UGM Student giving a class on media literacy to Junior High Shool student in Sumber Agung. Photo by KKN-PPM UGM team
Nowadays, internet has been an unseparable things from the youths in this era. From the cities to villages, internet has become a common thing to know for them. This internet phenomenon is also happening for the neighborhood of Rawa Pitu, Tulang Bawang, Lampung.
Even though this area is categorized as a remote are, this area has been covered by a high speed internet. This internet access is provided by telecommunication services provide and “Internet Masuk Desa” program by Ministry of Communication and Informatics of Indonesia.
Like a double-edged knife, the existence of internet within the society definitely has positive and negative potentials. Moreover, most of the internet users in Rawa Pitu are students and young adults. Unfortunately, most of the internet is used only for entertainment purposes like YouTube, Facebook, and online gaming. They were not using the internet for the sake of education yet. The lack of guidance for the students to use internet is feared to the student to misuse the internet advantages they have.
Beginning from that condition, KKN-PPM team Unit LA-002 Lampung initiated media literacy education. The event was called “The Benefits of Internet for Education”. This event was targeting students in Rawa Pitu to make them to be wiser to use the internet. This event was involveing 2 Junior High, 1 Senior High, and 1 Vacational School in Rawa Pitu, specifically for 9th grade of Junior High and 10th-12th grade of Senior High/Vocational school.
Need the help from the school
Besides to suggest the students to be wiser to use the internet, other target of this media literacy is the schools. Schools hopefully can direct the student intensively in accessing the internet. Schools involvement was very important because time and power limitations for the UGM students to get involve, so the help from schools are needed for further approaches.
Media literacy education is done by taking turns from one school to another in three weeks. The first event was done in SMP Negeri 1 Sumber Agung in July 18th 2018. Anda SMK Negeri 1 Sumber Agung, July 19th 2018. The second event was done in SMP Negeri 1 Panggung Mulyo in July 25th 2018. The next event was done in SMA Negeri 1 Rawa Pitu (July 30th 2018) and it was ended in MA Batang Hari on July 31st 2018.
The term “Book is the window of the world” now has turned into “Internet is the window of the world”.
Media literacy education class was given by showing videos of important persons in the history of telecommunication developments, introduction to internet facility, and motivational stories related to the people who were successfully benefits from the inter. Telecommunication technology development from ancient human to the discovery of computer was the biggest discovery in human history.
The invention of LAN networking which later evolved into the internet made the society easy to support their daily lives. The internet makes it easy for students to find study materials, study online, find competitions information, buy transportation tickets and more. Through this materials, students in Rawa Pitu are expected to be able to understand the history of the development of telecommunications technology and the good use of the internet.
This media literacy education is the first step for students to introduce the benefits of the internet in the lives of students. The term “book is a window to the world” has now been replaced with “the internet is the window of the world”. The committee hopes that the media literacy education will make Rawa Pitu students able to use the internet as a world window, especially for the purpose of education in supporting their learning activities.
Happiness of the Students of SMAN 1 Rawa Pitu, during the class of media literacy education. Photo by: KKN-PPM UGM Unit LA-002
(Author: Ismail Yusuf; Source: https://muda.kompas.id/2018/08/05/membuka-wawasan-pelajar-rawa-pitu-lewat-pendidikan-literasi-media/ ; translator: Harun Ardiansyah)