PANDA MOBILE HOLDS VIRTUAL TOUR WITH SDK 11 PENABUR
The invitation from WWF-Indonesia's Panda Mobile to SDK 11 Penabur Sunrise Garden about the virtual class program attracted the attention of Chandra Jiwa Praja. The English teacher, who is usually called Mr. Chandra, saw that the material of the virtual class program had something in common with the English lesson themed "School Trip". "Then, I contacted Panda Mobile and stated that SDK 11 Penabur responded positively to the WWF-Indonesia program, and planned to implement the program with grade 3 students," Mr. Chandra told the Panda Mobile team in mid-May 2020.
Then, Mr. Chandra coordinated with the principal and vice principal, as well as the 3rd grade homeroom teacher about the virtual class program with WWF-Indonesia. "I also invited other subject teachers to join the virtual class. Science lessons joined the virtual class with material on the shape of the earth's surface," he said. The school made a detailed lesson plan and schedule for the virtual class, and prepared student worksheets from the Rimbang Baling resource. The school's learning plan was then discussed with WWF-Indonesia.
While preparing the virtual class, the team faced a number of technical obstacles. Starting from adjusting the learning schedule, learning duration, to the virtual class media that must accommodate around 140 students in one vehicle. However, with the support and coordination of the school principal, fellow teachers and Panda Mobile, the problems were resolved.
Finally, on Wednesday (06/05), 140 3rd grade students of SDK 11 Penabur Sunrise Garden participated in a virtual class with WWF-Indonesia's Panda Mobile. One of the activities in this series of activities is a virtual tour. The students were invited to "visit" WWF-Indonesia's work site in Rimbang Baling, Riau. Through this program, participants are expected to understand about animal conservation efforts in Rimbang Baling.
Virtual class this time is quite special for both teachers and students of SDK 11 Penabur. "So far, we have conducted virtual class activities. However, this is the first time we have conducted a virtual tour with Panda Mobile," said Mr. Chandra.
The participants of the virtual class gave a positive response to the virtual tour this time. "Cool!" was Mr. Chandra's impression after guiding his students through the virtual tour. And, most importantly, the students got new information about nature conservation. "The virtual class program went smoothly as planned," said Mr. Chandra, relieved.
The school hopes Panda Mobile will provide more virtual class programs. "This is because we lack bilingual virtual tour resources about Indonesia that are highly interactive and informative," he said.
According to Mr. Chandra, the virtual tour learning model is a visionary breakthrough in education. He envisions that the way of learning with virtual tour will continue to evolve in the future, in the form of three-dimensional reality with Virtual Reality media. "I believe that bringing virtual reality into the classroom will make lessons more vivid, interesting and immersive," he said.
Furthermore, Mr. Chandra hopes that WWF-Indonesia's Panda Mobile can cooperate with the government in terms of environmental education. WWF-Indonesia Mobile Panda can be a resource person for environmental issues and nature conservation in dialog with students. So, this activity is not only sporadic, but sustainable and integrated.