Chapter II of BOOK III : TEACHING-LEARNINGCENTER (ISS)

Background

The new paradigm of higher education management is aimed to continuously improve the quality of educational products and processes. There is a demand of high quality and entrepreneurship of graduates in the free competition for the job market. Students are asking for better education services and a condusive academic atmosphere which could be invented by high quality and professional teaching staff (App. 4 a). On the other hand, there seemed to be lack of commitment by Faculty, Departement and Study Programs to improve quality of education, instructional activities in particular (App.5). This is also true with senior lecturers who have minimum attention to improve their quality of teaching (App. 5 ). Another drawback is the low capability of self evaluation by staff to improve education.

Among the focuses of HasanuddinUniversity’s 5 year strategic plan are:

to improve the teaching and learning process through the improvement of

- academic and supporting staffs’s quality

- facilities and infrastructures

- curriculum, and Academic Atmosphere

to develop a better management system,
the improvement of the graduates quality

The quality improvement of higher education needs to be designed, organized and continuously implemented. The competency of teaching staffs in instructional activities was one, but maybe the most determinant factors to improve the quality of higher education graduates. P3AI-UNHAS was set up at Hasanuddin University by the Rector’s Decree No. 4009/J04/KP.23/96, on April 1, 1996 with the task of improving instructional activities by providing training programs to the teaching staffs, which was done by a Core PEKERTI/AA Training Team (See Appendix 1). P3AI has been given the authority by DGHE and PAU-PPAI-UT to execute teachers’ training and to submit PEKERTI and AA sertificate to teaching staffs completing the training.

Nevertheless, P3AI was not recognized as an institutional support system by other internal units, and therefore not optimally functioning as a permanent unit for quality improvement. Other drawbacks in executing its programs are the limited availability of experts on instructional planning, instructional method and media development, and curriculum development. There is also very limited budget to accomplish all programs and activities, including the acquirement of training facilities and office equipments. The only strength of this institution is a strong desire to improve and develop the institution. On the other hand, there is abundance of request by external teaching staff (private HE) for the PEKERTI/AA training program (ref.to Section 4 & App.6). As the biggest university in East Indonesia, UNHAS has the obligation to support other HE within this region.

A permanent institution at the university level should be in charge to coordinate the planning, implementation and evaluation of the higher education products. For the sake of effiency and effectivity, Study Programs or Faculty are exempted from the task of improving and developing teachers competency in instructional activities. Based on UNHAS strategic plan, the vision, mission, and objectives of TLC-UNHAS was derived, as follows :

Vision :

TLC-UNHAS is a support system for educational quality improvement, particularly concerning the efficiency and effectivity of the education function management to produce high quality graduates, which eventually will increase the community’s confidence in educational services.

Mission:

TLC-UNHAS has the task to continuously monitor, doing research, and evaluate problems faced in executing of the educational functions, especially on instructional activities :

To support university management with data and information to make decisions on education quality improvement and development, through reliable and valid research, evaluation and interpretation.
To serve and support academic staff (internal and external) to improve their skills in instructional activities through training programs and consultations, which eventually will improve students learning, and produce high quality graduates..
In collaboration with other educational units executes evaluation of the instructional processes and products for continuous quality improvements.

If the proposal program is approved and grant awarded, the TeachingLearningCenter will be settled as a permanent support system of the university :

structured within HasanuddinUniversity’s organization,
have the facilities of offices and Teaching Class, equipped with the necessary office tools,
have variety of programs and modern audio visual aids to improve instructional activites,

with the main task of improving quality of education :

To support the needs of university management and academic units in decision making on improvement and development of educational issues.
To support Study Programs in the development and implementation of curriculum.
To support teaching staff to improve instructional activities, and the development of courses and innovative teaching methodologies.

All of these supports were meant to promote better learning of students, and eventually produce high quality graduates, having the ability to compete for the job market. As a support system, the TLC serves students indirectly through the improved instructional activities by teaching staff, providing a more conducive academic atmosphere, and a more relevant curriculum by Study Program.

Objective and Strategy

Objectives :

The general objective of TLC-UNHAS is improving the performance and quality of education, which concists of :

The availability of accurate data and information for university management to make decisions on the improvement of instructional activities through evaluation of instructional process and output.
The improvement of instructional activities through teaching staff quality, covering the design of Course Outlines (GBPP) for the teacher himself and a Learning Contract (Kontrak Perkuliahan) for the students, execute teaching according to the planned teaching episode (SAP), the skill to evaluate students performance, and compiling Teaching Materials (Bahan Ajar) for the students, and improving teaching methodogy and new innovative courses..
Continuous institution quality improvement, through evaluations, improvement and development.

Strategy

1Establishment of TLC as an Institutional Support System

The overall planning, implementing and evaluation of activities towards improvements in education, instructional activities in particular, would be more efficient and effective if it is coordinated by an institution at the university level. The TLC unit was supposed to take this responsibility at HasanuddinUniversity. The performance of teaching staff in executing the knowledge and skills acquired from the PEKERTI/AA trainings needs to be evaluated The TLC is also expected to provide sound data and information for university management to make decisions on educational problems, through evaluation, analysis and interpretation. Linkages to external units should also be established to gather information and data. As a permanent structured institution within the university organization, having the authority and direct access to study program and other academic units, this institution could perform better in quality improvements of education. TLC is going to serve more than 80 undergraduate Study Programs and about 1600 teaching staff to improve teaching methodology. Therefore the TPSDP grant will mostly be used to serve Study Programs who was granted the ADB loan.

2Improvement of Instructional Activities (Teaching Learning Process)

Apart from the knowledge and skill of his/her own field of study, all university teaching staff should also have the knowledge and skills in instructional activities, which they have not learned before. These skills were provided by TLC through the PEKERTI/AA training programs. The quality of teaching is one of the major determinant in producing quality graduates. To be effective and efficient, the training of teaching staffs throughout the university need to be coordinated, and be implemented by an institution at the university level. It would be not beneficial for each faculty, department or study program to set up their own unit of teacher training, because of the high budget and skilled manpower needed to run such a unit. Other activities which could be done in collaboration with Study Programs are the evaluation of the instructional process and output i.e. the evaluation of student performance indicators (GPA, shortened study period, diminishing of drop outs, etc.), curriculum development and implementation, and the improvement of teaching methodology. Data and information are also provided to university managers in making decisions on improving quality of education. To be able to produce quality graduates, which could lead to community’s confidence in UNHAS graduates, all teaching staffs must participate the PEKERTI/AA training, or parts thereof.

3Continuous Institutional Development

The TLC institution is a support system for quality improvement. To be able to perform and function as expected in improving quality, its own quality has to be improved first. Continuous self evaluation should be carried out by the institution itself with the aim of improvement and development of its own performance in improving education quality. Human resources to run the institution should have the required special skills to perform. Administration staffs and technicians with certain qualifications should also be available. And of course, training and office facilities should be developed and improved.

Development Plan

Activity : Institutional Effectivity and Efficency Improvement

Background.

HasanuddinUniversity has committed to continually improve its ability to achieve its missions as stated in the Strategic Plans or RENSTRA (p.1 SER). The TLC is expected to support these improvement and development plans. The present P3AI is not functioning well as expected to improve quality of education. Founded on April 1, 1996, the only activity P3AI has been doing was PEKERTI/AA training of teaching staff (App.1 SER). Aside from not structured as a permanent unit, P3AI and its functions was not known to other academic units within UNHAS. (The functions of P3AI, p.7 SER).

Rationale.

In order to function accordingly as a support unit for quality improvement, TLC should be permanently structured within the university organization system. As a permanent institution, P3AI can make better planning, implementation and evaluation of programs and activities to support quality improvements in education. Commitment of UNHAS top managers is needed to put this plan into reality, which is already stated in the recent draft of UNHAS’ statutes.

Objective :

Establishment of TLC as a permanent structured organization within Hasanuddin University to support management and academic units, especially Study Programs in the planning, development and improvement of educational issues.

Mechanism and Design.

Sub Activity 1.1. Establishment of TLC unit as a support system..

A series of meetings with Study Programs, Department, Faculty, Rector and Vice Rectors and other concerned units are needed to settle the legality of this institution.

SubActivity 1.2. Establishment of office and working space.

Work and office space are available from UNHAS. Minor renovation of the existing P3AI premises are needed. Also office furniture and equipments are needed.

Sub Activity 1.3. Settlementof the TLC functions. Five units are planned within the TLC institution. Staff recruitments and training is needed to run the TLC programs.

Resources required

Operational cost for the meetings to establish the TLC organization system is needed for this activity, and minor renovations will be done to divide the present office into 5 smaller offices. Air conditioning is also needed for the present training classroom and the 5 offices planned. These offices can be aimultaneously used for the “micro teaching classes”. Office furniture and equipments are also present, but need some addition. Telephone connection, electricity and water supply will be acquired from UNHAS DRK. Recruitment and staff training is needed to run the offices.

(number of Cost Component refers to the Eligible Cost Component ISS, Table 1)

Activity 1 Cost Component Source Funding

Sub activity 1.1 6.1 DRK

Sub activity 1.2 2 3 6.1 TPSDP / DRK

Sub activity 1.3 1 TPSDP

Implementation Schedule

Implementation schedule for each activity and subactivities (by quarter) are presented in Table 2

Performance Indicator of Activity :

Variety of Services, Utilization Rate of ISS, Number of Skilled Supporting Staff

(See part D of this Chapter – Performance Targets for detailed description)

Sustainability

The existence of TLC will last as long there is a need for quality improvement of education, because it will be written in UNHAS Statutes. Further responsibility will be on the university top managers, and so will be the allocation of resources.

Person in Charge : Drs Frans A. Rumate

Activity: Internal Management Improvement

Background

Only the definition of GBPP and SAP was stated in UNHAS Academic Regulations. There is no statement on the obligation of teaching staff to construct a GBPP/SAP plan of the course they teach. The present P3AI was not recognized by other academic units within UNHAS. Access to Study Programs and other academic units has to pass a long chain of bureaucracy (ref. Section 4 Implementation Processes, p. 4, SER). The implementation of knowledge and skills acquired from the PEKERTI/AA program by teaching staff needs to be evaluated for the purpose of remedial, improvement and development of the instructional activity. Evaluation on the implementation of PEKERTI by teaching staffs was done by P3AI-UNHAS only once in 1998 using the questionnaire attached as appendix 5. Such evaluations should be executed regularly.

Rationale

Regulations on the teachers accountability of their teaching should be put in writing, and socialized to all civitas academica.. If P3AI is going to take the responsibility of improving quality, considering the variable activities to be accomplished for quality improvements, the present units of the P3AI organization structure should be activated, or developed to do other activities aside from staff training These acitivities may be done by the units which concist of : educational planning and development, instructional activities improvement and development, instructional technology (instructional method, media and learning facilities) development, process and product evaluation, and quality assurance. (ref.to Sect.5 SER). These units should have direct access to other academic units and in assist Study Programs in the curriculum planning and development, improving and development of teaching staffs skill in instructional activities, evaluation of programs and other activities of quality improvements. To have better communication with study programs, a liaison staff is going to be appointed at each study program/department or faculty. Data and information should also be provided by the units of P3AI for top management to make decisions on improving quality of education.

Objective :

Establishment of the TLC functions and organizational linkages

Mechanism and Design

Sub Activity 1.1. Improving accountability of teaching staffs

Teachers accountability of their task should be put in the academic regulation. This will be accomplished through argumentations in meetings with academic units and university top managers. A portfolio of good teaching by teachers.will be constructed.

Sub Activity 1.2. Establishment of linkages with other academic units

The task of each unit within TLC and accessibility to other academic units should be put in writing . A liaison staff will be appointed at each Study Program. To accomplish this task, the 5 units within P3AI will have to make a thorough planning of their programs, linkages to study programs, department/faculty. Recruitments and training of human resources to run these units will be necessary as well procurement of office furniture and equipments. (See point 5 of this I.P).

Sub Activity 1.3. Evaluations of teachers’ performance

The performance of the PEKERTI alumni in their instructional activities needs to be evaluated regularly with the aim of the remedial and improvement of their skills (App.5).Using the portfolio of good teaching in collaboration with Study Programs evaluations will be carried out using peer or student evaluation.

Resources required (numbers in brackets refers to Eligible Cost Components)

A portfolio of good of teaching will be constructed. This activity needs meetings with concerned parties to come to an agreement (6.1 , DRK). Later on, evaluations in the form of research (4, TPSDP) will be done of teaching staff’s performance using this portfolio. Staff recruitment and training will be needed (1, TPSDP).

Implementation Schedule

Implementation schedule for each activity and subactivities (by quarter) are presented in Table 2

Performance Indicator of Activity

Number of courses/training for internal client, Number of courses/training for external,

client, Number of collaboration (See Part D : Performance Targets)

Sustainability

-academic regulations will be settled for their accountability

-the existence of the portfolio of teaching will be constructed

Person in Charge : Ir Mahmud Syam, DEA

Improvement of Teaching Learning Process

Background.

Students are asking for better education services and a condusive academic atmosphere which could be invented by high quality and professional teaching staff (App. 4 a). To perform good teaching, all teaching staffs should design the courses they teach into a GBPP format, to teach according to the planned SAP format, and having the skill to do objective, reliable, and relevant evaluation of students. Senior lecturers have to design a Learning Contract, and the Compilation of Teaching Materials for students (BahanAjar), (ref.to Sect.3 SER). Only 33 % of UNHAS teaching staffs have the opportunity to participate in the PEKERTI training program since it was introduced in 1994 (ref. to Sect.3). Aside of the scarce budget available to execute the training, there are academic units, faculty and departments who don’t encourage their teaching staff to improve their skills in instructional activities. From previous experience, the attendance of teaching staff to participate in the training program was only 60 % of those who are invited (P3AI training reports, not attached as Appendix). Indifferent attitude towards the improvement of teacher qualities was also true with senior lecturers who didn’t participate in the PEKERTI training program, because they have already attended similar previous training programs, and that the 6-8 days time to spend for the PEKERTI training could be spared for other activities (ref. to Sect 4) . Evaluations in improving programs are also needed for decision making by top managers. Such evaluations need to be regularly executed to improve quality. In collaboration with Faculty, Department or Study Program, the impact of improved instructional activities on the quality of graduates needs to be evaluated by using certain performance indicators, e.g Improved Grade Point Average, shortening of study period, diminishing of dropouts, etc. (ref.to Sect.9 SER)

Rationale

All teachers should have participated a training course on teaching methodology. Every year TLC has access to a certain amount of the P2T project budget, but not sufficient to train all UNHAS staff from 50 S1 and 32 other undergraduate Study Programs (See Table 5).). Meanwhile, many teaching staffs from private and other HE’s are also in need of these training programs, to improve quality towards accreditation of their study program (App.6). The PEKERTI/AA training program is continuously being improved and developed. Training materials, i.e the PEKERTI/MIPA training and Indigination of Art and PEKERTI teaching has been developed. Development of other teaching methodology will also be constructed. and innovative courses for example Entrepreneurship for Engineering students, the use of modern audio visual aids in teaching.