Advanced Educational Technology Discography

 One night, at the beginning of this semester, I sent a WAG message to my students:

 Indeed, music became an integral part in my course. I know my students better through their music. It's all started in 2021, when I first teaching at SU with cohort 2018: Rena, Nami, et al. It was in pandemic situation. Hence, the song of this cohort is really just about that: the feels of isolation, yet we hope someday all the shit is over. 

Teaching them is my gateway to Korean music indeed. 

Then came cohort 2019. They were a lot. I mean ... they were 24 students. I spent extra time to have one-on-one coding consultation with each of them, to make sure that at the very least, their module is in a good shape. And they did make it good.

There are several songs that reminds me of them. Rachel put Yellow cover by Brooklyn Duo in her artstep project in final EDUTECH assignment. That, I will never forget. It's like a full circle to me when I played the song for them and they gave it back to me. Lots of the folk liked K-Pop, so Rose's On The Ground reminds me a bunch of them. And they were resilient. Despite of shortcomings, they tried their best. Yura Yunita's Merakit never fails to make me watery eyes while thinking about some students in cohort 2019. 

Maybe one song that represents them the most is Coldplay's Fix You. I played the original song in the class. But Jacob Collier has an incredible cover at the end of last year: 

Cohort 2019 is indeed pretty special to me. Some of them took their time, traveled to Jogja for vacation and stopped by my house. Some of them, I supervised their capstone and a bunch more asked me for advice even though I was not their supervisor. Some worked in a "research-for-fun" with me. A bunch of them still say hi to me through WhatsApp or Instagram.

Collier's Fix You illustrate it best.

After the pandemic is over, I was given the privilege to teach my courses online. But I go to SU when I see it fits and is necessary. 

My first face-to-face (F2F) meeting was with cohort 2020, the pandemic cohort. They started their journey in Sampoerna University fully online. Fadil didn't even show up when I had my first F2F meeting because he is still on the way to Jakarta from Kalimantan.

This cohort, so far, is the most musical. 

Well, there's El. But there's also Syifa who self declared having Ph.D. in DAY6 (a band from Korea) and metal head Jessica. In fact, I started my "Student" playlist in this cohort. I filled the list with DAY6's Time of Our Life, an OST from Persona5 (a game that Fadil spent his life force on before he met 'the girl'), "Bad Things" from a rock indie band Prevail introduced to me by Jessica and some other songs.

However, Miley Cyrus' "Flowers" has a special place in our collective memory. Jessica presented lyricstraining for Technology in Teaching Listening/Speaking and the whole class jammin' to Miley's tune.

I found that the mashed song cover by Poomplamoose  represent the dynamics, the creativity, and the quirk of cohort 2020.

They are a bunch of students who asked me the most questions to ponder in class.

I'm still looking forward to cohort 2021 playlist, but as I said, in my opinion they are not "musical". I mean, maybe they love music but I never be able to probe what their music is all about. I would guess maybe similar to K-Pop thingy, but some of them have old soul as well. In all of those mystery, I'd like to hook this cohort with Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata. It's complicated. It's hard to play. But it's beautiful af. 

It's really ironic though, since Ally and Nat probably the only two students who spent three semester with me. They took ADV.EDUTECH with 2020 cohort and then took the regular EDUTECH on the next semester, and TLL on the semester after that. But somehow, 2021 is overshadowed by their "neighboring" cohort.

And finally, the 2022 cohort. The cohort whom I sent this message to. It's the end of the semester and I found a perfect song for them. Teaching faculties in SU often advertise their cohort as one of the best they had. And surely, they didn't disappoint. They're crazy, but crazy good. Quirky. Unique. Creative. Hard-working. Resilient. All the good things. A "Crazy" song cover from Walk Off The Earth would fit their characteristics perfectly. But no. Our interaction during the semester is more than that. This cohort is always looking for connections. Something that has meaning beyond the face value. So I wouldn't choose classical music even though Celine would love it. I wouldn't choose any oldies like Michael Learns To Rock's "Strange Foreign Beauty", or some MRT song that Gio put in their Spotify list for me (Yes, MRT stands for Mono Rail Train).

Their song, in my opinion is this:

This is a soundtrack of Sakamoto Days anime series, aired on Spring 2025. Exactly. This cohort only doing one semester with me because in the Fall 2024, I didn't teach. And Sakamoto and his bunch portrayed my interaction with this cohort perfectly. Not to mention, the Japanese vibe of Gaby and her SONIC obsession is too strong LOL.

I am looking forward to meet the next cohort. I wonder what their song would be. Or would Sakamoto be my last song? I never know.

Matematika dan Pendapatan

 

Itu grafik nilai Matematika PISA 2022 (sebagai indikator kualitas pendidikan) dari 38 negara yang dipetakan terhadap Pendapatan Per Kapita negara ybs.  di tahun yang sama. Meskipun untuk menarik kesimpulan kausalitas Kita mesti berhati-hati, korelasi antara kedua ukuran tersebut positif: 0.581. Limitasinya tentu saja, nilai PISA itu diukur dari anak SMP dan pendapatan per kapita itu gambaran makro ekonomi sebuah negara pada saat itu. Tapi karena nilai PISA kita bertahun-tahun stabil rendahnya, saya rasa nggak apa apa lah mencoba melihat korelasi kedua ukuran tersebut.

Bisa dilihat, negara2 yang skor PISA (Matematika) nya di bawah 450, hampir bisa dipastikan Pendapatan Per Kapita nya di bawah 25 ribu USD per tahun. Pengecualiannya hanya tiga negara yang saya tandai dengan warna hijau: Arab Saudi, Qatar, dan Uni Emirat Arab. Ketiganya negara minyak.

Sebaliknya, negara2 yang skor PISA (Matematika) nya di atas 450, hampir bisa dipastikan Pendapatan Per Kapita nya di atas 25 ribu USD per tahun.Pengecualiannya hanya dua negara: Turkiye dan Viet Nam. Kedua negara tersebut memilki pertumbuhan ekonomi yang relatif tinggi dalam satu dekade terakhir. Dan nampaknya, kedua negara tersebut meletakkan fondasi pertumbuhan ekonomi-nya pada perbaikan mutu kualitas pendidikan seperti yang dilakukan Jepang dan Korea Selatan pasca perang dunia kedua.

Tapi memang sekali lagi, hubungan korelasional itu belum tentu kausalitas. Jika pun kausalitas, Kita harus bertanya apakah karena pendapatan per kapita-nya rendah lalu kualitas pendidikan-nya buruk ataukah sebaliknya karena kualitas pendidikannya buruk sehingga pendapatan per kapita-nya rendah. Ini semacam pertanyaan mana yang duluan, ayam atau telur. Di dalam kerangka teori evolusi, jawabannya yang duluan itu telur. Paralel dengan itu, nampaknya kualitas pendidikan yang buruk berkontribusi terhadap pendapatan per kapita yang rendah.

Transgresif

Jadi latar belakangnya ... saya dan tiga orang teman saya yang lain, somehow, punya grup IG yang membahas per-taytay-an ... fart jokes alias "dagelan entut" dan sejenisnya begitulah. Kami saling kirim reels terkait dengan aktivitas saluran pencernaan yang paling akhir ... kadang begitu informatif, kadang ya plain njijiki(gross). Lumayanlah untuk melatih mental.

Saya lalu penasaran dan tanya ke Gemini, kenapa untuk beberapa orang dagelan entut itu lucu:

Jawaban lengkapnya seperti ini:

Fart jokes tap into a few different aspects of humor that make them funny for many people:

• The Unexpected and Uncontrollable: Farting is a natural bodily function that is often considered impolite or embarrassing in public. The unexpectedness and lack of control associated with it can be inherently funny. It's a sudden, often noisy interruption of the normal flow of things.
• Breaking Social Taboos: There's a certain transgressive element to fart jokes. They violate social norms about what is considered polite or proper, and this can be humorous. It's a way of playfully rebelling against social constraints.
• The Grotesque Body: As mentioned in one of the search results, fart jokes relate to what's called the "grotesque body" in humor theory. This refers to the focus on the lower bodily functions and things that are usually hidden or considered distasteful. Bringing these things into the open can be both shocking and funny.
• Relatability: Everyone farts. It's a universal human experience. This relatability can make fart jokes funny because people recognize the situation and can laugh at something they've all experienced.
• Incongruity: Humor often arises from incongruity, which is a mismatch between what is expected and what actually happens. A dignified person farting loudly in a formal setting is a classic example of this. The incongruity between the setting and the action creates humor.

It's worth noting that humor is subjective, and not everyone finds fart jokes funny. What one person finds hilarious, another might find childish or distasteful. However, the elements mentioned above explain why this type of humor has enduring appeal for many people.

Tautan asli: https://g.co/gemini/share/b58647d7bb61

...

Begitulah ... dan saya tidak pernah sekali pun membayangkan ada istilah "dagelan entut itu transgresif" ...

Terimakasih AI!

Kang Nur

Sambil menunggui Najwa kursus biola di hari Minggu, terkadang saya mampir ke angkringan-nya Kang Nur untuk minum jahe panas dan mengudap pisang goreng atau tahu susur.

Pagi itu sambil nunggu jahe-nya panas, Kang Nur duduk di samping saya dan menunjukkan HP-nya kepada saya.

"Iki biru biru sing nang ndhuwur iki opo to mas?" dia bertanya fitur baru WhatsApp yang terintegrasi MetaAI itu sebenarnya apa. 

"Ooo, iku AI Kang. Isoh tok takon takoni macem macem," saya beritahu Kang Nur kalau itu kecerdasan buatan yang bisa kita ajak ngobrol dan kita tanyai berbagai hal.

"Isoh takon resep gorengan enak no ya," Kang Nur jadi punya ide untuk bertanya kepada MetaAI resep gorengan yang enak.

"Ha jelas..."

"Wah, yen onoh kaya ngene iki njuk bocah bocah ra perlu sekolah no ya?" Kang Nur jadi punya ide yang lain lagi. Di dalam kepalanya kalau ada kecerdasan buatan, anak-anak tidak perlu sekolah.

"Lha kok ngono Kang?" saya mencoba untuk menggali pemikiran Kang Nur, mengapa begitu.

"Ha rak yo gari takon iki to," ujar Kang Nur sambil menunjuk MetaAI di HP-nya. Menurutnya, anak-anak tinggal tanya kecerdasan buatan kalau ingin mendapatkan pengetahuan.

Di kepala saya sudah berseliweran argumen tentang bagaimana kecerdasan buatan itu suka berhalusinasi dan bias, informasi yang kita dapatkan darinya harus selalu kita cek kebenarannya terlebih dahulu, dan bagaimana dalemannya si kecerdasan buatan itu bekerja. Tapi yang saya ucapkan untuk menanggapi Kang Nur bukan itu semua.

"Berarti saiki bocah bocah kudu ajar takon sing bener. Yo ra Kang?" saya menawarkan ide bahwa sudah saatnya sekarang anak anak di sekolah itu belajar bertanya.

Kang Nur terdiam sejenak.

Lalu dia berkata sambil berpikir nampaknya, "yo bener yo. Saiki rak sinaune ben isoh njawab yen ditakoni," Kang Nur mencoba membangun argumen bahwa saat ini di sekolah anak itu belajar untuk bisa menjawab pertanyaan. 

"Yen onoh iki, yen ditakoni rak gari nunul ... takon genti nang HP ..." lanjutnya sambil menimbang nimbang HP-nya. Seperti ide awalnya tadi kalau ada HP, ketika anak ditanyai sesuatu oleh orang lain, ya tinggal tanya ke HP.

"Yo bener kuwi, sik penting rak isoh takon sik yo?" Kang Nur sepakat dengan saya bahwa saat ini, di era Akal Imitasi (AI), keterampilan bertanya anak itu sangat penting. Kalau bahasa teknisnya critical thinking, prompt engineering, atau apa lah itu.

"Lha iyo Kang," saya mengiyakan.

"Yen sak durunge isoh nulis, rak kudu isoh maca to ya? Sak durunge isoh njawab pitakonan, kudu isoh takon sik berarti," Kang Nur mencoba membuat analogi bahwa seperti halnya kita harus biasa membaca sebelum bisa menulis, kita harus biasa bertanya sebelum bisa menjawab pertanyaan.

"Elok tenan Kang," saya memuji analogi yang dibuatnya.

Sambil berjalan mengambilkan jahe panas untuk saya, Kang Nur bergumam-gumam sendiri, "elok tenan, elok tenan..."

Setelah itu Kang Nur membiarkan saya sendirian menikmati jahe panas sambil nonton highlight pertandingan antara Baltimore Ravens vs. Cleveland Browns di HP. 

Kenangan 2024

Salah satu hal yang berkesan dan dibuang sayang dari percakapan WAG alumni SMA (Barokah Padmanaba) adalah ketika salah seorang teman saya kebelet pipis di taxi way pesawat (toilet kabin sudah tidak boleh digunakan setelah mendarat, tapi pesawatnya masih mencari anjungan) setelah somehow membahas buku-nya R.A. Kartini, "Habis Gelap Terbitlah Terang".

Dengan percakapan grup yang sekarang sudah "diperkaya" Meta AI, terciptalah puisi (dengan bantuan akal imitasi) yang buat saya berkesan sekali:

Oh, betapa aku ingin terbebas,

Dari belenggu yang membatasi,

Menulis, membaca, dan berbagi,

Adalah keinginanku yang tak terhenti.

Tapi, kebelet pipis ini,

Mengingatkanku akan kenyataan,

Bahwa kebebasan sejati,

Adalah kebebasan dari dalam.

Jadi puisi di atas itu konteksnya puisi tentang kebelet pipis yang ditulis dengan latar belakang kumpulan surat Kartini yang judul aslinya Door Duisternis Tot Licht. Kalau diterjemahkan di Google Translate, judul aslinya berupa kalimat aktif "Melewati Kegelapan Menuju Terang". Tapi nampaknya, keputusan puitis penerjemah mengubah kalimat aktif itu menjadi kalimat pasif, mungkin supaya lebih indah walaupun agak beda nuansanya ketika pesan aslinya adalah bahwa seseorang dapat secara aktif berjuang melewati kegelapan untuk mendapatkan jalan terang (dalan padhang). 

But anyway ...

Abaikan pembahasan yang agak berat mengenai aktif-pasif itu tadi. Yang lebih penting ketika percakapan di WAG berlangsung adalah apakah teman kami telah menemukan toilet bandara atau belum.