Integration of Information and Communication Technology Volunteers in the Higher Education System

Introduction

Volunteers are people or groups who are committed to devoting their time and ability to help public interests for charity. People involved in volunteering are very varied, ranging from amateur to professional groups, young or old (Cahyana, 2016; Acevedo, 2005). Educational institutions are one of the places for volunteer recruitment and volunteer beneficiary partners (Cahyana, 2014; Attwood, et al., 2003; Musick & Wilson, 2007; Linda, 2000). Lecturers and undergraduate students can volunteer in order to carry out community service obligations.

Many volunteer organizations in Indonesia are engaged in various fields, for example, the Indonesian ICT (Information and Communication Technology) Volunteer. Throughout Indonesia, volunteers and ICT communities form it as a medium of communication, coordination, and collaboration to develop knowledge, skills, and attitudes that can advance the welfare and educate the nation's life with ICT (Kemkominfo, 2011). The purpose of forming Indonesian ICT Volunteers is in line with the obligation to serve the community (Kemenristekdikti, 2015). This community organization plans, implements, and oversees the development of the Indonesian information society and quadruple helix elements, including government, companies, universities, and others (Ministry of Communication and Information, 2011).

The information society is a new culture embodied by the freedom to access, create, distribute, and use the information for competitive advantage with ICT (Karvalics, 2007; Gudauskas, 2011). Building an information society within a specific geographic area requires many ICTs, human resources, and services. Continuous efforts are needed to change the condition of humanity from digital blindness to digital literacy until people realize the importance of mastery of information and ICT and can use ICT to access, create, distribute, and use information (Cahyana, 2014). It does not stop there; digitally literate people must also be digitally savvy, where the use of ICT and information succeeds in providing competitive advantages that are not self-defeating.

To change the condition of the community, ICT volunteers must carry out the following services in a sustainable manner in the community (Alisandi & Cahyana, 2015; Cahyana, 2014; Cahyana, 2015; Cahyana, 2016):

• Information Services, including activities to search and produce information in various formats and delivery of it to users of information in the real world and cyberspace;
• Device services, including activities to purchase or manufacture ICT equipment, installation, and maintenance (repair and improvement of functions); and
• User services, including educational activities, training, and technical assistance in the real world and cyberspace.

Efforts to change the condition of society in a large geographical area are not short-lived, so the managers of the ICT Volunteer Program need the availability of human resources every year. The community can volunteer to carry out these services. Recruitment must be periodic, considering that volunteering is not a permanent job. Communities can make commitments to volunteer for a certain period or only for one service assignment.

Higher education admits new students every year so that it has sustainable human resources. Academics from various fields of science can volunteer for ICT. Higher education institutions can participate in implementing an information society in their region in the form of community service activities with their partners. ICT Volunteer Organizations can become partners in these activities but must have the resources or something else needed by Higher Education to meet SNPT (National Higher Education Standards). This article describes the integration of ICT volunteers in the higher education system for intra-curricular and extra-curricular activities with the output according to the SNPT.

Integration Approach

Cahyana & Sagala (2017) have presented a higher education system model which includes: 1) input activities that collect real-world problems from partners or the application of science and technology; 2) the process of making solutions through teaching, research, and community service activities; and 3) output activities in the form of application of knowledge and technology that can change the condition of society as an effort to solve problems. Campuses can integrate ICT volunteers with the higher education system by making ICT volunteer activities part of the higher education system's input, processing, and output activities.

The principle of voluntary activity is voluntary. In the education system, every student can take part in learning that builds voluntary value in the initial conditions that are not voluntary. For example, at first, students were not happy to be involved in community service activities. Educators as mentors must be able to change these feelings and understand the importance of volunteering to help society. It is explained in SNPT that KKN is a form of community service learning and a means of applying attitudes and extracting knowledge and skills in religious and social life (Kemenristekdikti, 2015)

ICT volunteer services can be a community service learning activity. Among the community service learning activities according to SNPT is service to the community (Kemenristekdikti, 2015). ICT volunteer services include information services, device services, and user services. In this service, students apply knowledge in accordance with their field of knowledge with ICT by following the stages of increasing community capacity which include awareness / education, training, and post-training technical assistance. The expected benefit from community service learning, according to SNPT, is the use of ICTs which can improve life expectancy and community welfare.

The application of ICT Volunteers in community service learning includes three stages, as shown in the following figure:

In the curriculum of the Informatics Engineering study program at the Garut College of Technology, the ICT Volunteer course in the even semester is a debriefing stage; the implementation stage in the KKN / Real Work Lecture course for one month during long holidays or semesters between; and its closure in the KKN course in the odd semester of the following academic year.

The first activity is planning, which includes setting goals, objectives, and activities according to the university's strategic plan. These activities in the higher education change system model are part of control activities (Cahyana & Sagala, 2017). Planning determines the specifications of the beneficiary partners. The KKN committee can send request surveys to potential partners via the internet or door-to-door. Furthermore, students gain the ability to be able to provide services effectively and efficiently to partners. Each group can select beneficiary partners to build an excellent psychological atmosphere. Furthermore, the lecturer guides the group in delivering its services to partners.

Each group makes a KKN report with the guidance of the lecturer so that it is by the provisions. Then the assessment team evaluates the report a few days before and during the seminar. According to SNPT (Kemenristekdikti, 2015), the measurement of the benefits of KKN includes:

• Changes in attitudes, knowledge, and skills of beneficiary partners by program objectives;
• The potential for the use of science and ICT by the community in a sustainable manner; and
• The occurrence of student maturity.

Appraisers or audience in clarifying the final report or evidence of benefit in the seminar. Publication of the results of KKN in community service journals in the network to expand its advantages. The community service management unit or the ICT Volunteer organization as a program partner gives awards to all parties involved in KKN. ICT Volunteer Organizations provide opportunities for universities to obtain assessments at the regional, national, or international level.

Higher education institutions can integrate ICT Volunteers in student activities or community service carried out by the management unit or lecturers. The implementation team can carry out the program incidentally or programmed for one semester or more. The results of the service can be used as input for research by lecturers or students.

The campus ICT Volunteer Organization can carry out the program life cycle as shown in the following picture:

ICT Volunteer members include functional groups that carry out services in the community and structural groups that manage organizations and run organizational work programs.

A variety of organizational activities can prevent members from getting bored. Members can move from one functional level to another with certain conditions. The levels can include trainers for prospective members and administrators, organizational managers / administrators, and off-campus organization pioneers (Cahyana, 2014; Cahyana, 2015). Managers can realize their functions in the form of internal services to assist the management. The existence of this member is important considering that the development of an information society is carried out continuously.

Partnership

Higher education builds partnerships in the spirit of sharing facilities, human resources, funds (Cahyana & Sagala, 2017), tools, and programs to achieve the same goal. Beneficiary partners convey the problem, universities and supporting partners propose solutions, and the ICT volunteer group carries out the problem solving using shared resources.

ICT volunteers on campus can be in the form of lecturer work units, student activity units, or campus commissariat organizations. The work program takes place within a period according to the cooperation agreement. The evaluation of cooperation highlights the fulfillment of the points of the agreement and the benefits received by both parties.

The points of cooperation agreement or benefits of cooperation must be related to the fulfillment of SNPT, which supports the accreditation value of study programs and tertiary institutions, such as:

• Public leadership in the form of lecturers 'or students' contributions to society through the implementation of duties of ICT Volunteer organizations outside the campus;
• Student reputation in the form of ICT volunteer student program grants, and awards as ICT volunteers implementing the best work program at regional, national, or international levels;
• Capacity building of educators in the form of education and training related to digital literacy, or the participation of lecturers (as participants or presenters) in national or international scientific meetings, with topics related to ICT volunteers and attended by lecturers or student members of ICT volunteers from other campuses ;
• Reputation of lecturers in the form of community service program grants, and as administrators or mentors of the best ICT volunteers at regional, national, or international levels;
• Community service activities involving ICT Volunteer organizations as partners;
• Publication or dissemination of research results related to ICT volunteers; and
• Collaboration with ICT Volunteer organizations that provide benefits to the campus and beneficiary partners.

The ICT Volunteer Organization can form an organizational unit that manages the campus ICT volunteer program. The task of this agency is like the task of managing community service work units, except that the management task is multi-campus. There are at least four important elements that must be in place to ensure the sustainability of the cooperation of the ICT Volunteer organization with many universities:

• Campus ICT Volunteer Forum as a medium of communication and cooperation in campus ICT volunteer services;
• Indonesian ICT Volunteer Academy in an offline or online learning system to shape the knowledge, skills and attitudes of campus ICT volunteers;
• Dissemination of the results of ICT Volunteer services in the ICT Volunteer Conference, Journal of ICT Volunteers, or the Digital Library;
• Campus ICT Volunteer Award for campus commissariat or ICT volunteer service implementers who excel through assessment activities by quality assurance teams or competitions.

By adopting the information system analysis model for the Information Society Activator Group (Cahyana, 2015), the systems and technology that support this collaboration are as shown in the following figure:

Technology platforms should be online to open up opportunities for greater volunteer participation or collaborative work between campuses. Thus, ICT Volunteers can access the system and technology anywhere and anytime.

Conclusion

Integration of ICT Volunteers in the higher education system can take intra-curricular or extra-curricular activities structured into work programs. Campuses can collaborate with partners to complement program resources. To maintain the sustainability of cooperation, the output of the collaboration must be beneficial for both parties; especially for campuses, it must be in line with SNPT and support the accreditation of study programs or institutions. Organizational experience functional and structural must be tiered to keep members of the ICT volunteer active in the organization. Sustainability is essential considering that developing information society in a large geographic area can be achieved in a long time.

Original Sources: http://journal.fdi.or.id/index.php/jaspt/article/view/204

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