Although faced with a number of problems related to the readiness and capacity of teachers in dealing with different situations, the limited carrying capacity of learning technology, curriculums and other learning tools, students still need guidance. As a result, “forced” learning is carried out non-conventionally in online and offline (limited) formats, and with curriculum materials that have been trimmed due to the limited time available and other technical constraints.

Under such conditions, of course, it is difficult to avoid various interpretations of the curriculum used. As a result, the discrepancy in the quality of student learning at each school is evident.

The lesson is that the pandemic presents a gloomy portrait at almost all levels of education. On the other hand, this incident also succeeded in encouraging many changes among teachers and school management in managing learning.

“Indeed, with hardship, there is ease” (Quran: 94:6). Education managers (management and teachers) are “forced” to think more creatively and innovatively (with the help of technology) to find the right solution so that education can continue as expected.

Schools with available resources have succeeded in reformulating the curriculum used and assessing its relevance to the needs of current students and their future educational careers. Knowledge and skills in the curriculum are reviewed, selected, and learning is focused only on the most essential (in terms of concepts, ideas, and processes) and meaningful (meaning-making) so that they can support students' educational careers according to the needs of the 21^st century.

Learning methods are presented in a very diverse and challenging way, such as portfolios, projects and collaborative work. Meanwhile, the assessments held are more oriented toward performance assessments and are formative in nature, which aim to improve and enhance student learning. The spirit of change in any situation should be maintained, developed, and improved in quality.

Wendy Fischman and Howard Gardner (2022) say that many students today are only interested in studying to earn a degree and acquire the skills and contacts needed to pursue a career and success. Such a learning pattern is called a transactional learning model.

When we engage in a transaction, we are actually engaging in an activity primarily because of the anticipated rewards, not because of its intrinsic value. From the results of a five-year study, Fischman and Gardner found that 45 percent of students have transactional attitudes about university. Thirty-six percent have an exploratory attitude; that is, they deliberately take time to learn new field studies and other activities. But only 16 percent had a transformational mental model, in a way that led them to reflect on and question their own beliefs and values.

While universities, according to Gardner, have provided extraordinary opportunities to be explored —new courses, new ways of thinking and laboratories, they also offer students the opportunity to meet new types of people, including scholars, alumni and dedicated teachers. If students turn a blind eye to this possibility, it is tragic — and both the students and others in their lives may later regret that they squandered the precious opportunity it provided, Gardner added.

The transactional learning pattern seems to be followed by many students at the primary and secondary levels as well. Many students study only for exams so that they can earn good grades on their report cards or succeed in the university entry tests.

The transactional learning pattern has been further confirmed through the assessment of learning outcomes used by teachers, namely in the form of multiple-choice questions (selective items), which mostly only measure lower-level thinking skills (declarative knowledge). As a result, learning becomes less meaningful and loses its relevance to students' daily lives.

The disruption that occurred in the world of education during the last two years prompted education administrators to redefine schools. Although it is also suspected that many education managers are starting to be tempted again to repeat the old patterns by striving to teach faster in order to "catch up" for missed content.

Educational experts, fortunately, think otherwise. They argue that the best course of action right now is to slow down, however, we need to go into deeper learning. We have to ensure that students learn the most important ideas and skills deeply and are able to apply them in a meaningful way (Jay McTighe and Chris Gareis, 2022).

What is meant by deeper learning? The United States National Research Council defines deeper learning as "the process by which an individual becomes able to take what is learned in one situation and apply it to a new situation". Modern education, according to McTighe and Gareis (2022) must prepare students to be able to apply their learning to new situations; in other words, to be able to transfer.

Grant Wiggins (2006) highlights that transfer will appear when students utilize their learning in a different time, place, and situation from when the learning was first given. The question is, how can we know that students have studied deeply? This question, according to McTighe and Gareis, reflects “if-then logic”: If we believe that preparing students to transfer their learning is a fundamental goal of modern education, then we need to gather the evidence needed to determine the extent to which students can demonstrate learning, deeper through transfers.

The learning design is prepared by first, formulating goals. The learning goals should be clearly and measurably formulated; second, the teacher collects the necessary evidence as indicators to conclude that the objectives have been achieved. Only then the teacher determines the choice of strategies, methods and media that will be used in teaching/learning in order to achieve the learning objectives.

The transfer of learning is shown best through performance assessments that require students to perform with their learning. As McTighe has found, well-designed performance tasks can assess multiple standards and cut across subject areas, prompting complex thinking and a tangible product or performance that allows students to apply their learning.

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The writer is an examination and curriculum adviser at the Sukma Foundation.