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Today we will share some of experience in the US to show that we really went there
Our program was titled Community College Faculty and Administrator Program
In our case, the faculty is myself and the administrator is Adi
On the background of the program is the enactment of the Higher Education Act on July 13, 2012
community college was ractified as a form of higher education institution in Indonesia
Community College Faculty and Administrator Program was initiated partly because Indonesia has decided to adopt the community college concept
The main difference between Indonesian community college and America community college is that
CC's in the US welcome everyone in the community that needs education, not just high school graduates
The implication of the "equal opportunity for all" policy in US CC's is that
their students have very diverse background, even more diverse that our students
As an example CC's there are not allowed to decline students with physical or learning disabilities
So, no one can be denied education in a US CC, even students with learning disabilities
since they believe in equal opportunity for all or have an open access policy
Another example of the open access policy is that US CC's accept students with limited mastery of English
Then, some students of US CC's have yet to graduate from high school; these are the very smart students
in Javanese we call this type of students "nyolong start" or running start as they are called in the US
these students are enrolled into colleges while they are yet to finish high school
Since US CC's in the large have an open access policy or "equal opportunity for all"
they need a learning system that could accommodate every type of students
not just the smart students, and leave out the less intelligence ones; a system that works for everyone
thus, they use an approach called UDL, which stands for Universal Design for Learning
the fundamental philosophy of UDL is that everyone can learn but people differ in the way they learn
in UDL, we do not say that certain students have no ability to learn, or are not "college material", or are merely garbage input
but in UDL we would rather say that those students have a different method or preference in learning, as compared to the "smart" students
UDL believes that students differ in three dimensions; the first one is the "what" dimension
Students have differing preference for the type of information
Some might prefer information in form of text; they prefer collecting information through reading
Others might prefer graphical information, kinetic learning, or audio information
the next dimension is "how"; the way people learn also differs
Some might prefer learning by a hearing a lecture, others might like site visits,
others might prefer learning through direct observation, and other might like practicing or actually doing what they learn
People also learn for differing reasons, which is the "why" dimension
In conclusion, UDL is base on a belief that everyone can learn; it is only the way that people learn which differs
Because people differ in the way they learn, UDL is build on three pilars
The first pilar is representation, the second one is expression, and the third one is engagement
The implementation of UDL requires not only hardwork on the part of teachers,
but also a strong infrastructure support; during his stay in Hawaii, Adi had the opportunity to observe the infrastructure required to implement UDL
Adi will present his observations, the infrastructures required to support UDL; how students with learning disabilities were given extra support to learn
The strategy that we feel can be implemented here in ASMI Santa Maria is peer mentoring
The peer mentoring implemented here does not have to be as complex as the one in KCC (Kapiolani CC)
It can just be in the form of course peer mentors; for example the Photography course which is offered during the 2nd semester
We can recruit students to mentor their juniors
For example, we can recruit 4 students from the 4th semester and 4 more from the 6th semester
To differentiate the mentors from the other students, they do not have to put on special t-shirts which might be rather expensive, but they can simply put on colored ribbons
I am confident that if the system is implemented, the 4th semester students won't forget things they have learned in the previous semesters
and the 2nd semester students can freely ask for assistance, because students are sometimes reluctant to go to their teachers for help
then we share our knowledge to our community and document the process
for example, we can improve the making of batik, or visit local churches
students from Public Relation and Secretary can collaborate to do social work
I am confident that the work can serve as a revenue generating project where the fund generated could be used for bigger things
KCC has already gone international; they have sent students to Korea, China, and Thailand