A Major responsibility of schools entering this new era of globalization is to prepare students for the new challenges that are rapidly changing our society.

One of the greatest challenges currently facing our youth is finding meaningful employment. The ability to speak a foreign language and computer literacy are currently two of the most common criteria required from people wishing to enter the workforce in Indonesia (and globally).

As only about 20-30% of Senior Secondary School SMA graduates nationally continue on to formal tertiary education, and with computers now infiltrating every aspect of human life it places a high burden of responsibility upon our education system to improve the development of our students' language and computer literacies. The study of technology is very important and schools are responsible for teaching technology (ICT) at all levels because many students are still failing to continue their education beyond primary and junior secondary levels. .

We fully support the development of technology in education, however, we also feel that we must ascertain whether technology and its application is appropriate to the needs, and also question whether in fact it meets the needs at all.

For instance, Improve The Role and Quality Of Our School Libraries.

Is Technology The Solution For Our Libraries?

We need quality management, policy and planning in our schools before we can maximize the utilization of technology. For example: Laptops In Schools.

Technology (for instance laptops) have the potential to assist learners in schools, however like every aspect of quality in education, management and policy are the key issues that need to be addressed first.

The implementation of technology in education in Indonesia must be in accordance with a master plan for the overall development of education generally. Technology must be rationally integrated into the development plan considering all of the many other high priority development issues (a Holistic Master Development Plan) , a plan that addresses all education issues and priorities in balance (Not another project-based disaster!).

Often public announcements about the role of technology in education appear in our newspapers that don't appear to have considered global education research or experience at all. Frequently specific remote cases or sources of information are projected as general education solutions.

However, important issues here in Indonesia like: "Schools can't protect themselves against pornography" haven't been given sufficient consideration and only emerge as issues after they have been encountered in the field. The solution lies in diligent high quality human resources in our schools which is also the key to addressing most of the other education issues as well.

Of course we must search for creative solutions, however we must also learn from the general pool of world experiences so that we don't replicate the failures experienced in other countries.

Is the fact that increasing numbers of students are spending time in Internet cafes rather than spending the time at home reviewing their school work or doing their homework one of the reasons for decreasing performance in their National Exams (UN)? We need to know!

With all Technologies, for instance; the Electronic Whiteboard, OHP, Video, Television, e-Learning, Internet, etc., the quality and therefore the usefulness relies 100% upon the quality of the content and the teaching process deployed. Technology itself is just a medium. Whether it succeeds or fails depends 100% upon the content and process, not the technology.

It appears that the importation of cheap laptops at prices like those quoted in the marketing still cannot be achieved, for instance:

$150 Linux Mini-PC dari Cina A Chinese company is touting an inexpensive Linux-based computer as a way to close the "digital divide." YellowSheepRiver's $150 "Municator" appears to be available now, with a three-month leadtime, suggesting it could reach market well ahead of MIT's $100 "One Laptop Per Child" (OLPC) device. More Information

E-Pendidikan Supports The "One Laptop Per Child" Program