Every Cloud Has a Silver Lining
Dr DADAN Rahadian
Vice President for Academic Affairs Telkom University
As a university that has a vision in developing science based on information and communication technology, we believe online learning will be an excellent complement to our learning process. Therefore at the beginning of 2018, we announced that all courses must have learning resources in various forms of digital content that can be accessed through our learning management system. The use of digital learning content in various levels, dimensions and types of blended learning is certainly expected to improve the quality of learning management.
Until the end of 2019, the digital content development project did not turn out as we expected. Only about 25% of lecturers were committed to making and completing their projects, the rest did not finish them; even many were reluctant to create digital content for their courses. The lecturers were still very comfortable with the face-to-face learning model in the classroom. Habits! … that’s what we have to change. We have to make tactical programs to change it.
The COVID-19 pandemic came suddenly in early 2020, in the middle of the semester. And only in a matter of weeks, it has forced us to change many things, including the learning process. Most lecturers and students are not ready for this change. But the surprising and proud thing is that they finally want to change and learn how to use the various online learning platforms available so that the learning process continues without neglecting the quality of education. So, even though the COVID-19 pandemic in many aspects is very painful for us, in the context of online learning, it is a blessing in disguise.
The COVID-19 pandemic has presented a clear, massive disruption and created a ‘new normal’ in the world of education. Uncertainty and ambiguity have become parts of higher education management. Academics must always be ready to face various possibilities in the future by developing curriculum and learning that is agile towards various external situations. We must work together to maintain the sustainability of education for the advancement of human civilization.
As revealed in a song that is quite well known in Indonesia, we believe … ‘badai pasti berlalu’ (i.e. Every cloud has a silver lining.).
artikel ini telah tayang di https://www.dol4u.org/post/every-cloud-has-a-silver-lining, pada tanggal 18 mei 2020.
