This pandemic has a big impact on the education field. To cut the spreading of the Covid-19, the learning process iss shifted into online platforms which require such tool and facilities such as smart phone/laptop, internet. However, in Indonesia especially Kalimantan, there are still many remote areas that do not have any phone signal and internet access. Therefore, together with local teachers in SDN Talekoi, Ranu Welum creates SMART VOICE, a tool kit which can be used offline/without internet.
During the period of January - April, Ranu Welum Foundation worked on this project starting with observation and research. We collected as much as information from the ground about the challenges faced by teachers, students and event parents in Talekoi village. Then, we created a guidance in form of a book according to the curriculum used by Indonesian education standard. First visit to village in February was to finalize the module with the local teachers, as It should be relevant to the students’ understanding and also mother tongue.
Recording the voice using phone audio recorder.
Workshop with teachers.
Final product of SMART VOICE Learning kit
The kit SMART VOICE itself consists of the collection of audio recordings from teachers and also a module which contains material and task for students. We started with creating a module for one semester, specifically for grade 4 as a prototype. Starting from there, we conducted a workshop with local teachers so they could produce their own modules for the other grades. After the module finished, teachers recorded their voices explaining the materials using audio recorder app in their phones. This kit then being delivered to students and transferred through Bluetooth. Students then could learn from home while listening to teachers’ voices and read throughout the book.
The teachers then used the module for month. In the beginning of April, Ranu Welum team came back to village for monitoring and evaluation. The outcome was amazing. This tool has truly helped teachers and students became more effective in learning-teaching process. It also helped eliminating some other problems such as parents’ struggles to assist their kids in doing the school tasks, and some prejudice in society between parents’ and teachers. Therefore, SMART VOICE learning kit has been proved to be an effective solution for the problems the indigenous students and teachers face in this pandemic situation. We expect this module can be adopted by other schools, especially those in the same regency.
With teachers of Talekoi Elementary school.