Prof. Reini: ITB to Implement Digitized Education During Covid-19 Pandemic
BANDUNG, itb.ac.id – Education during pandemic is rather a challenge, not a resistance. Facing the occurring challenge, Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB) has already implemented digitized education. Rector of ITB, Prof. Reini Wirahadikusumah, Ph.D., said that ITB has already declared Education 4.0 which was initiated in early January 2020, before the pandemic occurred.
Aside from that, ITB also established a new directorate under the Vice Rector of Academic and Student Affairs, which is the Directorate of Education Development. This directorate was specialized in developing Education 4.0 which could be used broadly by students and ITB lecturers. Rector said, with the pandemic situation, digitalization will precisely be forced to accelerate.
“Health protocols and lecturers, students, and staff safety must be still performed along with developing the education to be more sophisticated,” she said when attending Ngobrol @Tempo event about “Digitalization of Education during Pandemic”, Tuesday (25/5/2021) by virtual.
On the event, Director of Education Development ITB Yusep Rosmansyah, Ph.D. added, the point of Education 4.0 is the digital transformation in many dimensions, which are human resources, technology, information, and process. The pandemic situations give positive impact to pushed ITB carrying out Education 4.0.
He said, in terms of facilities and infrastructure, ITB has prepared a dedicated system called Learning Management System (LMS) which supports digital transformation in technology. This method has been adopted nationally.
Now, ITB coordinates with the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology and Directorate General of Higher Education, Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology Republic of Indonesia for student service in the 3T (frontier, disadvantaged, and outermost) region. ITB contributes to providing 5,000 tablets and building BTS 4G in the 3T region. “This matter is surely not only intended for ITB students, but also for students all over Indonesia,” he said.
Considering the education development to digital, Head of Task Executor Data Center and Information Technology Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology Muhammad Hasan Chabibie, M. Si. said that this pandemic situation is truly not what everyone wants and happened suddenly. Technology was then utilized to be the solution to education problems during pandemic.
The ministry itself has already made serious efforts in supporting the learning process during the pandemic, such as broadcasting education programs on TV and giving free internet data. Regardless of the inconvenience due to the pandemic situation, these circumstances could grant positive things especially in the digitalization field of the education sector. This improvement will absolutely give good influence mainly to prepare the offline learning process that was planned to be performed in the upcoming July.
“The technology information usage that is supported with learning media is the key to success in maintaining the learning and teaching process,” said Hasan.
Government’s efforts in preparing internet access for higher education development in the digital era include facilitating 4G area range in Indonesia, especially in the 3T region. Director of Telecommunications Ministry of Communication and Information Technology Aju Widya Sari said that the ministry will always support national internet access infrastructure. This technology access provision surely needs to be supported by a good human resource quality.
Reporter: Laurahoney Azzahra (Teknik Pangan, 2019)
Translator: Aghisna Syifa Rahmani (TPB SITHS 2020)
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