Bandung – Telkom University as The Best Private University in Indonesia has 7 faculties consisting of 34 study programs with approximately 30,000 students which spread from Sabang to Merauke, and approximately 45 percent come from West Java, the remaining 55 percent are across the country.
With a large number of students and a wide student distribution, Telkom University continues to create innovations in learning. This can be seen from the launch of the Learning Management System mobile application.
Dr. Dadan Rahadian, S.T., M.M. as Deputy Chancellor for Academic Affairs explained that since 2018, long before the Covid-19 pandemic, Telkom University had launched a strategy to create a digital learning environment. To achieve this, Telkom University has prepared the necessary facilities and infrastructure such as building studios for the development of online learning digital content and creating platforms for online learning management.
“We have a unit that manages online learning which we call CeLOE or Center for e-Learning and Open Education and a platform for managing online learning, namely LMS or Learning Management System. This is to help lecturers prepare and create online learning content, “he said.
Dr. Dadan Rahadian also said that Telkom University has prepared the implementation of Blended Learning in the odd semester 2020/2021 academic year. Blended Learning is a learning system that combines traditional face-to-face learning with online learning. Each subject is required to have digital content in CeLOE LMS which is an online learning platform at Telkom University.
“We require a minimum of 25 percent or four lecture meetings that must be held online. However, as we know, at the beginning of 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic has forced all universities to undertake fully online learning or fully online learning. The blended learning model that we plan to do in the odd semester of 2020/2021 is currently running and has to be done into fully online learning, there is no face-to-face learning in class, everything uses face-to-face online. Even though it is not at full capacity, Alhamdulillah, the implementation of fully online learning during this pandemic can run well. “
Apart from having CeLOE LMS for online learning, Telkom University has launched a mobile-based learning application, namely CeLOE LMS Mobile. This application allows students and even lecturers to carry out learning anytime, anywhere, and using any device. Through this application, lecturers can find out teaching schedules, view and answer student questions, see student interactions and provide quizzes.
Along with CeLOE LMS Mobile, Telkom University also launched the CeLOE Open Courseware (OCW) Mobile application. This is an open education application that can be accessed by the wider community.
“Through CeLOE OCW, this is a form of our responsibility to help the government improve the intellectual life of the nation.”
Dr. Dadan added that the Covid-19 pandemic had an impact not only on the education sector but almost all sectors of the economy, business, non-profit, government, and so on. This new habit is one of the problems in online learning. Not only students but also lecturers, most of them are not used to providing learning in the online form.
This transformation of online learning is no longer an option, but a necessity in the changing environment that is happening around the world. Of course, there are complaints, but what is important is how each party from the elements of learning whether lecturers, students, academic support staff help the process of transforming learning.
“We respond positively to these complaints by making improvements to the system, improvements that can change habits so that online learning can improve the quality of face-to-face learning.”
Dr. Dadan Rahadian also explained that tertiary institutions have a responsibility to always maintain quality assurance so that the main stakeholders, namely students, get an education that can truly guarantee employability. In the quality assurance process, Telkom University implements an outcome-based education system.
“Our outcome is the profile of the graduates we want according to the needs and demands of the industry. We translate all that into the semester learning plan which we will place later in the learning management system. Of course, we plan all these systems, manage and monitor them so that in the end it will create a quality learning system. “
Telkom University is also currently in the process of lecturer certification to guarantee the quality of online learning. Lecturers are required to take two certifications, namely the CeLOE Moodle Course Certification (CMCC) and the CeLOE Course Content Creator Certification.