The 23rd UPH Festival: Teachers Seminar ?The Way We Learn?

All Teachers were Paying Close Attention on the Teachers Seminar 

Aside from inviting High School students, UPH also invited the teachers to follow a seminar on the 23^rd UPH Festival. On the 23^rd UPH Festival, everyday there will be different topics for the seminars held for teachers. This series of seminars are a routinely performed program of UPH, which has been anticipated by teachers.

On the first day of the 23^rd UPH Festival 23, Thursday, August 18, 2016, Teacher Seminar pick the theme ?The Way We Learn? presented by an education expert as well as the Head Department of UPH Master of Education, Dr. Niko Sudibjo.

The topic of this seminar aimed to direct and inform educators about how to understand students? types of learning and how to keep up with all the information and to adjust with the digital generation of this era. Dr. Niko Sudibjo began the seminar by playing a movie, which tells a story about how a family educates their children and this movie was used as a discussion topic by the end of the session.

The movie illustrates a parent who wants their children to be ?smart babies?. They imply all kinds of methods to make their babies as smart as possible. One of the methods is called hothousing, where children on age 3 were being taught with special visual equipment, such as pictures of fruits or other things. This technique taught toddlers by showing and naming the name of those things fast and spontaneously. There were pros and cons regarding this method, because it was deemed useless; babies and toddlers would not understand, they haven?t had the sufficient ability to absorb information and their memories are rather week during that span of age, therefore the method was seen as a way to force toddlers to study, even if the method deemed itself successful.

After the movie, Dr. Niko Sudibjo explained that his main goal is to tell these educators about how to teach children and students in a correct way and effectively.

?There are 3 important points that we have to consider about the way we teach children. First, we have to see their age level, second, pay attention to their interest and talents and lastly, look at their learning style,? said Dr. Niko Sudibjo.

 Those three aspects are interconnected; how we adjust our teaching according to their age level, how we know their interest and talent to combine the two and how we know the right learning method for every child. Educators were encouraged to understand teaching as a fun thing, so that learning can impact positively and create a supportive emotional environment for the children.

To end the session, Dr. Niko Sudibjo concluded that as educator, especially as a High School educators, educators has to be a ?friend? for their students. Thus, students will enjoy learning because they don?t feel the pressure during the learning process.

Following are testimonies from the participants of the seminar:

?I get a lot of information and advantages from this seminar, such as how educators should give pressure to students and how we should encourage them to study. Moreover, when Dr. Niko Sudibjo asked if your child is weak in Mathematics and is good in language, then what extra course should you give to your children? And the answer is of course, Language course, because that is the strong point of my child. I also learned to be a friend for my students, because they give an impact to me and so do I,? said Angelia Emy, as a Counseling Teacher at the Strada St. Thomas Aquino High School.

?This has been my second visit to UPH, but I didn?t know that there was a seminar for teachers held at the Open Day for students. I was told about this seminar when I just came and I was escorted by the staffs to go up and attend the teacher seminar and I was also told that students have their own activities. My impression about UPH is pretty good, they welcome us rather nicely and they give us the opportunity to gain more knowledge through this seminar. My hope is for the students to know and to be sure of what they want and where do they want to continue their studies and for UPH to keep being connected with us, because some of our students are continuing their studies in Universitas Pelita Harapan,? said Suryati as the teacher for Student Affairs from Atisa Dipamkara School, before the seminar began. (fairyska)