President Joko Widodo (Jokowi), in his address at the opening of the Indonesian Rector Forum Conference on Saturday (4/7), noted that online learning which had previously been adopted at an extremely slow pace has now advanced with remarkable speed. Online lectures have become the new normal, and are now poised to become the next normal, with the President expressing confidence that even more innovative and productive new normalities will continue to emerge.
As the new normal transitions toward the next normal, online learning systems offer expansive reach, grounded in information technology, accessible to the millennial community across virtually any location and at any time. The convenience of information technology-based online learning has been felt across all levels of society, a direct consequence of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0), which has made it easier than ever for people to connect online.
One application of network technology in education is the inter-university online lecture system. This system holds strong potential to attract students, provided that the content delivered through the medium is engaging, easily digestible, and capable of stimulating curiosity.
The content provided must be comprehensive, clear, and regularly updated. To enrich the resources available for learning, universities must possess dedicated IT teams, scientists, researchers, innovators, and creators in the fields of information and communication technology, each possessing deep expertise in their respective domains. Ideally, these learning resources should be widely accessible to large numbers of users, affordable, and dynamic. Learning content is also produced by university lecturers as part of efforts to nurture and develop technopreneurship within higher education institutions.
At present, universities across the country are applying learning systems that no longer require face-to-face attendance. The modes employed by lecturers as channels of knowledge delivery include fully online learning systems and blended learning systems, a combination of face-to-face and online instruction.
In the effort to break the chain of COVID-19 transmission during the new normal era while resuming academic activity, the learning process can be conducted from home by harnessing technology and internet-based media. Institutions of higher education that previously relied on campus-based, face-to-face learning are now compelled to adopt e-learning models, more commonly known as online learning.
Online learning offers advantages for both lecturers and students alike. For lecturers, online instruction presents an opportunity to move away from conventional teaching methods, shift that will, in turn, have a positive impact on professional performance. The online learning model also affords lecturers greater scope to assess and evaluate each student’s learning progress more efficiently. For students, it cultivates independence and creative thinking.
In implementing online learning, universities must pay close attention to the relationship between student attendance and their level of satisfaction with online instruction. Lecturers, meanwhile, must be capable of creating a virtual learning environment that genuinely supports academic achievement. A virtual environment that aligns with students’ preferences will naturally foster enthusiasm and a sense of personal motivation to learn.
According to Nugroho (2012), the increasing engagement and active participation of students in utilising various media and technologies within online learning systems is shaped by student perception, the process of interpreting stimuli received through the senses into a meaningful understanding of the material being delivered.
It is this perception that subsequently drives students to regulate and manage themselves within the context of online lectures. This requires students to possess skills pertaining to how they learn, how they think, and how they sustain self-directed motivation — all in service of achieving their learning objectives or Graduate Learning Outcomes (CPL). This capacity is widely referred to as self-regulated learning (SRL).
Self-regulated learning refers to the degree of control a student exercises over their own goals, the manner in which they acquire information, and their personal development through the recognition, monitoring, and direction of their own actions. SRL cannot be effectively practised if an individual does not know themselves well or lacks clarity about what they genuinely want.
Before a student can regulate themselves, they must first understand their own character and interests. From there, they can map their inclinations and preferences across several dimensions relevant to online learning including their preferred media for study, the type or pattern of communication they wish to have with their lecturers, and an understanding of their own learning style.
Lecturers, as educators, must be able to identify and leverage these characteristics and tendencies to help students achieve better outcomes. It is therefore recommended that lecturers provide learning materials or modules prior to the commencement of the online lecture session. (*)
*) By: Rio Era Deka, S.Pd., M.M., Postgraduate Student, Universitas Islam Malang
*) This column is the sole responsibility of its author, and was also published at timesindonesia.co.id
