THE NEEDS OF COLLABORATION IN OPERATING AN OPEN AND DISTANCE LEARNING INSTITUTION: UT CASE
Keywords: collaboration, distance education, UT
Abstract
This article discusses the importance of building collaboration among agencies in managing student support service for the distance student in Universitas Terbuka/UT (Indonesia Open University/IOU). As a mass-scale university with the number of students more than 600 thousand scattered in 37 provinces in Indonesia and overseas, heterogeneous socio-cultural background, offering more than 200 study program, and semester test held simultaneously, UT should be able to recruit thousands of tutors, invigilator, and executive personnel to conduct academic activities in those region. UT should manage course development team (curriculum developers, modules developers, content experts, media specialists, and art designers, linguists, and also graphics developers). UT should also provide classrooms for academic activities, lab and computer to facilitate student support service. This condition implies that the availability of human resources and infrastructure, including a computer lab connected to the internet in each unit of study is a necessity. Therefore, in order to improve the quality of distance learning and to accelerate change of learning style from traditional-based to e-learning-based, collaboration between UT with local agencies is a must to ensure the availability of human resources and e-learning facilities.
Artikel ini membahas tentang peranan kolaborasi antar lembaga dalam upaya meningkatkan kualitas pelayanan bagi mahasiswa peserta program pendidikan jarak jauh di Universitas Terbuka (UT). Model perkuliahan sistem jarak jauh mengharuskan pesertanya mempraktekkan belajar mandiri, menggunakan modul sebagai bahan belajar utama, dan memanfaatkan ICT sebagai media dalam proses pembelajaran. Bahan ajar dalam bentuk cetak dan non-cetak dikembangkan oleh tim pengembang yang meliputi pengembang kurikulum, pengembang modul, ahli materi, ahli media, ahli bahasa, dan ahli grafik. Bantuan belajar disediakan dalam bentuk tutorial secara tatap muka dan online bagi mahasiswa di setiap unit belajar di dalam dan luar negeri. Sebagai sebuah perguruan tinggi berskala massal dengan jumlah mahasiswa lebih dari 600 ribu, mahasiswanya tersebar di 37 propinsi di Indonesia dan luar negeri, menawarkan lebih dari 100 program studi, serta ujian semester dilaksanakan secara serentak, maka UT harus mampu merekrut ribuan tenaga akademik (tutor), pengawas ujian, dan tenaga pelaksana ujian semester di setiap wilayah unit belajar. Untuk melaksanakan ujian semester dan memberikan layanan bantuan belajar, UT juga harus mampu menyediakan pusat unit belajar di daerah (regional center), ribuan ruang ujian, ruang untuk tutorial serta fasilitas lab computer. Karena itu, kolaborasi antara UT dengan instansi pemerintah dan non-pemerintah di daerah harus dilakukan untuk menjamin kelangsungan kegiatan akademik di daerah. Demikian pula, ketersediaan SDM berbasis ICT yang berkualitas dan infrastruktur termasuk lab komputer yang terkoneksi dengan internet di setiap unit belajar harus menjadi prioritas demi terciptanya pembelajaran berbasis e-learning bagi mahasiswa UT di daerah.
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