The Use of Teachers Communication Forum Through an Open Educational Resource in Indonesia

Padmo, Dewi Artati and Suhartono, (2013) The Use of Teachers Communication Forum Through an Open Educational Resource in Indonesia. In: Konferensi ICDE, 15-19 Oktober 2013, Tianjin, China.

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Abstract

An effort to improve the quality of teachers in Indonesia was in line with the emergence of new challenges based on the need of the nation and an educational policy. In accordance with a regulation of a ministry of national education of Indonesia in 2007, the standards of academic qualifications and competencies of teachers in Indonesia should be up-graded. As Universitas Terbuka (UT) was appointed by the Indonesian government to up-grade primary teacher qualification, the study program of Primary School Teacher Training (for classroom teachers) has been the biggest program with a total student body of almost 434 thousand students (76.95% of the total UT’s student body) in 2012. With a large number of student body in the Primary School Teacher Trainings program, UT developed a portal (website) which dedicated to teachers in Indonesia called Guru Pintar Online (Smart Teacher Online) in 2010. This website was designed as an open and free access for teachers in getting information related to teaching activities that would increase their competencies in a teaching-learning process. The website was considered as a pioneer in providing a wellorganized open educational resource for teachers in Indonesia. In 2011 – 2012, the website was formally introduced and socialized to teachers in 12 cities in Indonesia namely Samarinda, Surakarta, Pontianak, Jakarta, Bandung, Palu, Tangerang, Batam, Kendari, Magetan, Makassar and Medan. In 2012, we conducted a study on how elementary’s teachers use and take advantages of the Guru Pintar Online website. The purpose of this study was to examine the use of discussion or communication forum for teachers as one of the features provided in the Guru Pintar Online website. The study focused on the communication or discussion forum that allows teachers to discuss and share their experiences, problems, or successes in their teaching-learning process. There were 240 respondents participated in the study. The instrument in the study was consisted of a list of questions related to the use of the communication forum. In addition to the questionnaire, this study used a focus group discussion to collect information on the use of the communication forum in depth. The results showed that the majority of respondents (94%) use the Guru Pintar Online in order to increase their knowledge on learning materials and teaching strategies. The results also indicated that 97% respondents enjoy communicating with colleagues on learning issues and 88% of participants agreed that the forum becoming a tool to seek help from colleagues and peers. In general, the result showed a positive attitude towards the use of the Internet, and the majority of respondents were intent to use the website continuously. The use of Guru Pintar Online website has given an excellent result as a means of providing clinical services to teachers. In particular, the existence of the website could encourage teachers to use the website as discussion or communication forum among teachers as well as had benefited in improving teacher’s professionalism both in rural and urban areas.

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