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Ever since the Merdeka Curriculum in Indonesia emerged during the pandemic, it has opened up the hearts and sparked the spirit of teachers to learn about technology—especially on how to specifically use the technology for learning activities.
Due to the pandemic, many institutions shifted their activities virtually; hence it ignited the popularity of educational technology—most people call it EdTech—among the teachers and students. This, apparently, could be on rise as teachers have also been benefiting from it.
Today, teachers operating technology and making use of laptops or gadgets are no rare sight for me. They could freely use Google Classroom, Zoom, Meet, or even the AR app Assemblr EDU—without any barrier at all. These apps are seen to be their supporters to make their learning activities more exciting.
Although the pandemic has seen its downfall lately, I see that the trend of edtech utilization will keep on rising. This is because I’m dealing with teachers every day as a part of my job.
As a teacher trainer, I'm always seeking opportunities to incorporate technology for learning activities, and Assemblr EDU has always been one of my favorite materials to share with.
For the past few years, I've been introducing Assemblr EDU to teachers, so they can make use of it for their classroom activities and create fun & creative learning materials with augmented reality (AR) technology.
But as I explored through the opportunities for teachers, an idea also came to me: "Instead of only focusing on teachers, why don’t I also introduce Assemblr EDU to students?"
They're youngsters—a part of the generation who are heavily influenced by technology. I believe this is a good opportunity for them to explore their creativity and hone their skills in creating AR contents.
But the next thing I’ve got to do is, how? Well, I could’ve actually just barged in the classrooms, talked about using AR for their lessons, asked them to create their own with Assemblr EDU, and so on, and so on.
However, I knew that it would not work. I want them to be able to freely express themselves through their AR projects. And to do so, I began to realize that creating an AR extracurricular could probably be the answer.
Back in November 2022, I was invited to Islamic School of Riau Global Terpadu (IRGT), a school in Pekanbaru, Indonesia, to hold a workshop for their teachers about School Digitalization.
At that time, I also included Assemblr EDU into the material, and the school foundation was apparently interested in it.
Seeing their reactions, I felt more confident to propose the ideas for AR extracurricular. I followed them up, brought my proposal, and presented AR extracurricular for them. Apparently, they also welcomed the idea happily!
There’s actually no particular strategy to offer the schools about this idea. I’m also still checking out how it’s gonna go—and I’m a first-timer—so I can’t say much about how to start this overall journey.
However, if I can sum it up, you’ve just gotta make sure to prepare a proposal beforehand. And this has to be a thorough and detailed one. You have to come prepared with a strong reasoning.
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After securing the deal, off we go to start the extracurricular! The program was opened in January 2023, and it managed to get a great reaction even from the start.
Every Friday and Saturday morning, the members—both elementary and middle school students—could learn how to use Assemblr EDU and create their own AR contents.
I arrange all the materials by myself, and along the way, I also train their chosen teachers to learn how to use Assemblr EDU gradually—once every two weeks.
Apparently, the teachers are also feeling helpful with the AR extracurricular activities. They also take part by monitoring the activity—and even share the information as well as knowledge with the parents or guardians.
So far, there are around 70 students who have joined the extracurricular activity. Their enthusiasm was actually more than I had expected.
Unfortunately, as the room capacity still can’t accommodate everyone, we decided to limit the participants. But of course, I can’t wait to welcome more students to join the fun as well!
To make the current extracurricular activity even more fun to follow, I also have got a few things up on our sleeves—starting with a follow-up extracurricular program in the school.
In the meantime, I’m also still juggling my work between training teachers and proposing my AR extracurricular ideas to other schools around Pekanbaru. This might be draining, but honestly, I can’t wait to see what it holds for the future!
I don’t want to be selfish, and I want to let as many teachers as possible in Indonesia (and the world, too!) to also take part and propose this AR extracurricular activity to schools around them.
If it’s possible, we can start with a discussion about our strategy and go with the ideas on July 2023. So excited to also see more teachers popularize this AR extracurricular activity as well :)
This article was written by Agung Ade Yulianto, one of our active ACE members from Indonesia—as well as an Assemblr EDU Distributor in Sumatera region. As the director of his self-invented teacher training center PT Mahardika Indonesia Agung, Agung has always been engaged with training teachers all around Indonesia to utilize technology for their learning activities.
