Based on my experience with Indonesian schools and their use of ICT for education, I have found that their ICT use for education has been restricted by a few main issues. The first of these is the approach, that is, ICT is often seen as separate from the learning of the various subjects in the school curriculum.  This has a lot of implications on the deployment of ICT resources in the schools and also with regards to the teaching and learning approaches that is to be used.

Secondly, the issue is the issue of costs. Most national schools will not be able to pay for ICT equipment that is required. Schools in Indonesia, including the so-called National Plus or even Sekolah Berstandar Internasional (SBIs) should seriously look at the first issue because a change in the approach towards the use of ICT in education can lead to greater cost-savings.

An integrated approach to ICT in education will mean that ICT is not taught as a separate subject but used as a tool to assist in the teaching and learning processes in the subjects taught in schools. Unfortunately, the tendency in Indonesia even today is to see the use of ICT as a separate thing from the main school curriculum. This means that in practice, schools that can afford computers will opt for a stand-alone computer laboratory approach where software is taught rather then putting them where it mattes most, that is, in the classrooms.

This is in my view, unwise as it means that at any given time only one class can use the computer laboratory at a time. Along with this setup, is the one-computer-one-user approach. However, an integrated approach to the use of ICT for education implies the use of computers in the classrooms not just the labs. How do you spread the limited computers to as many classrooms as possible? I have often suggested that laptops be used. Today I will suggest the use of netbooks instead of standard laptops. Netbooks are a lot cheaper and if the goal is for ICT integration there is no need for the full-blown power of a laptop. An Office suite with internet access can do wonders.

In addition, the integrated approach also means that you do not need a one-to-one computer to student ratio. What this means is that instaed of buying PCs which are fixed in terms of mobility, netbooks should be bought for classroom use. Within the budget available, choose netbooks with the goal of obtaining enough for about four classrooms at any one time. But since the netbooks is to be shared, only about five netbooks are required for each classroom. This means that at any one time four classes can have ICT integrated lessons instead of just one, giving rise to a grand total of 20 netbooks to give the school’s ICT in education program a kick start. Of course, if the school has money, it can buy more but the goal is not towards one-to-one student-to-netbook ratio. The goal is to be able to get as many classrooms as possible to have ICT integrated lessons at any one time.

Once this is done, the schools need to only ensure good internet access. With wireless technology, it will be far simpler to link the classrooms to the world. The savings from using netbooks instead can be used to make available the required internet connection.