Initiatives are underway to drive the country’s big digital push to boost education sector.
The level of adoption of digital tools in Indonesian schools is currently low, but that will change in a big way as experts gather at GESS Indonesia 2016 to make a massive digital push to boost the country’s education sector.
As the leading education-focused exhibition and conference in Southeast Asia, GESS Indonesia has gathered global and regional experts on to shed light on digital education challenges and opportunities in a country that is expected to be among the top buyers, along with China, India, Brazil and the United States, of mobile learning products in 2017, according to a report prepared by Ambient Insight which estimates that the global mobile learning market will reach $12.2 billion in two years.
“Indonesia is currently at a very low level of adoption with digital tools. While there are small areas of impressive deployment, with individual schools or teachers making suitable investments, there is a significant opportunity for creative thinking to increase adoption of digital tools at all levels that would not affect budgets adversely,” said Craig Hansen, a Jakarta-based educator and renowned expert on ICT and e-learning, who is one of the featured speakers at GESS Indonesia on Virtual Learning in the Classroom, along with Google Education Group pioneers Steven Sutantro and Gusman Adi.
Technology and enhanced learning presentations and workshops comprise a major part of GESS Indonesia and is aimed at sharing and global best practices in harnessing digital tools to enhance the teaching and learning process. In addition, some of the world’s leading suppliers and solutions geared for the education market will also be exhibiting the very latest technological products and solutions that can help advance the development of the education sector in Indonesia as part of the event’s exhibition component.
“Since we launched last year, the show has become a leading platform not only for the exchange of ideas and insights to enhance the quality of teaching and learning in Indonesian classrooms, but also to provide access to decision makers that will support the growth of the education sector as a whole in a booming market,” said Sarah Palmer, Marketing Manager, F&E Education, organisers of GESS Indonesia that is scheduled to take place on September 14-16, 2016 at the Jakarta Convention Centre.
For digital education to take root and flourish in Indonesia, Sutantro sees the need for a stable infrastructure and appropriate human resources that will drive the digital push. “We have lots to fix in our education system, but the potential is there to leverage the benefits of digital learning to improve the quality of education in Indonesia,” he added.
Some positive signs that Indonesia is embracing digital tools are individual use of computers and digital tools by teachers and widespread use of computers. “Some schools have also started to allow their students to adopt bring-your-own-device approach openly and even provide the internet infrastructure. The best news is of course from the government as they start their National Computer Based Exam and begin to use web based reporting systems,” said Hedy Lim, who will lead a session on the use of iPad in the classroom to assist learning.
Another exciting highlight of GESS Indonesia 2016 is the presentation on the CREATE CyberSchool IoT project which hopes to serve as a MOOCs model of learning that emphasise creation, creativity, autonomy and social networking, and ultimately improve the teaching-learning process.
GESS Indonesia features more than 120 sessions, workshops and presentations covering a variety of topics and themes designed to enhance the quality of classroom teaching and learning; along with a wide variety of products and solutions from leading educational suppliers from all over the world. The show is free to attend, and is now open for registration via www.gessindonesia.com.
