I have commented before on the approach to using ICT for education for Indonesian schools. There has always been a a laboratory-centric approach to using ICT. In addition, there is also I believe an unhealthy penchant for a software centric-approach to the use of ICT. In Indonesian schools they actually teach students software like Flash, Dreamweaver or some graphic software like CorelDraw or Adobe Photoshop. It is unclear why this is done except to provide students with a familiarity with such software.

Why? I really don’t know. They believe ICT is important but is it important for students to learn such software? It is important for students to learn to be entrepreneurs. Does it mean that schools teach students specific enterepreneur-related subjects skills? What about other possible career options? Do we teach such subjects in schools too?

The lack of clarity about why ICT is used in Indonesian schools has to be addressed as ICT use in school usually amounts to quite a significant investment by the schools and parents. The North Central Regional Educational Labotory (NCREL) , a leader in the educational uses of ICT has this to say about ICT use in education:

Technology is not transformative on its own. Evidence indicates that when used effectively, “technology applications can support higher-order thinking by engaging students in authentic, complex tasks within collaborative learning contexts” (Means, Blando, Olson, Middleton, Morocco, Remz, & Zorfass, 1993). Instead of focusing on isolated, skills-based uses of technology, schools should promote the use of various technologies for sophisticated problem-solving and information-retrieving purposes (Means & Olson, 1995).

In other words, new technology can be an appropriate vehicle for promoting meaningful, engaged learning. It allows students to work on authentic, meaningful, and challenging problems, similar to tasks performed by professionals in various disciplines; to interact with data in ways that allow student-directed learning; to build knowledge collaboratively; and to interact with professionals in the field. Technologies also can be used to promote the development of higher-order thinking skills and allow opportunities for teachers to act as facilitators or guides and often as a co-learner with the students.

~ Critical Issue: Promoting Technology Use in Schools by Jan Gahala, North Central Regional Educational Laboratory

This approach makes a lot more sense as the focus is on using ICT as a tool to teach the essential skills and knowledge for the 21st Century. It is not to teach ICT per se. What ICT is used for is to support the teaching and learning beyond only the traditional teaching and learning approaches that do not prepare students to take their place in society. This is I believe one of the prerequisites of a world class school. It doesn’t prepare students for obsolescence.

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.