How Will Covid-19 Transform Education in Indonesia? -

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How Will Covid-19 Transform Education in Indonesia?

Written by Andrew Paterson
SIS Group of Schools, Director of Schools

While we all look forward to the new normal in which students can return to school campuses for learning and social interaction, Covid-19 will stimulate lasting changes.

Safety Features

Many schools will keep some of the enhanced safety features such as temperature checking, active hand-washing and better ventilation in classrooms. This will not be the last pandemic! The time is now past when students or teachers may have come to school with a mild temperature or other signs that they might be contagious.

Social and Emotional Learning

We have now all been reminded that both social and emotional learning are important parts of what schools provide. This will undoubtedly remain an increased focus for schools as they take a more intentional approach to wellbeing. They will better utilise opportunities for students to reflect and share with their peers and teachers and help them navigate social interactions.

Technology Use for Learning

Technology has been used during distance learning to enable students to interact with teachers and each other at different times throughout the day. It has been proven possible for students to learn without a physical teacher being in front of them in a classroom. The ability to send a variety of learning materials to students digitally is an important tool for teachers. Even more powerful is the ability for students to message their teacher and peers in the process of engaging in those tasks, submitting them and then reading or listening to the feedback. It prepares students for the increasing amount of independent learning skills that are already expected at universities and that will become more and more vital in the workplace in coming decades. This will change forever how homework is delivered and monitored and may reduce university failure rates of students who previously may not have developed those approaches to learning at school.

It would be a tragedy if this momentum was not maintained! That will mean more use of devices such as laptops and tablets for learning – both at school and at home. We must keep this more effective way for teachers to share information, tasks and feedback with their students and respond to student questions. Technology supplements and makes more efficient what takes place in the physical classroom. Before too long, these platforms will use virtual reality. Using technology like this is the only way that schools will be able to deliver the increasing amount and diversity of learning content expected of them every year.

Greater use of technology raises issues about equity, screen time, technology addiction and child protection that I address in another post here: Managing child access to devices in a world moving rapidly online.