Building Teachers’ Understanding of Classroom Action Research: A Rural Case Study in Indonesia

Abstract

Indonesia Open University (UT: Universitas Terbuka) is a large, open university delivering distance education to students throughout Indonesia. An important aspect of its mission is to provide opportunities for Indonesian teachers to improve their education in-service. This includes two courses on classroom action research. In order to assess the effectiveness of these courses and, if necessary, improve them, a team of lecturers from UT conducted an investigation of the challenges teachers were facing in learning to conduct classroom action research through the UT modules. The team found that the modules did not adequately reflect an understanding of the actual characteristics of the teachers they were serving and were thus less effective than they might be in teaching teachers to conduct classroom action research. Changes in both the content and scheduling of the modules are recommended in order to more effectively promote classroom action research in Indonesian schools. Key Words: Classroom Action Research, Distance Education, Indonesia, Teacher Development