Education Technology in Indonesia: Should it be applied?

Education technology is a dynamic field with new software and hardware are

invented from time to time. It is not only used in industrial sector but can also be

applied in the educational sector, although technology used in education has been a

debated issue recently. Several people argue that technology might bring undesirable

effects on students instead of helping them, whereas others state that technology

accelerates the process to achieve learning objectives. In order to discuss the

consequences of using technology, the explanation related to education technology

needs to be elaborated.

Education refers to “teaching people various subjects, usually at a school or

college, or being taught” and technology can be defined as “methods, systems, and

devices which are the result of scientific knowledge being used for practical purposes”

("Collins Dictionary," 2016). There are two terms related to technology and its

correlation with education: education technology and technology education.

McCampbell (2002, p. 55) states that technology education is teaching technology as a

subject whereas education technology is teaching students by applying technology such

as computers or laptops, regardless connected to the internet or not, as equipment in a

classroom during the learning process. Educational technology has been debated issue

worldwide and its application in education institutions in Indonesia is also questionable,

especially for educators. However, education technology is important to be applied in

Indonesia. Thus, this essay will elaborate its effect on stakeholders (institutions,

teachers, and students).

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 Jati, a senior lecturer at Faculty of Arts and Design, Bandung Institute of

Technology (ITB), speculates that using technology in a learning process is costly not

only because teachers need to be trained but also the devices need to be installed (Floris,

2014, pp. 141-143). Additionally, before using technologies in classroom activities,

Indonesian teachers need extra time to learn how to use technology for academic

purposes. It means that education technology is also time-consuming (Moursund &

Bielefeldt, 1999, p. 5). However, based on the Constitutional Court Verdict No. 013-

PUU-VI/2008, no less than 20% of National Budget should be allocated for Educational

sector (Keuangan, 2014) and in 2012, IDR 23,594,8 billion was assigned to Operational

Aid to School Program and the budget for it annually increases 40.34% (Nursanti, 2012,

p. 38). Therefore although these drawbacks are unavoidable; it cannot be used as an

excuse for the government of Indonesia to not use in this method.

In terms of time-consumption, education technology not only affects the

government as the regulation-maker but also teachers. Since teachers have to be trained

to use technology for educational objectives, they need extra time before education

technology can be applied. The question that occurs is why Indonesian teachers are

unable to use it immediately? Gajek (2015, p. 5) suggests that one of the educational

problems worldwide is that skills and knowledge related to technology are not provided

by teacher training departments. It is clear that since it is compulsory for the teacher to

have basic skill in using technology (Ertmer & Ottenbreit-Leftwich, 2010, p. 259),

subjects related to technology for classroom activities have to be provided before

individual officially become a teacher.

There is a believed that the Indonesian government has the power to outweigh

the main problems –budgeting- related to using technology in the learning process but it

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probably can be useless and less essential compared to teachers’ skills in classroom

management to reach learning objectives (Sharndama & IJemofwu, 2013, p. 39). There

are other factors such as student needs, classrooms designs and teacher attitudes that can

determine the success of learning aim (Frederick, Schweizer, & Lowe, 2006, pp. 11-12).

Since the value of technology is based on the teachers’ confidence in using it,

technology can be useless if the teachers have no faith that it can successfully achieve

learning objectives if they use technology instead of using traditional method (Ertmer &

Ottenbreit-Leftwich, 2010, p. 263). Furthermore, considering that teachers have to

master materials they intend to teach and the method they will use to transfer

information towards students, using technology might distract teachers from their aims

and make the learning process more complicated (Ertmer & Ottenbreit-Leftwich, 2010,

p. 260).

Nevertheless, technology helps students to creatively solve the problems given

and develop their understanding of the materials. It means that the student-centered

learning process, which allows students to solve problems given and develop the idea

more independently, can be conducted. Thus technology gives an opportunity for

teachers to manage their classroom even better (Fu, 2013, p. 112). Moreover, with

regards to the issue about teachers’ confidence, Singh (2013, p. 153) states that both

teachers and students skills and confidence are improved by using technology. Although

education technology initially might have a distracting effect, in long term use,

technology can be used by teachers not only to transfer knowledge to the students but

also to evaluate whether or not the study objective is reached thus the disconcerting

effect can be reversed (Sharndama & IJemofwu, 2013, p. 39). Technology in learning

process also makes educational materials more accessible and printed materials can be

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reduced which allows teachers to conduct teleconferencing classrooms, thus time and

space are no longer a big deal. It also means that technology might help teachers for

being distracted (Fu, 2013, p. 112).

Another point to be considered before adopting education technology is its

influences on students. There are several questions that appear related to students and

education technology; 1. Will it significantly affect students’ achievement? 2. How to

prevent students from cheating? 3. Will students get equal access to the technology? 4.

Does it have a hazardous effect on students’ health? Boyle (1993, p. 619) claims that

information technology is “making us stupid”. Students might have knowledge about

the recent technology but they have no idea how to take advantages of it for educational

purposes (Ertmer & Ottenbreit-Leftwich, 2010, p. 263). On the contrary, Fu (2013, p.

112) demonstrates that technology helps students to understand the concepts being

taught easier and more applicative. Furthermore, Sánchez, as cited in Fu (2013, p. 113),

points out that technology helps students to elaborate and develop their knowledge

related to materials given since it provides relevant data and information. It is clear that

students might reach their highest level of achievement by applying education

technology.

McCabe from Center of Academic Integrity (CIA) (as cited in Dehn, 2003, p.

190) reported that in 1999, among 2,100 students from 21 different campuses

approximately one-third of them admitted that they cheated on tests by using crib notes,

copying friends and helping their other friends in exams. Around half of the students

committed plagiarism, adulterated data and copied text from the internet with no

citations and submitted it as their assignment. Nevertheless, there are countless program

applications and websites, Turnitin for instance, which can be used to prevent

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plagiarism and several of them are unpaid program applications and websites

(Sutherland-Smith & Carr, 2005, p. 98). Baker, Thornton & Adams (2011, p. 3) point

out that Turnitin is effective to reduce plagiarism. In addition, in order to prevent

cheating in examination, clear draconian measurements and its punishment need to be

provided by the government of Indonesia. As an addition to this measurement, other

technology equipment such as signal jamming devices can be used to stop cheating

(Curran, Middleton, & Doherty, 2011, p. 61).

In 2015, there were approximately 122 disadvantaged regions in Indonesia

(Pusdatin, 2015) and students who lived in these areas can hardly access technology for

academic purposes. However, based on Regulation of The Government of Indonesia

No. 19/2005 about the National Standard of Education in article 1 point E (Peraturan

Pemerintah, 2005, p. 6), the government should show their commitment to providing

equality in education in Indonesia. It is also based on the Act of the Republic of

Indonesia on National Education System No 20 in 2003 point C that mentions “A

national education system should ensure equal opportunity, improvement of quality and

relevance and efficiency in management to meet various challenges in the wake of

changes in local, national and global lives; therefore it requires a well-planned, well-

directed, and sustainable education reform”(Act, 2003, p. 5). Considering that IDR

1,435,406.7 billion has been allocated from the national budget in the educational sector

in 2012 and the fact that this amount increased about 14.23% every year and as 20% of

the national budget is proposed for educational purposes, the equality for accessing

technology is likely to be acquired (Keuangan, 2014, p. 38).

The last question related to education technology is whether or not computers

affect students’ health. Sharma, Khera, & Khandekar (2006) report that frequent usage

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of technology may cause musculoskeletal, visual and stress problems. However, the

samples used are workers with more than 7-years work experiences, which spent more

than 8 hours worked thus it unreliable to use this data to conclude that technology will

harm students’ health. Therefore there are no valid data mentions that computer has a

hazardous effect on students’ health, instead, Dayalan, Subramanian, & Elango (2010,

p. 505) prove that technology use for treatment (Mind Sound Technology) reduces

students’ stress, anxiety, and depression.

In conclusion, Indonesia as a developing country needs to apply technology in

the classroom. Several individuals might argue that it is unnecessary and possibly

distracting and destructing both students and teachers. It is claimed that providing

teachers basic skills about technology for educational purposes is costly and time-

consuming and installing devices to apply education technology is not inexpensive as

well. However, since it is needed to reach learning objectives, improve both students

and teachers’ skill and confidence, and numerous other benefits delivered by education

technology, Indonesia needs to apply it. Additionally, related to the drawbacks, there are

also solutions that to implement such as wisely allocating 20% of the national budget to

improve the educational sector and providing teacher trainer with technology for

educational purposes. The effectiveness of education technology in achieving learning

objectives in all level of educations –playgroup, primary, secondary and higher level of

educations- in Indonesia is not elaborated in this study. Thus, further researchers need to

find it out. Furthermore, the study of education technology in Indonesia is very rare.

This essay is expected to enrich and contribute reliable information and data as

references for further research pertains to education technology in Indonesia.

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