Discovering Innovation and Collaboration: An Insight from the 10th SEA-DR (South East Asia Design Research) Conference, Australia

by Fakhrur Razi 

Being one of the paper presenters at the 10th SEA-DR is a big opportunity in my life. Attending this conference has colored my academic journey as a PhD student at FoE UIII. This international conference with the theme “Fostering Common Sense in Learning: Unveiling the Potential of Design Research” was hosted by Deakin University, Melbourne Australia on 15-16 July 2024. This conference aims to enhance collaboration and exchange of ideas between researchers and graduate students in implementing design research. Apart from that, the conference chaired by Assoc. Prof. Wanty Widjaja invited keynote speakers who are experts in the field of design research from various countries such as Prof. Fou-Lai Lin (Taiwan), Prof. Zsolt Lavicza (Austria), Assoc. Prof. Adi Nur Cahyono (Indonesia) and Prof. Maija Akslea (Finland).

Participating in the conference activities for two days deepened my knowledge in the field of design research. On the first day, the keynote speakers presented materials regarding designing learning workshops as co-learning settings, teacher innovation (augmented/virtual reality and 3D printing), and promoting STEM education through design research which in general provided the latest innovations regarding the development of design research in the world and how it influences teaching and learning in the classroom. Two insightful things are that teacher training is crucial in improving classroom learning and educational innovation in the world following the development of advanced technology nowadays. However, When I look back at my country, Indonesia, innovation is still not evenly distributed due to the lack of collaboration between various educational stakeholders. This conference reminded us of the benefits of design research as a powerful method in contributing to the richness of learning in the classroom. This opened my eyes to continue innovation and collaboration in design research that could enhance education quality in Indonesia.

The process of writing a paper presented at this conference was also quite challenging for me. The paper I wrote is a part of the results of the project “Spatial Reasoning and Numeracy Workshop for Early Childhood Educators” chaired by my advisor, Destina Winarti, Ph.D. We realize that Professional Development (PD) for kindergarten teachers in improving learning is still under discussion, particularly in spatial reasoning. The paper entitled “Designing Play-Based Spatial Reasoning Activities: A Professional Development Program for Early Childhood Education Teachers” aims to design professional development that helps teachers in designing play-based activities. After presenting it on the second day, I got critical questions about the continuation of this professional development in the classroom context. This question led to an exchange of ideas among the panels with positive energy.  Also, I got networking from various countries, both Asia and Australia, to discuss the extent to which design research can influence classroom learning in our respective countries.

I reflect that innovation and collaboration between researchers and practitioners/teachers in Indonesia still need improvement. However, several reliable international assessments (e.g. PISA and TIMSS) that serve as a reference for the quality of education in a country place Indonesia as still below the average compared to other countries in the world. In fact, education in Indonesia still requires learning innovations that will produce effective learning. Furthermore, the keynote speaker also talked about the importance of working with the community to transfer design research into comprehensive education policies. Through this conference, implementing collaboration between teachers and researchers in design research in a sustainable manner is the key to improving classroom learning. In summary, as a young researcher, I have a strong desire to conduct design research and collaborate with various parties in creating sustainable educational innovations to accelerate the quality of education in Indonesia.