Excellence in Higher Education (E-Journal)
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Action Research and Active Learning in Indonesia: An Introduction to the Special Issue
Full text linkActive Learning and Student Engagement in Mathematics at Madrasah Ibtidâ’iyah Al-Jauharotunnaqiyah
Full text linkTeaching for active learning has been widely recognized as a more effective teaching methodology than traditional transmission models of teaching. However, numerous studies have documented the persistence of traditional teaching methods despite the extensive research literature on the effectiveness of teaching for active learning and frequent efforts to train teachers to use this approach in their classrooms. In this article a team of lecturers from the University of Sultan Ageng Tirtayasa (UNTIRTA: Universitas Sultan Ageng Tirtayasa) in Indonesia report on an action research project carried out at an elementary-level madrasah in the city of Cilegon. Members of the team gathered qualitative data through interviews, focus groups, and classroom observations in order to better understand the challenges teachers faced in teaching for active learning before designing and carrying out a collaborative intervention designed to help teachers use active learning strategies in a mathematics classroom. Key Words: Active Learning, Madrasah, Mathematics, Indonesi
University-Affiliated Lab Schools: A Collaborative Partnership Between the University of Pittsburgh\u27s Falk School and the State University of Malang Lab Schools
Full text linkThis article focuses on contemporary discussions about university-affiliated lab schools and their growing international networks. Topics include university-affiliated lab schools, the State University of Malang-University of Pittsburgh partnership created by a consortium of rectors in Indonesia, and the growing importance of international professional development networks for university-affiliated lab schools. The instructional leadership side of the partnership has shared ways: (a) to design a better aligned curriculum; (b) to make learning activities more active and student-oriented; (c) to trigger creativity, critical thinking, and independence; (d) to practice ongoing assessment; and (e) to enrich the cultural repertoire of students. The institutional management side has focused greater attention on: professionalism in management; use of technology; human resources issues of recruitment, induction, and continuing professional development; and more innovative, balanced, transparent and sustainable funding sources. The following recommendations are made. First, fostering international partnerships is a good way for already strong schools to make continuous improvements in both instruction and institutional leadership. Second, partnership sustainability is paramount, especially during transitions in senior university management. Careful and thoughtful construction of the universities’ core memorandum of understanding is time well spent because it becomes embedded in institutional policy
Teaching and Learning Classroom Action Research at a Distance in an Indonesian Urban Community
Full text linkThis action research project aims to understand whether teachers are mastering the knowledge and skills necessary to conduct classroom action research through two courses, Classroom Action Research (CAR) and Enhancing Teaching Professional Skills (PKP: Pemantapan Kemampuan Profesional), offered via distance education to Indonesian teachers and to identify areas for possible improvement of both courses. The research was conducted in two urban study centers located in the cities of Bogor and Tangerang in the Indonesian provinces of West Java and Banten. Data were collected via semi-structured interviews, classroom observations, questionnaires, and focus group discussions. All data were analyzed for patterns that might offer insight into the problems tutors and teacher-learners were facing as they worked through the Classroom Action Research (PTK: Penelitian Tindakan Kelas) module and tutorial. The research team from Indonesia Open University (UT: Universitas Terbuka) identified several problematic aspects of each course, including excessive lag time between the first and second courses, insufficient examples of model classroom action research projects, a lack of supervised practice of action research techniques, variability of tutorial quality, and a mismatch between course assessments and the content and purpose of the courses. While the findings of this study focus primarily on two distance courses offered by UT, they offer insight into the challenges of providing in-service teacher development via distance education in the Indonesian context. Key Words: Distance Learning, Classroom Action Research, Teacher Professional Skil
Active Learning to Improve Fifth Grade Mathematics Achievement in Banten
Full text linkTeaching for active learning is a pedagogical technique that has been actively promoted in Indonesian education through government reform efforts and international development assistance projects for decades. Recently, elementary schools in Banten province received training in active learning instructional strategies from the USAID-funded project, Decentralized Basic Education 2. Post-training evaluations conducted by lecturers from the University of Sultan Ageng Tirtayasa (UNTIRTA: Universitas Sultan Ageng Tirtayasa) suggested that teachers were successfully employing active learning strategies in some subjects, but not mathematics. In order to understand the difficulties teachers were having in teaching for active learning in mathematics, and to assist them in using active learning strategies, a team of lecturers from UNTIRTA designed and carried out an action research project to train teachers in an elementary school in the city of Cilegon to use a technique called Magic Fingers in teaching Grade 5 multiplication. During the course of the project the research team discovered that teachers were having problems transferring knowledge gained from training in one context and subject to other school subjects and contexts. Key Words: Mathematics, Teaching for Active Learning, Indonesia, Bante
Active Learning in Language Study and Science: Transforming Teacher Practice in North Sumatra’s Elementary Schools
Full text linkAbstractAn action research project to investigate the implementation of active learning strategies to improve the quality of teaching and learning was conducted in three government elementary schools (Sekolah Dasar) in North Sumatra that had received training in teaching for active learning under the auspices of the USAID-sponsored project, Decentralized Basic Education 2. Three cycles of data collection utilizing classroom observations, focus group discussions, and participant observation were conducted in each school. Data were analyzed both holistically and categorily to develop a better understanding of teachers’ successes and challenges in teaching for active learning. Finally, an intervention strategy involving modeling of teaching for active learning strategies was designed and implemented by members of the research team in each school. Our results suggest that language and science teachers developed more confidence in utilizing active learning strategies in their classrooms as a result of the intervention. Students also appeared to respond positively to the new active learning teaching strategies employed by their teachers. We conclude that the DBE-2 training provided to these schools can be considered successful; however, more attention needs to be paid to concrete factors that facilitate or impede teaching for active learning in Indonesian elementary schools in order to continue improving the quality of instruction for Indonesian children. Key Words: Islamic Education, Active Learning, Religious Studies, Indonesi
Book Review: International Students and Global Mobility in Higher Education: National Trends and New Directions
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