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SEAMOLEC facilitates conversion of online education for teachers
UNESCO has reported that some 1.3 billion students around the world have been unable to attend school or university since March 23, 2020.
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SEAMOLEC Online Training Programme to improve teachers' capacity building during pandemic.
By: Alpha Amirrachman, M.Phil., Ph.D-SEAMEO SEAMOLEC Director
UNESCO has reported that some 1.3 billion students around the world have been unable to attend school or university since March 23, 2020. The switch to online learning as prompted by the pandemic has deprived students of opportunities for development and improvement, with teachers also having to adapt to providing learning materials in online.
Nationwide efforts to adopt digital education, or using technology to deliver education and learning, are emerging and evolving quickly.
The silver lining for the switch to digital education is undoubtedly digital literacy, specifically improvements in the capabilities of all education stakeholders in information and communication technology (ICT), as well as the acceleration of ICT proficiency in society. This is evidenced by the increasing numbers of free and meaningful webinars, online courses, online training programs, and much more.
SEAMEO Regional Open Learning Centre (SEAMOLEC) is one of the 26 centres available under the auspices of the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO). SEAMOLEC’s work has focused on open and distance learning (ODL) since 1997 to enhance the quality of education in Southeast Asia, and the centre will celebrate its 25th anniversary in February 2022.
The centre is assisting SEAMEO member countries to find alternative solutions to enhance the quality of their people through ODL in a series of core programs that cover skills training, consulting, research and development, and information dissemination. SEAMOLEC’s primary goal is to administer relevant programs that are responsive to the current digital education needs of both individual nations and the region.
The centre has provided assistance to national and regional programs that support teachers and educators in overcoming the challenges of the pandemic by integrating and using ODL for learning continuity. While some teachers and institutions were not ready to deliver online learning, SEAMOLEC responded by providing a range of programs to help facilitate all education stakeholders, including educators, learners and the wider public.
Education workers moved their immersive learning experiences to virtual platforms, all the while conceptualizing and implementing new approaches to collaborative teaching and learning. Meanwhile, students developed digital competencies with the support of their parents, so they could engage in online learning without added anxiety in these already stressful times. Parents have also been driven to use technology more effectively in taking a key role in education delivery, boosting learner engagement and helping to facilitate digital education for their children as end users.
Teachers are constantly looking for best practices and the most efficient solutions in adapting to online learning as a “new normal”. This involves finding digital education resources that help them deliver their classes online, which has proven difficult for some teachers. SEAMOLEC has been at hand to offer practical solutions and user-friendly innovations to instill new digital habits in teaching and learning.
Around 90 percent of all participants in SEAMOLEC’s training programs, both online and offline, have been educators. The dual method of delivering its training programs is intended to help educators, no matter their level of digital proficiency, to improve their skills in applying ICT to teaching and learning. Armed with these skills, educators are able to deliver interscholastic collaborative learning across Indonesia and the Southeast Asian region.
Teachers, lecturers and other education professionals are doing their best in adjusting to digital transformation in the educational sphere. They are connecting with students, parents and colleagues virtually while discovering online resources to help them better deliver digital education. SEAMOLEC is grateful and humbled by this opportunity to assist and facilitate educators on their journey of digital adaptation. It is the centre’s wish to continue providing the necessary tools and guidance, as well as generating access to various digital education resources, in support of all educators in the region.
The centre also provides a variety of activities to support students as they learn at home. The centre’s key student support programs are the South-East Asian Sales Competition (SEASAC) and the Common ASEAN Tourism Curriculum (CATC) webinar series, which combine learning and fun towards real-life application for their futures.
For the wider public in the region, SEAMOLEC raises ODL awareness through its national and international webinars that offer a vast range of attractive and relevant topics delivered by highly qualified individuals. All recorded SEAMOLEC webinars are available to view on the SEAMEO SEAMOLEC YouTube account (www.youtube.com/user/prmseamolec).
To discover more, check out the SEAMOLEC website (www.seamolec.org). Be sure follow the centre’s official social media accounts under the handles @seameoseamolec (Instagram, Facebook) and @seamolec (Twitter).
