Modern teaching skills in Indonesia

Educational institutes are at the heart of a country’s socio-economic advancement. Better education leads to a better-equipped workforce . PUM provides assistance to educational institutes, for example by improving their learning methodologies. PUM expert Anoesjka Timmermans was in Indonesia to train teachers of Palcomtech in 21st century teaching skills. In two weeks they implemented this new way of working in four modules of the Digital Business programme.

PUM sector coordinator Educational Institutes, Annemarie Buschers, explains:

“The main motivation for introducing this model is to enable competition with state and private universities. Palcomtech’s founders consider themselves to be social entrepreneurs. Their mission is to contribute to the employability of Palembang’s youth. Consequence is that they keep tuition fees relatively low and thus have limited budget to compete. Introducing the Smart Campus concept will hopefully enable them to differentiate the institution sufficiently to secure its continuity.”

Modern methodologies

PUM expert Anoesjka Timmermans is lecturer/researcher at the Faculty of Business and Economics at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences. She was asked to share her knowledge at Palcomtech: “To be able to implement the Smart Campus concept, Palcomtech also needs to align with the 21st century teaching and learning approach. The newly established Digital Business programme, in which four young staff members teach 30 students, was chosen to introduce this. During two preparatory online project meetings, we decided to use the train-the-trainers approach to implement e-learning and practical, action based learning methodologies.”  When Anoesjka was at the university: “One of the first things I did was attend a lecture of one of the teachers to get a feel for the current practice including the interaction and engagement in the (hybrid) classroom. This gave a good starting point for giving feedback and determining follow-up activities.”

Interactive learning

It was decided to start with the Social Media Marketing module and draft an example project template with teaching and learning instructions. “I explained the teachers about higher student engagement, instead of only using teacher-led instructions. This mixed pedagogy approach is the result of my doctoral research ‘Preparing undergraduate students for lifelong learning, Lessons learned from Entrepreneurship Education’. One of my recommendations was to use break-out rooms. I was surprised by the fact that they immediately implemented the suggestion in their lessons the following day. They were very pleased with the higher commitment and enthusiasm of the students.”

The alignment of learning goals with learning tasks and assessment, was also introduced by Anoeskja: “I explained about open question assignments, instead of only using multiple choice assessments. Other new activities the teachers will use are: case studies, including open discussions; start classes with questions to get an idea of the student’s frame of reference; working with projects in which the students can implement what they learn in a real-world assignment representing an authentic challenge.”

Four modules redesigned

At the end of the project, four modules were developed instead of just one. Anoesjka is more than satisfied with the result: “It feels like we have moved mountains. The staff and management were completely open for any suggestion and I feel we collaboratively created their new way of working.”

The last afternoon was spent on training the rest of Palcomtech’s faculty during an interactive session. The discussion groups were moderated by the Digital Business teachers. This gave them the chance to establish their role as ambassadors for the transformation to the more interactive and student-centric approach. While the university will implement the new method throughout all programmes, Anoesjka will stay available for online coaching when needed.