Singaraja- Universitas Pendidikan Ganesha (Undiksha) pushes through innovations from lecturers and students. This time, the invention comes from students of the Faculty of Education (FIP), Primary School Teacher Education Study Programme, and Education Technology Study Programme. The collaboration is established in a Student Creativity Program (PKM), a prestigious event organized by the Directorate General of Higher Education. The innovation regarding the composing of Textbooks for left-handed students was worked on by a team consisting of Made Agus Dwi Pradnyana Dita, Ni Wayan Nik Sri Artini, Ni Pande Kadek Dewi Sudiartini, and I Kadek Indra Setiawan.
The supervising lecturer is Drs. I Wayan Sujana, S.Pd., M.Pd., also participated in this programme. Thanks to the help of all lecturers at Undiksha who support this PKM activity, it has also become a bridge so that it has succeeded in becoming one of the PKM that has passed funding by the Directorate General of Higher Education.
The Assistant Lecturer, I Wayan Sujana, explained that the design of this textbook was to fulfill the diversity of students. “This textbook for left-handed children, which is opened from left to right, is a creative effort from students to meet the learning needs of left-handed students,” he stated on Saturday (9/18/2021).
The head of the PKM team, Made Agus Dwi Pradnyana Dita, also explained that the composition of this textbook departed from the problems experienced by left-handed students, especially in the learning process related to the convenience of opening conventional books. “Until now, there are no textbooks specifically designed for left-handed children. In fact, left-handed children need textbooks that match their characteristics. This is because the movement of pushing left-handed children starts from left to right. To be able to provide learning facilities that are in accordance with the characteristics of left-handed children, we are trying to spark this creative idea so that education in Indonesia is able to appreciate the diversity of student characteristics as stated in Permendikbud Number 22 of 2016 concerning Education Process Standards, namely the recognition of individual differences,” he explained.
Making this left-handed textbook begins with a needs analysis through observation and interviews with left-handed students in one of the Elementary Schools in Denpasar City. As a result, left-handed students are not comfortable using conventional books that are opened from right to left. Based on this, the PKM team then carried out product design activities to get the design results in the form of textbooks with their characteristics opened from left to right. The writing of textbook content is also adjusted to the applicable curriculum. The textbook was printed, and a design test was carried out as well as a learning content test to determine its feasibility. “The test results were then very feasible, and left-handed textbooks were distributed to 15 left-handed students who were the research subjects,” he said.
Another student, I Kadek Indra Setiawan stated that apart from convenience, this book has advantages in terms of design that uses full color with lots of interesting pictures for elementary school students. At the time of the PKM assessment, namely at the PKP2 PKM stage, which passed the funding by the Directorate General of Higher Education, one of the juries appreciated the innovations that had been made and developed by students by stating that this PKM was unique and interesting. This is in line with the expectations of universities and faculties to support student achievement so that they can compete and excel at the national level.
This innovation is expected to contribute to the development of education and become a trigger for the creation of other interesting innovations. In the context of its development, it is hoped that the government will support from the government. “We really want this programme to be used as a reference in providing learning facilities, especially for left-handed students in Indonesia,” he added. (lpsy)
