Three Teachers Receive ‘New Era’ Awards

Three teachers received the 2011 New Era Teacher (Guraru) awards from Acer Group Indonesia on Saturday. The recipients are: Wijaya Kusumah from SMP Labschool junior high school in Jakarta, Sawali Tuhusetya of SMP 2 junior high school in Kendal, Central Java, and Agus Sampurno from SD Global Jaya elementary school in Jakarta. They each received an Acer product, a cash prize and a one-year contract with Acer to become speakers in seminars on the use of information technology (IT) in teaching and learning activities in schools.

Acer Group Indonesia said it introduced the Guraru award to improve IT literacy among Indonesian teachers, where they were expected to utilize IT in teaching and learning activities and encourage their students to also actively use the technology. Wijaya said teachers needed effective ways to foster students’ creativity, and IT could help build that creativity. He added that blogs in particular could enhance students’ interest in reading and writing.

“The most important thing is how we can utilize technology in learning,” Wijaya told The Jakarta Post after the award ceremony. He said on his blog, wijayalabs.com, that information and communications technology also allowed teachers to easily share their teaching experiences with their fellow teachers, students and the public at large.

During the ceremony, held as part of the ON-OFF Pesta Blogger 2011 event, Guraru 2010 winner Urip said this year’s winners deserved their awards because they had inspired other teachers through their writings on the use of IT in teaching. A total of 2,566 teachers from more than 20 provinces in Indonesia took part in the 2011 Guraru Award, a 588 percent increase compared with last year’s 270 contestants.

“The figure shows that more teachers are realizing the benefits of technology and social media in sharing information and education,” Acer Group Indonesia marketing communication head Helmy Anam said in a recent media briefing. (drs)

Source: www.thejakartapost.com