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presentasikan di seminar internasional di Solo
The Use of Instructional Interactive Audio-Cassette Programs
in the Primary School Teaching-Learning Process*)
By: Sudirman Siahaan**)
Abstract
Most Primary Schools are located in the villages as the majority of the Indonesian population also lives in the villages. The teachers play a very dominant role in the teaching-learning process. Textbook is treated as the second learning resource. Due to the limited learning resources in schools, the teachers in villages feel “thirsty” to have more learning resources to assist them enrich the teaching-learning process. The policy implemented in the Primary Schools is the classroom teachers; but there are also some subject matter teachers, namely: religion teachers, sport and health education teachers, and music teachers. In some cases, the Primary Schools do not have enough classroom teachers; just two or three teachers including the school principal. Furthermore, electricity is rarely found in a greater number of Primary Schools. Considering the potentials of the information and communication technology (ICT), and audio technology of particular, the experiences of other countries in using audio or radio programs for learning in one side, and the essentials of active participation of students in another side, the use of interactive audio-cassette programs by teachers as an integrated component in the teaching-learning process could improve the quality of students learning. In coping with this kind of situation, the Center for Information and Communication Technology for Education (PUSTEKKOM)-Ministry of National Education has developed integrated interactive audio-cassette programs for Primary School students. The programs are developed professionally by involving Primary School teachers, content experts (subject matter specialists) from university, and media specialists. Before putting these programs into practice, some preliminary activities were conducted. After having implemented the programs in schools, the benefits from the teachers’ side, among others, were: (a) the teachers feel easier to teach the lessons, (b) the teachers learn a new way of teaching the lessons, (c) the teachers enjoy their teaching by having a lively classroom atmosphere, and (d) the teachers observe that their students show higher motivation in the teaching-learning process. From the students’ side, the benefits of the programs, among others, were: (a) easier in comprehending the lessons, (b) enjoy learning the lessons, (c) the learning becomes more interesting, and (d) the students become more active in the teaching-learning process.
Key words: instructional interactive programs, audio-cassette program as an integrated component in the teaching-learning process, learning and entertaining
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*) Paper presented in the “International Seminar on Educational Technology” hosted by Sebelas Maret University of Surakarta in cooperation with the Indonesian Association of educational Technologists (IPTPI), and Jakarta State University, in Surakarta, on 5-6 September 2005.
**) Sudirman Siahaan is an educational researcher in the Center for Information and Communication Technology for Education (PUSTEKKOM)-Ministry of National Education.
A. Introduction
Based on the data published by the Ministry of National Education, there are 150.612 Primary Schools (public and private) with 1,141,168 teachers and 25.6 million students. The classification of teachers based on the highest educational background is 29,999 with
Based on the study on the management of Small Primary Schools in the Central Kalimantan conducted by Bray stated that there are 460 Primary Schools managed by 1 up to 3 teachers (Bray, 1987). The learning resources utilized by the students were professionally designed so that the students are able to learn the learning materials independently. Whereas the data published by the Directorate General of Research and Development stated that there are about 12,000 Primary Schools in which one teacher teaches more than one-grade students (Ministry of National Education, 1990).
Most Primary Schools in
In the Primary School, the teachers play a very dominant role in the teaching-learning process. The students usually come to school and listen to their teachers teaching the lessons. When the teachers think that there are some important points of the lessons for students to make a note, the teachers will write them on the blackboard and then the students make notes. Some teachers dictate the main points of the lessons of the lesson and the students write them on their notebook. In most cases, particularly the Primary Schools in the villages, the learning resources available for students are limited to teachers and textbooks. Previously, the Ministry of National Education (MONE) distributed textbooks to all schools.
If the teachers want to read some other textbooks, they have to go the capital of the District or even to the capital of the Province. They are lucky if they can find some books they need in the capital of the District. Through teachers reading some textbooks, the students will of course get the benefit. What happens if the teachers cannot find and buy some books? They will only rely their teaching on the given textbook from MONE and their previous experiences. The teachers are much luckier if they have an opportunity to attend some training. They will be able to update their knowledge as well as share ideas with their colleagues from other Primary Schools.
In short, the students in most Primary Schools learn from two sources, the teachers and textbook. In a year, the students have to learn from one classroom teacher and the given textbook. They have to sit down nicely in the classroom and listen to what the teacher explains the whole class hours. Even though some teaching aides, such as globe, model, and map can be also found in schools but in fact, the students learn mostly from the classroom teacher. In many cases, the students will benefit more if they are taught by creative teachers. Creative teachers are usually “thirsty” to improve their knowledge by searching and learning more and more learning resources so that they will feel satisfied to provide the best and varied learning materials to their students.
Considering the limited learning resources available in a great many Primary Schools, the difficult access to find other related learning materials and analyzing the availability of audio-cassette player, and the ease to operate the equipment, the Center for Information and Communication Technology (PUSTEKKOM)-MONE had started to empower the teachers in a limited number of Primary Schools in some provinces to use audio-cassette programs in the teaching and learning process.
The use of audio cassette as a part of ICT was based on the consideration that the equipment needed to utilize the audio cassette programs is no longer a problem for the community at large. It is not a difficult thing anymore to find an audio cassette player in a certain family or a group of dwellers living in villages. Audio cassette player is not treated as a luxurious device anymore. This device can be run at ease by using dry battery only.
In accordance with the availability of audio-cassette player, the ease to operate the device, PUSTEKKOM designed and developed interactive audio-cassette programs to be utilized by teachers in the teaching-learning process. Some questions necessarily to address are: Why should be an interactive audio program introduced to the Primary School students? How is the teaching-learning organized through the use of interactive audio programs? What are the benefits the students get from the programs? How are the responses or comments of the teachers in implementing the use of interactive audio programs as an integrated process in the teaching and learning process? Through this paper, I would like to share information, experiences, or ideas about the use of interactive audio-cassette programs integratedly in the teaching-learning process in the Primary School.
B. Analysis
1. Why should be an interactive audio program introduced to the Primary School students?
It’s a very difficult thing for Primary Schools to have more learning resources on their own expenses. So far, most of the existing learning resources were also based on the distribution from the Ministry of National Education or the local government. The yearly allocated operational budget for Primary School is not enough to purchase additional learning resources, such as: textbooks or instructional media. So far, the School could only afford to buy simple teaching aides. One important thing to know is that the majority of Primary Schools do not have electricity power. In most Primary Schools in villages, the teachers are “thirsty” to widen their horizons by having more learning resources but the operational financial support does not enable the Primary Schools to procure additional learning resources.
In order to help the limited teachers teaching in the Primary Schools, PUSTEKKOM has started to pilot the utilization of interactive audio-cassette programs in 10 Primary Schools in 10 provinces in the year of 2001 (PUSTEKKOM, 2002). The pilot of utilizing interactive audio-cassette programs covers 5 subject matters, namely: (a) Indonesian language, (b) Social Sciences, (c) Natural Sciences (IPA), (d) Mathematics, and (e) Pancasila and Civic Education (PPKN). These programs can be utilized by the students without having full guided interaction from the teachers. Even though, the teachers are required to provide information and guidance to the students so that the students will find easier in utilizing the interactive audio-cassette programs.
A common situation in the teaching-learning process in most Primary Schools is that the students are asked to sit nicely and listen attentively to the teachers while the teachers are teaching. The students tend to be wholly passive whereas the teachers tend to play a much greater role. In facing this passive situation, PUSTEKKOM took an initiative to design, develop and produce interactive audio-cassette programs. In utilizing this kind of program, the students are not anymore sitting quietly and listening fully to the teachers, but the students are persuaded to be more active to use their whole sensors during the teaching-learning process.
The atmosphere of classroom utilizing interactive audio-cassette programs is rather “a little bit noisy”. Some time, the students are asked to respond verbally, or to hold certain objects close to them, to respond the program in written, to do a certain activity, or to conduct an experiment. In short, the students enjoy the learning because they are restricted to just sit down properly and nicely but once in a while the students can shout or laugh in providing responses, move from their chair to measure an object such as a teacher’s table, or to go outside the classroom to observe some kinds of plants. Accordingly, the teacher should explain the necessary things to be prepared by the students one day in advance so that the utilization of the program will run as expected.
If the learning environment can be created in such a way so that it becomes conducive for learning, and more importantly, the students will not feel restricted, but instead, they will feel freely and enjoy the learning. In this kind of learning atmosphere, we can expect that the students will perform much better or show higher learning achievement. One of the objectives to introduce interactive audio-cassette programs is to make the learning more joyful, the students become more active, so that the students will like the learning more and more.
Not only the students feel excited in learning through the use of interactive audio-cassette programs, but also the teachers feel happier and having lighter burden in managing the teaching-learning process. The teachers highly appreciated to be appointed as piloting schools in utilizing the interactive audio-cassette programs. They expressed that the learning materials introduced has made a change in the classroom atmosphere and the students’ positive attitude toward learning.
2. How is the learning through the use of interactive audio programs organized?
In the pilot Primary Schools, the interactive audio-cassette programs brought to schools are limited to the higher-grade students (fourth to sixth-grade students) only. The number of schools involved in the pilot is also limited. At the beginning of the pilot stage, 1991/1992, there were 12 provinces appointed as sample of the pilot and 5 Primary Schools were involved in each province (stage-1). The 12 participating provinces are (a) West Java, (b) Central Java, (c)
Before utilizing the programs to students, the teachers were trained briefly how to organize the teaching-learning process utilizing interactive audio-cassette programs. To let the teachers have a kind of feeling and a concrete example of implementing the utilization of interactive audio-cassette programs in the real teaching-learning process, the teachers were invited to become observants in the simulation of utilizing the interactive audio-cassette programs in one of the target groups of students managed by the staff of PUSTEKKOM.
Each piloting school received one audio or radio cassette player and one copy of the whole interactive audio-cassette programs. Each interactive audio-cassette program consists of printed teachers’ guide, students’ worksheets, and students’ answer sheets. The students’ worksheets and answer sheets can be reproduced by the participating school. Each participating school is required to make a schedule on the utilization of the interactive audio-cassette programs and let the students be informed about the schedule. One day before the utilization of the program, the teacher has to explain to the students about what sort of things should be prepared and brought by each student on the D-day. By so doing, the students will be well-prepared in utilizing the programs.
The procedures applied in utilizing interactive audio-cassette programs is as follows:
Firstly, the teacher (a) prepares the audio-cassette player and the program, (b) explains the objectives the students expected to achieve at the end of utilization of the program, (c) explains what activities the students should do before, during, and after the utilization of interactive audio-cassette programs, (d) distributes the students’ worksheets and answer sheets;
Secondly, the teacher (a) provides “a warming up” learning materials to orient the students to the program, (b) turns on the audio-cassette player, (c) supervises the students and provides assistance to those who find difficulty; and
Thirdly, the teacher (a) asks some questions in order to know how far the students’ comprehension about the program is, (b) provides summary or main points of the program, and finally (c) collects the answer sheet from the students.
If the teacher observed that the program needs to rewind and play back on a certain part of the program, the teacher is free to do so. The collected students’ answer sheets will be corrected and analyzed by the teacher. On the following utilization day of the program, the teacher will provide an explanation on some items that are difficult for students to answer. By so doing, the students will get better comprehension about the previous program.
Each year, monitoring and supervision is regularly conducted with the objective to improve the utilization system of the interactive audio-cassette programs. After three years of conducting the utilization of interactive audio-cassette programs, each pilot school is tasked to select one of the neighboring schools to participate in the dissemination of the programs. At this first stage of dissemination, 1994/1995, PUSTEKKOM started to disseminate the programs gradually, but still in the same provinces. There were 120 Primary Schools participating in the utilization of interactive audio-cassette programs.
The following three years, 1997/1998, the programs were disseminated to 9 other provinces, namely: (a)
The soul of the interactive audio-cassette programs is in the interactivity of the students with the program in one side and the possibility to rewind and play back certain parts of the program if any student deserves for their deeper or better understanding of the lesson. Interactivity in the distance learning can be categorized into three types, namely: (a) the interactivity of the students with the learning materials, (b) the interactivity of the students with the teacher (tutor), and (c) the interactivity of the students with other students (Heinich, et.al., 1990).
According to David H. Jonassen, there are four patterns of interactivity in the distance learning, that is: (a) interactivity in term of the same place and time, (b) interactivity in term of the different place and time, (c) interactivity in term of the same place but different in time, and (d) interactivity in term of the same time but different in place (Jonassen, 1996).
3. What are the benefits the students get from the programs?
In the year of 1997/1998, a study was conducted to evaluate the conduct of the utilization of the interactive audio-cassette programs. The sample of the study was the first five provinces of the pilot whereas the sample of schools was three out of five Primary Schools in each of the five provinces. The respondents of the study were School Headmasters, classroom teachers participated in the utilization of the programs, and students utilizing the programs. The data collection techniques used were (a) interview guides for School Headmasters, (b) questionnaires for classroom teachers and students, and (c) documentary about the students’ learning achievement.
The results of the study can be described as follows:
a. From the point of view of School Headmasters:
The School Headmasters expressed their high appreciation to PUSTEKKOM for initiating the development of interactive audio-cassette programs for Primary School students. Then, the development of the programs was followed by selecting and involving some Primary Schools in some provinces to take part in the pilot of utilizing the interactive audio-cassette programs.
Furthermore, School Headmasters stated that (1) the atmosphere of the teaching-learning process in the classroom through the use of interactive audio-cassette programs became a more lively atmosphere, efficient and effective, (2) the model of the teaching-learning process introduced through the interactive audio-cassette programs can be referenced by the teachers to develop similar programs on other topics, (3) the students enjoyed the teaching-learning process because they didn’t get bored but instead they were entertained, and (4) the teachers felt happier to teach the subjects utilizing the interactive audio-cassette programs besides they had more time available for providing individual guidance.
b. From the point of view of classroom teachers:
By utilizing the programs, stated by the teachers, the students were greatly motivated to enjoy the learning. Why? Because the way the learning materials presented could motivate the students not only to listen to the programs but also use some parts of their bodies, such as hands and feet, to do certain kinds of actions. Soft instrumental music can also be found in each program. The students are familiar with the music, the background as well as the intro one. The students can hear the background music during the whole of each program. Any time to start the program, expressed by the teachers, the intro music is always able to draw the students’ attention. Meaning to say that by listening to the intro music, the students start at once to focus their attention to interact with the program.
The teachers acknowledged that the students could (1) easier comprehend the learning materials presented through the interactive audio-cassette programs, (2) better improve their learning achievement, and (3) be greater motivated to learn some other topics or subjects presented interactively through audio-cassettes.
Not only for the students, the benefits of the programs were also ripped by the teachers. The teachers could save their time in preparing the lesson plan and the learning materials as well. The printed materials supporting the interactive audio-cassette programs is very much like the daily lesson plan that the teachers have to develop. Meaning to say that the teachers do not need time and energy to develop the lesson as they have been developed and ready to implement.
The teachers also stated frankly that they learned much from the interactive audio-cassette programs, such as: how to develop and present interactive learning materials so that the students can enjoy their learning. They were also motivated to develop other topics of the subject matters referencing the interactive audio-cassette programs.
c. From the point of view of students:
Based on the monitoring and supervision conducted, it revealed that the benefits of the programs for students are as follows:
The students confessed briefly that they feel much, much easier to comprehend the learning materials presented through the interactive audio-cassette programs because they are conditioned to be active to learn during the program being utilized. They did not get bored to learn through the interactive audio-cassette programs because they could also listen soft instrumental music while they were learning. The students also said that they could improve their learning achievement. Meaning to say that the students made a better achievement after having utilized the interactive audio-cassette programs compared to the previous stage when they had to listen to their teachers only.
In the accordance with the conduct of interactive audio-cassette programs, some countries have implemented the use of interactive radio instruction (IRI) in the teaching-learning process. Even though there are some differences in these two kinds of interactive programs, but they also have some similarities. Some studies on the use of interactive radio instruction were conducted in some countries. The studies revealed that there is an increase of the students’ learning achievement, particularly in the subjects of English, Science, and Math compared to the students who did not utilize the interactive radio instruction. According to Leigh (Leigh, 1955) the increase of the students’ learning achievement in English, Science, and Math is about 14.3%. Whereas the study conducted by Bosch (Bosch, 2002) stated that the increase of students’ learning achievement in Math is around 26% and 18% in English.
4. What are the problems encountered during the utilization of the interactive audio-cassette programs?
The problems encountered mostly were dealt with persons involved in the management of interactive audio-cassette programs, the device, the programs, and the change of the curriculum. The problems exist at the time of the substitution of School Headmasters and teachers. It was reported that not all the new School Headmasters gave a great and full support to all teachers participating in the utilization of the programs. The sustainability of utilization of the programs is very much relied on the concerns and will of the School Headmasters (Siahaan, 2003).
Similarly is with the teachers. Sometimes, the mobility of teachers didn’t give enough time for the new posted teachers to familiarize herself or himself to the existing interactive audio-cassette programs. She or he didn’t receive enough information from the teacher being substituted about the utilization of the interactive audio-cassette programs so that she or he cannot continue the utilization of the existing interactive audio-cassette programs.
It also happened that some of the programs were not anymore complete; the quality of the recording decreased, and the audio-cassette playback device was out of order. In accordance with the equipment used to utilize the programs, it was agreed in the initial stage that it becomes the responsibility of the participating school. In this case, if the School Headmaster was not responsive, there wouldn’t be any supporting action to repair the device. Meaning to say that the utilization of interactive audio-cassette programs comes to a stop. Concerning the programs, as far as the school reported the problems, Pustekkom will provide another copy of the programs to substitute the damaged ones.
Almost once in five years, there is a change of curriculum. In responding to this change, some teachers felt uneasy to use the programs because some programs are not anymore fit to the allocated semester and students. The development and production of programs based on the new curriculum will take at least two years. Even though the curriculum is changed, the programs can still be utilized by re-allocating the programs according to the new curriculum. Some teachers kept on utilizing the programs although they have to spend some more time to adjust each program to be appropriately scheduled as demanded by the new curriculum.
C. Conclusions
The use of interactive audio-cassette programs had made a good contribution to enrich the teaching-learning process. Through the use of the programs, the atmosphere of the teaching-learning process became more lively. The students enjoyed the learning and they didn’t get bored of learning because they could learn while they were also entertained, they weren’t requested to sit properly and listen to the program, and they were conditioned to freely move here and there as the program requested them to do certain kinds of activities. In short, the students said that the learning using interactive audio-cassette programs becomes fun.
After having implemented the programs in schools for six years, a study was conducted to evaluate the conduct of the utilization of the programs. It was revealed that the benefits of the programs from the teachers’ side, among others, were: (1) the teachers feel easier to teach the lessons, (2) the teachers learn a new way of teaching the lessons, (3) the teachers enjoy their teaching by having a lively classroom atmosphere, and (4) the teachers observe that their students show higher motivation in the teaching-learning process.
From the students’ side, the benefits of the programs, among others, were: (1) the students felt easier in comprehending the lessons, (2) the students enjoyed learning the lessons because they were not requested to sit properly and listen but they were also requested to do some activities during the utilization of the program, (3) the learning becomes more interesting and fun, (4) the students become more active in the teaching-learning process, and (5) the students performed better in their learning achievement (Sarjani dan Soekiman, 1997).
Some problems encountered in the utilization of the program were related with the persons involved in the management of the programs (school headmaster and teachers), the programs (some recordings are not anymore in good quality, some programs were missing), the change of curriculum, and the equipment used to utilize the programs. Due to the programs and equipment has become the property of the schools, the sustainability of the utilization of the programs should become the responsibility of the schools as well. As far as the program is concerned, the Center for Information and Communication Technology for Education (or Pustekkom)-Ministry of National Education will be pleased to help the schools.
References
Bosch, Andrea. 2002. Interactive Radio Instruction: Twenty-three Years of Improving Educational Quality. (Source: Internet retrieved on
Heinich, Robert, Michael Molenda and James D. Russell. 1990. Instructional Media and the New Technologies of Instruction.
Jonassen, David H. (ed.). 1996. Handbook of Research for Eeducational Communications and Technology.
Leigh, Stuart. 1995. Changing Times in
Ministry of National Education. 2000.
Ministry of National Education. 1990. Statistik Persekolahan (or School Statistics).
Sarjani and Soekiman. 1997. Laporan Evaluasi Pelaksanaan Pengelolaan Sistem Pemanfaatan Program SRPM-SD (or An Evaluative Report on the Management of the Conduct of Educational Radio for Primary School Students).
Siahaan, Sudirman. 2003. “Pemanfaatan Radio Instruksional Interaktif untuk Menunjang Upaya Peningkatan Kualitas Pembelajaran” (or The Utilization of Interactive Radio Instruction to Support the Quality Improvement of Instruction), an article published in Jurnal pendidikan Terbuka dan Jarak Jauh Universitas Terbuka, Vol. 4, No. 1 Maret 2003.
Tim SRP-SD. 1998. Peningkatan Mutu Pendidikan Sekolah Dasar melalui Pemanfaatan Program Media Audio Instruksional Interaktif untuk Murid Sekolah Dasar (or The Improvement of the Quality of Primary School through the Use Interactive Audio-Cassette Instruction for Primary School Students).
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