Innovative Research to Improve Indonesia’s Education Quality Conducted by the Indonesian Students in the US
Various research and innovations in the field of education were presented by the Indonesian students in the US at Bincang Karya (Bianka) or Creation Talks Webinar, a webinar conducted by the Indonesian Embassy in Washington DC through its Educational and Cultural Attaché (Atdikbud) on Tuesday (03/15).
The recording of the live broadcast of the Bincang Karya (BIANKA) Series-26 webinar can be accessed on the official Atdikbud USA Facebook page with the link https://bit.ly/fb-watch-bianka26
Invited to join the event was dr. Natalia Puspadewi who is currently pursuing her doctoral degree in the field of Teaching and Curriculum in Health Professions Education at Warner School of Education, University of Rochester. Her research aimed at describing how preclinical students define their professional identity and identify as well as analyze the factors that influence the development of their professional identity ranging from curriculum to sociocultural factors specific to Indonesia.
“The interesting finding of my research is that Indonesia’s socio-cultural factors, including paternalism and collectivism, along with Pancasila values greatly influence the way students define their professional identity, their learning experience, and the image of the ideal doctor they want to achieve after graduating from their studies,” she concluded.
Led by Abid, the head of the networking division at Universitas Negeri Gorontalo, the webinar was also participated by Noor Q. Agustina, a Ph.D. student majoring in Curriculum and Instruction at Kent University. She was investigating the use of digital learning tools for teaching English seen from the perception of English instructors who teach at language centers at universities throughout Indonesia.
“In the future, it is hoped that my research can be a stepping stone for effective standards for language teachers in Indonesia and contribute to the professional development of language teachers,” she said.
There was also Januar J. Tell, a Ph.D. student in Curriculum and Instruction at Pennsylvania State University who shared his research on the analysis of questions made by an English teacher in a reading class in Indonesia. His research also aimed at training English teachers on how to make high-order thinking questions.
“One of the research results in 2019 found that the level of questions was dominated by low-order thinking (Remembering, Understanding, and Applying). These are the questions that often appear in the reading text in English class,” he said.
Opening the event, Emmanuel Agust Hartanto, the Director of Finance of the Indonesia Endowment Funds for Education (LPDP), Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Indonesia highlighted that the Indonesian Government and LPDP have committed to enhancing the competency of the human resources, especially in the field of education by consistently taking several policies including awarding scholarships.
On another occasion, the Indonesian ambassador for the USA, Rosan P. Roeslani stated,” Education should get attention and should be supported since the human resources in this field will actively contribute to the process of building the national economy.” Moreover, Ambassador Rosan mentioned that the current disruptive era expected us to catch up with the latest technology and innovations. Therefore, the Ambassador once again encouraged the Indonesian young generation to sharpen their skills by studying in or having collaboration with top universities in the US.
The event also invited: Doughlas Guffrida, the Interim Dean, and Raffaela Borasi, the former Dean of Warner School of Education, University of Rochester, Ashley N. Patterson, Co-Director of Social Justice in Education Minor, College of Education, Penn State University, and Steve Mitchell, Associate Dean for Administrative Affairs and Graduate Education, College of Education, Health, and Human Services of Kent State University.
Those three representatives explain briefly the programs their universities provide as well as the collaboration opportunities that might be conducted between institutions in Indonesia and the US.
Atdikbud Popy Rufaidah stated that the prime objectives of the webinar were to increase the preference of Indonesian students to continue their studies in the USA and to establish research collaborations between universities in Indonesia and in the US especially in the field of education.