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From Didactic Learning to Freedom of Learning: My live experience on learning system in Indonesia
The way of learning in formal education has changed since I was elementary school until now in which I am working and get semi-formal education. When I was in elementary school, teacher was the center of studying. The pupils hear and copying what the teacher was saying into their book.
I was having many problems with this kind of learning. When I was in elementary school, I ask my father about the difference of animal movement and plant movement. My father explained that you could not see plant grow up, but it was. Then, he added that plant move very slow, and we cannot realize it. I wrote down that answer, but I got wrong by my teacher and friends because in the textbook used, it said that plan was moved by wind, and animal moved by running, walking, and so on. I got very angry because that was not fair, my answer also logic but it was just not covered yet by the book.
When I was in junior high school, internet became more popular. The source of information was just not in the textbook, but also could be on internet. We got more freedom to find information and could enlarged our understanding about the lesson we had learnt.
The system of education has always changed to become better than before. When I was in high school and university, the learning process was based on the students. We became the center of learning, teacher and lecturer was the guider and window to science. How much more information, skill, and knowledge we would got was based on our efforts since we could get more information from library and internet.
Nowadays, student should be more independent than before. Coronavirus pandemic has affected learning process for all grades[1]. Online learning become mandatory. It has changed the learning to become more student centered.
Recently, in Indonesia, The Ministry of Education and Culture has launched “Merdeka Belajar” or can be translated as “Freedom of Learning”. This system allows students to gain skill and knowledge not just from teacher, and other resources provided by school, but also from internet, library, and community [2]
Footnotes
- ^ Li, C., & Lalani, F. (2020). The COVID-19 pandemic has changed education forever. This is how. World Economic Forum. Achived from: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/04/coronavirus-education-global-covid19-online-digital-learning/
- ^ Taufik, M. (2021). Secara Konseptial Merdeka Belajar Itu Ideal. Itjen Kemendikbud. Achived from: https://itjen.kemdikbud.go.id/public/post/detail/secara-konseptual-merdeka-belajar-itu-ideal
Hi Puti and greeting from Vietnam!
I think the Merdeka Belajar idea is a great vision, and I would love to learn more about it. In Vietnam, the pandemic is getting worse this year, and our education system has to move online as elsewhere in the world. However, it is not easy for rural schools, where teachers are not well-prepared, and students still lack the internet and computers for studying online. The idea that sources of knowledge are not limited to teachers and classrooms but can be in the surrounding environment (internet media, libraries) is a lovely idea. I hope you can write more about the specific actions that your country has taken to realize it.
Helo Phuong Fiona Nguyen, Greeting from Indonesia! I am so happy you get inspired by Merdeka Belajar Idea. Yes, this pandemic has caused decreasing quality on learning. It's the same here because the students' need to learn independently from home. But the local and national television provide elementary school program to help students to learn from Television.
Merdeka Belajar is wide concept and new here. We still improving, in summary, Merdeka Belajar allowed students to feel the learning process in another school, from one school to another school could be connected to help the students learning purpose. For example in university, if a students need to learn about politic they could take a class in politics even though maybe they are from psychology, pharmacy, or so on. But it's not applied perfectly in every university and school because some maybe still planing and making the system for it.
The other idea is students could learn in real life activity such as in company, institution, or so on to get experience and knowledge, as well as applying their knowledge from school in real life. This similar concept with internship and counted as credit.
With Merdeka Belajar program, undergraduate students have opportunities to teach in rural area for maybe about one semester. This activities counted as credit for their academic transcript.
Thank you for your interest on Merdeka Belajar. I hope it could inspire more...@Phuong Fiona Nguyen,