Several online learning platforms in Indonesia have provided access to their programs for free amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Technology-based online learning platforms in Indonesia have committed to help students, especially those living in areas impacted by the novel coronavirus disease outbreak, to continue their learning process
at home.

A number of regions in Indonesia have decided to close schools, including Jakarta, Surakarta in Central Java and Bandung in West Java.

To help students continue their education, the following list comprises e-learning platforms that are accessible by the public, as compiled by kompas.com:

Zenius Education

Technology-based education platform Zenius Education is allowing students to access its 80,000 learning videos for free. The videos contain learning materials for elementary to senior high school students.

“Aside from being accessible for free, the majority of the videos require minimum internet quota,” said Rohan Monga, CEO of Zenius Education, in a statement. “Hopefully, students can learn by themselves and prepare for the UN [national exam].”

Zenius Education has also opened access to hundreds of thousands of exercises. Teachers can share the videos and exercises with their students and parents via various platforms, including WhatsApp.

The platform is also preparing for free tryout exams on its website and app, to be held on March 26.

Rumah Belajar Kemendikbud

The Education and Culture Ministry has developed a long-distance learning service available on its website and app on Google Play.

Dubbed Rumah Belajar (The Learning House), it can be accessed by both teachers and students from early-childhood learning center (PAUD) to senior high and vocational schools.

The platform provides main features such as Sumber Belajar (Learning Sources) with learning materials in the form of images, videos, animations, simulations and games; Kelas Digital (Digital Class) to facilitate virtual classes among teachers and students; Laboratorium Maya (Virtual Laboratory), which contains interactive simulation practicum activities; and Bank Soal (Questions Bank), which provides collections of exercises for students.

G Suite Education

Initiated by Google, G Suite Education helps students and teachers who want to conduct remote classes in areas with limited internet access. Schools can use Hangouts Meet, a video conference platform available for G Suite users, and Google Classroom, a web service to facilitate teachers in creating, scoring and distributing assignments.

Google has allowed schools to use Hangouts Meet for free until July 1. Schools are able to hold video conferences with up to 100,000 participants within one domain and hold a large meeting with up to 250 participants in each class. The sessions can be recorded and kept on Google Drive to be accessed later on.

Microsoft Teams

Benny Kusuma, education lead of PT Microsoft Indonesia, said it had opened Office 365 access for education, which includes word processor software Microsoft Word, spreadsheet software Excel, presentation program PowerPoint, information gathering program OneNote and communication platform Teams. Schools are required to provide an institution domain as a digital identity for teachers and students. Office 365 will facilitate the virtual-learning activities by video conference.

“Teachers are able to send teaching materials in the form of text or video through [Microsoft] Teams to their students,” Benny said. “Students can also discuss with their teachers within the teams.”

Quipper School

Online learning start-up Quipper Indonesia has opened access and materials for free for schools, teachers and students, including videos, modules and exercises for the national exam, computer-based exam (UTBK) and entrance test for state universities (SBMPTN).

Teachers and schools can use the Quipper School service to distribute assignments and exams, as well as monitor the results.

“The service is for schools that are affected [by COVID-19] and will be available from Tuesday,” said Hanani Faiza, content associate manager of Quipper.

Ruangguru

Indonesian education technology startup Ruangguru has made its Sekolah Online Ruangguru program available for free on its app on Google Play and the App Store.

Starting on Monday, the program allows students to join live teaching sessions from Mondays to Fridays from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Fifteen live teaching sessions are available to be selected, on all subjects for elementary and senior high school students. Participants will be able to join live-chats during sessions and discuss the subjects with other students. The sessions are also available to be watched later on after 12 p.m. at the same day.

Students can also use other features for free, such as Bank Soal and Online Tryout.

Additionally, Ruangguru provides Pelatihan Guru Online (Online Teacher Training) on the app for free for one month. Around 250 videos and training modules are available for teachers to learn about different topics, including class management and project-based learning implementation.

Sekolahmu

Sekolahmu is a technology-based school that implements blended-learning system, meaning that it has integrated learning activities with technology and a school-like ecosystem. It also has offline and online learning programs tailored to the students’ needs.

Following the temporary closure of schools, Sekolahmu is providing home-learning classes for preschool and senior high school students for free. “We’ve also facilitated schools and teachers to teach based on the curriculum in more flexible ways,” said Radinka Qiera, director of Sekolahmu. (wng)