Universitas Indonesia (UI) won an award in the Online Learning System Award (SPADA Award) held on Monday (13/12) through the Zoom meeting. “UI won an award as one of the winners in the category of Institutional Support for Online Learning. In addition, UI is also one of the nominees in the category of Best Universities for Online Learning Implementation,” said Amelita Lusia, the Head of Public Relations and Public Information Disclosure Bureau UI.
This award was given by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology (Kemendikbud-Ristek) to encourage universities to utilize digital technology in learning to expand the range of learning resources so that students can take courses outside their study program. The series of award activities had been running since August, with the assessment period being held from September 9 to November 30, 2021.
The assessment was carried out through filling out a questionnaire by each participating university and then assessed by a team of judges from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology. The team of judges conducted the assessment by measuring several criteria, including aspects of human resource management, learning development planning, monitoring-evaluation process, and the technical side of online learning. This technical side was assessed from the course achievement indicators, lecture assessment plans, and learning competency design.
“With this award, it is hoped that the number of tertiary institutions that provide access to quality learning through online media will continue to increase so that the quality of national learning can be achieved,” said Prof. Aris Junaidi, the Director of Learning and Student Affairs of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology in his opening remarks.
This activity was attended by approximately 500 universities from all over Indonesia. In addition to the two categories previously mentioned, there was also a third category, which was Best Learning Design. This category was followed by 2,669 courses from all participating universities, and only 20 participants won the award.
Director General of Higher Education, Research and Technology Prof. Ir. Nizam in his speech said that organizing the SPADA Award is important in encouraging Indonesian universities to continue to improve the quality of their online learning quality. “Although currently almost 98% of our universities have conducted online learning, we realize that many are still not accustomed to implementing this system. Therefore, through the SPADA program, we provide free online learning media access services that can be used by all universities, so it is hoped that an atmosphere of mutual cooperation will be built in organizing online learning. With SPADA, Indonesia is expected to improve the quality of higher education faster by expanding access and encouraging cross-institutional collaboration between universities,” said Nizam.
SPADA is a free learning content media provided by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology on the https://spada.kemdikbud.go.id/ page. On this website, the government has also provided a Learning Management System (LMS) that can be utilized by various institutions free of charge.
In order to support the development of this online learning program, UI has Directorate of Academic Development and Learning Resources (DPASDP UI) which is working on managing academic development activity programs and e-learning services and development at UI. Director of DPASDP UI Gatot F. Hertono, Ph.D said that so far there have been several aspects of support for online learning at UI, including e-learning helpdesk facilities at DPASDP, as well as strengthening infrastructure and facilities to support the implementation of online learning.
“Strengthening infrastructure and content are done by developing several programs, namely Massive Open Online Course (MOOC), Open Videos UI (OVIS UI), and E-learning Management Systems (EMAS),” he said. UI will continue to improve this online learning service by conducting various partnership programs, both externally and internally.
