Tech Seminar in Mataram

It’s been a busy week. I started out last Saturday taking the ferry over to Lombok and then taking a 2 hour car trip across the island to Mataram where I checked in to a hotel across from the Mataram Mall. That’s when I started working.

I was over in Lombok to be the main speaker at a seminar on using technology in education. One of our teachers, Pak Habib, arranged the whole seminar along with a committee from the pesantren where the seminar was being held. I spent hours Saturday night running a test on the computer, the presentation software, the sound system, and talking with the head of the pesantren, the head of the committee and Pak Habib. I didn’t get to bed until midnight.

The next morning I was up early to drive back to the town, Kediri, where the pesantren is located. The committee had put up a large banner welcoming me which was pretty cool. Like most things in Indonesia, the conference started late as people didn’t really begin arriving until 9 which is when the seminar was supposed to begin.

About 80 people showed up: teachers, principals, and university students. I did two 30 minutes talks – one on concepts and one on applications – and there were two question and answer periods. One of our teachers, Habibi, showed a cool presentation, and Habib did a little warmer up before the second session. All in all, it went well, so all of my anxieties were for nothing.

One of the benefits of the seminar for me was that it got me excited about education again, and particularly about working to help change education in Indonesia. We’ll see how that works out.

~ by drbrucepk on May 9, 2009.