasu who was acting as Head of Center of Excellence for Teaching and Learning of Sampoerna University and also the chairman of the event committee.
He added that to be able to run this
Two-Degree Program, SU staff must be recognized and qualified as instructors. “Also, our facilities must comply with the standards. Labs must be approved. Therefore, our labs are very up to date. We are committed to sharing, making our labs available to other schools to come and experiment.”
The conference was designed to be more than just another conference. In line with Tri Dharma Perguruan Tinggi, our university holds DISRUPTED annually to open public access to facilities at SU. As we all know, the university has state-of-the-art lab facilities which are the best engineering labs in Indonesia.
The conference featured several labs around which participants would gain a holistic and in-depth perspective on technology for education. These included:
- Engage Labs, a place where participants are encouraged to be involved in hands-on sessions using the latest and most creative technological tools for enhancing student participation;
- Spotlight Labs, a platform for sharing insights on student engagement and critical thinking;
- Keynote Labs, a place where industry leaders share essential skills that future-ready graduates must have; and
- Playground Labs, opportunities to experience technology from other educators and students.
In addition to that, DisruptED aims to bring different experts mainly locals and then help them connect with different schools and teaches so they can help each other. SU becomes a platform to share educational resources with others.
DisruptED also aims to be in line with the Indonesian government grand mission, i.e. to transform Indonesia’s economy into a digital one. That is why DISRUPTED keynote speakers are industry practitioners so teachers would understand better what is needed by the industry today.
“Are we teaching the right way or the right materials in schools?” the academician asked a critical question for educators around Indonesia, addressing also the new initiative “Merdeka Belajar” launched by the newly appointed Minister of Education Nadiem Makarim.
At this event, SU invited partner schools around Greater Jakarta area. “Some of them are trainers. Some are people who run education trainings, school leaders, principals, vice principals, education trainers, etc. Some teachers want to upgrade their skills. Some also want to start applying technology in classes in their schools but have no idea where to start,” explained Karthigasu further.
This year, Center of Excellence for Teaching and Learning aims to improve students’ satisfaction and academic performance and mental wellbeing through technology.
“Lecturers are advised to be more empathetic and better listeners. They are also encouraged to talk more about depression or any other conditions that may affect their academic performance. “Sometimes when they don’t do well academically, it’s not because they don’t want to learn but because they have other issues, including mental issues,” he stated. (*/)
