Addressing the Independent Learning Curriculum

(Kurikulum Merdeka Belajar) as a Form of Positive Disruption to

Empower the Community

Purnama E. D. Tedjokoesoemo

, Poppy Firtatwentyna Nilasari

and Sriti Mayang Sari

Interior Design Department, Universitas Kristen Petra, Jl. Siwalankerto 121-131, Surabaya, Indonesia

Keywords: Community Engagement, Rusunawa, Sociopreneurship, Design Thinking, Kurikulum Merdeka Belajar.

Abstract: The emergence of COVID-19 in early 2020 demands strategic policies to accelerate. The strategic policy in

education was responded to by the Independent Learning Curriculum (Kurikulum Merdeka Belajar), which

is commonly known as virtual learning. Virtual learning has become a challenge to implement community

service as one of the threefold missions of higher education. Rumah Langit is a learning house that serves the

pre-prosperous children in Rusunawa Urip Sumoharjo Surabaya. This object is the pilot project to study the

implementation of community service with Independent Learning Curriculum for final project students of

interior design programs. The research was conducted in a qualitative method to learn the implementation of

the design thinking method used in design development. The study showed that high flexibility in the final

project stage may not be any different to previous final projects in older curriculum. However, this curriculum

forces students to sharpen soft skills rather than mere design skills. The output not only focuses on solving

the interior problems but also to equip the community. Therefore, the Independent Learning Curriculum can

be said as a positive disruption that offers acceleration and bridging the needs of education and industry that

has been requested for a long time.

1 INTRODUCTION

Disruption is the impact of the industrial revolution

4.0 that affected almost all fields, including in the

field of science and technology (IPTEK) and higher

education. The industrial revolution 4.0 demands

speed and accuracy so that the use of various

applications of advanced technology, artificial

intelligence (AI), the internet of Things (IoT),

advanced robotics, and 3D technology can no longer

be avoided (Adiyanto, 2019).

In an effort to respond to changes that occur in

society and education (namely Industry 4.0, Society

5.0, Gen Z, IAPS 4.0, and International

Accreditation), it is deemed necessary to immediately

make changes to the curriculum (Universitas Kristen

Petra, n.d.). Apart from those reasons mentioned, the

emergence of COVID-19 in early 2020 accelerated

this change for it demands strategic policies to adapt

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the use of advanced technology and flexibility in

learning without being limited by space and time.

This strategic policy in education was then responded

to by the Independent Learning Curriculum

(Kurikulum Merdeka Belajar) nationally in

November 2020.

The Independent Learning Curriculum, as

initiated by its name, provides independence for

students to learn with high flexibility. The objective

is to create a link and match, not only with the world

of industry and the world of work but also with a

rapidly changing future. In higher education, this

curriculum has come as a disruption to how students

may achieve their bachelor’s degree. This curriculum

enables students to learn 3 semesters off campus in

forms of student exchange, internship, teaching

assistance in education units, research, humanitarian

project, entrepreneurial activities, independent

project, and or thematic real work lectures.

Tedjokoesoemo, P., Nilasari, P. and Sari, S.

Addressing the Independent Learning Curriculum (Kurikulum Merdeka Belajar) as a Form of Positive Disruption to Empower the Community.

DOI: 10.5220/0010749100003112

In Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Emerging Issues in Humanity Studies and Social Sciences (ICE-HUMS 2021), pages 167-176

ISBN: 978-989-758-604-0

167

Conventional assessment was challenged. The

conventional graduation assessment by just and only

thesis was seen as obsolete. The obsolete assessment

was seen as keeping the gap between education and

work life. The conventional final project assessment

of interior design students assessed their

understanding of the problem, sensitivity to see the

phenomenon, and solution offered. However, the

empathize stage often became an assumption since

most of their time was spent on campus.

Unfortunately, this causes most final project works to

end up as discourse.

Therefore, new assessment tools and education

based on outcome is seen as necessary. This paper

may highlight the final project of interior design

students who took the humanitarian project path as

their choice of learning. This path will be further

addressed as community engagement in this paper.

The proposal on aspects to assess in this path is

expected as an initial offer.

This research was conducted to observe the first-

year implementation of the Community Engagement

program as a final year project of interior design

students in the academic year of 2020/2021. The

study was carried out in the Rumah Langit

Community, a learning house that serves

kindergarten to junior high school students from pre-

prosperous families in Rusunawa Urip Sumoharjo

Surabaya, that is run by Yayasan Generasi Peduli.

Since COVID 19 pandemic outbreak, activities, and

capacities at Rumah Langit have been significantly

limited, while learning assistance is still very much

needed. Regular volunteer activities were stopped as

part of health protocol implementation. However, re-

arrangement of the layout and supporting furniture

has not been done properly. Coordinator of Rumah

Langit took separator as the only approach needed.

Whereas, on market separators were not space

friendly and storage systems to make sure variation

of activities were still not properly provided.

Therefore, a better design approach is expected to

come from deeper understanding and on site

observation run through community engagement path

in design thinking method.

2 METHODS

This research is conducted in a qualitative method

with a deep observation approach. The observation

was aimed to analyse each stage of the design

thinking process and what potential aspects to be set

as assessment tools to measure the success of this

activity (community engagement) in coming years.

In depth observation of design thinking

methodology was seen as a logical approach to

understand the journey and reasoning for each

activity held and each object designed in order to

engage and empower a community. Dorst (2011)

formulate the reasoning principles that are commonly

found to solve a problem (see Table 1).

Table 1: Basic Reasoning Patterns.

What (thing)

How

(working

rinci

)

Leads to

Result

(

observed

)

Situation

called as

v v v Basic

v v ? Deduction

v ? v Induction

However, oftentimes, in design and other

productive professions, the equation changes. In that,

the end now is not a statement of fact (observed

result), but the attainment of a certain ‘value’ (Dorst,

2011). The condition often met by designers is they

are required to create a design that operates with a

known working principle, and within a set scenario of

value creation. But a more complex situation occurs

when designers were put at the start of the problem-

solving process by only knowing the end value

expected. So, the challenge is to figure out ‘what’ to

create, while there is no known or chosen ‘working

principle’ that can be trusted to lead to the desired

value (Dorst, 2011).

This is the situation met at the Rumah Langit

Community Engagement program as the first

humanitarian project adopting the Independent

Learning Curriculum in our campus. Approaching

humanitarian action through design is dependent on

deriving insights about the end user, and on

understanding the relationship between multiple

stakeholders, and how they influence each other and

the objectives they are striving towards. The goal of

this research was to improve understanding; and to

determine the purpose of design within humanitarian

action (Nielsen, 2017). This has become the base on

why design thinking may come as a relevant research

approach for this learning project.

Design Thinking is a design methodology that

provides a solution-based approach to solving

problems. It’s extremely useful in tackling complex

problems that are ill-defined or unknown, by

understanding the human needs involved, by re-

framing the problem in human-centric ways, by

creating many ideas in brainstorming sessions, and by

adopting a hands-on approach in prototyping and

testing (Dam & Siang, 2021).

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168

Figure 1: Design Thinking Diagram. (Dam & Siang, 2021).

The design thinking approach used in this

research is the 5 stages of design thinking. The

following are the design thinking stages, methods,

and objectives that will be carried out in this research:

Table 2: Design Thinking Methodology Applied in This

Research.

Design

Thinking

Metho

Intended Activity Aim

Empathize

● On site

observation and

informal

internship

● In de

th interview

Understanding and

formulation of site,

potentials,

problems, needs,

activities

Define

● Affinity Diagram

● Concept making

Problem statement

and programmatic

conceptual

Ideate

● Brainstorming

● Schematic Design

● FGD

Initiate interior and

product design,

art box

Prototype

● Model experiment

● Construction test

Real product

prototype ready to

function

Test

● Functional test

● Aesthetic test

Product

acceptability and

ease of use

Evaluation formula

for further

development

This research observed 2 interior design final

students as a pilot project in their effort to complete

the Community Engagement program. Community

Engagement students will carry out their activities in

2 stages of activities, namely redesign and creative

activity training. Redesign will be carried out

simultaneously with the design thinking stage by

providing virtual assistance within charge

supervisors.

Field coordination was done in a hybrid method

while Focus Group Discussion (FGD) will be carried

out offline. On-site FGD will involve 2 active site

coordinators and 5 permitted children while doing

tutorial activity. These are the maximum numbers of

allowed participants. The participants of FGD will be

the remaining active volunteers in Rumah Langit

consisting of one coordinator from Generasi Peduli,

one main volunteer who is also occupant of rusunawa,

and 5 children from age range of 4th grade to junior

high school. The remaining active volunteers

represents volunteers in general, the volunteer who

also live in rusunawa also represent building manager

as per assigned by the chairman of the household, and

the 5 children in higher stage of age were selected by

the Generasi Peduli and Rumah Langit as they are

well articulated and communicate well on their

opinion. Their role during FGD will be as per usually

done by which they will act and respond to furniture

and design casually and freely before discussion were

conducted. In the second stage, by using data gained

from FGD creative activity training will be carried

out in the form of on-site workshops with the

recognition of health protocols.

3 COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

The challenge faced by universities in curriculum

development in the Industrial 4.0 era is to produce

graduates with new literacy abilities, namely data

literacy, technological literacy, and human literacy

who have a noble orientation. The curriculum, known

as Independent Learning Curriculum (Kurikulum

Merdeka Belajar) is intended to realize an

autonomous and flexible learning process in higher

education so as to create a learning culture that is

innovative, non-restrictive, in accordance with the

needs of students. This policy also aims to increase

link and match with the business world and industry

(Suryaman, 2020).

Community engagement pedagogy is one

approach that combines learning goals and

community service in ways that can enhance both

student growth and the common good. Typically,

community engagement is incorporated into a course

or series of courses by way of a project that has both

learning and community action goals. This gives

students experiential opportunities to learn in real

world contexts and develop skills of community

engagement, while affording community partners

opportunities to address significant needs (Bandy,

2016).

Kerissa Heffernan (in Bandy, 2016) states there

are six general models of community engagement

teaching. Those are:

● Discipline-Based Model

● Problem-Based Model

Addressing the Independent Learning Curriculum (Kurikulum Merdeka Belajar) as a Form of Positive Disruption to Empower the

Community

169

● Capstone Course Model

● Service Internship Model

● Action Research Model

● Directed Study Additional/Extra Credit

Model

In this final project, the community engagement

scheme shifted from problem-based model into

service internship model. Problem based model was

the scheme often used in predesign studios conducted

in service learning based. According to Kerissa

Heffernan (in Bandy, 2016), this scheme expects

students to relate with the community much as

“consultants” working for a “client.” Students work

with community members to understand a particular

community problem or need. Problem based model

presumes that the students have or will develop

capacities with which to help communities solve a

problem. In this model, students commonly will act

as giver due to restricted time for empathizing

methods and more in design development by focusing

only on design problems.

Meanwhile, the service internship model

proposed for final year implementation in community

engagement path, offered deeper understanding and

possibility to expand students’ skill that by the end of

the program was expected to empower the

community they served. This approach asks students

to work in a community setting (ideally as many as

10 to 20 hours a week). As in traditional internships,

students are charged with producing a body of work

that is of value to the community or site. However,

unlike traditional internships, service internships

have on-going faculty-guided reflection to challenge

the students to analyze their new experiences using

discipline-based theories. Service internships focus

on reciprocity: the idea that the community and the

student benefit equally from the experience (Bandy,

2016).

4 RUMAH LANGIT

Rumah Langit is a learning house program in one of

the flats in the center of Surabaya, namely Rusunawa

Urip Sumoharjo Surabaya. This flat is inhabited by

pre prosperous families. Rumah Langit uses one of

the flat units to carry out free all-day tutorials led by

a coordinator and volunteers from the Yayasan

Generasi Peduli. This tutoring accommodates

activities for kindergarten to junior high school

students.

Until early of 2020, Rumah Langit operated with

approximately 42 children. Unfortunately, the

COVID 19 pandemic has significantly limited

activities and capacities at Rumah Langit, while

learning assistance is still very much needed and even

more so when schools go online. In addition to

functioning as a place of learning, Rumah Langit also

functions as a forum for children's activities, which is

currently not optimal because it only accommodates

learning activities and does not accommodate the

development of other interests, especially in the art,

that are quite desirable.

In regards to COVID 19 conditions, the

implementation of the threefold missions of higher

education, especially community service, has been

challenged since it generally requires direct

interaction. Virtual learning also becomes a

challenge, especially for the pre-prosperous who have

limited space, access to knowledge, and access to

cyberspace.

Figure 2: Rumah Langit Situation.

5 RESULT AND DISCUSSION

Community Engagement is designed to focus on

human literacy which has a noble orientation. This

path is carried out continuously for 2 semesters at the

1 last year off campus opportunity. At community

engagement final projects, students are required to

engage in a community and make a project that will

empower the community and enable it to support

itself even when the final project has finished.

The result to be discussed in this paper will be

described by stages of design thinking methodology

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they carried out in. However, by the time this paper

was written, the design thinking process may have

just finished the prototype stage and entered the early

test stage. Therefore, the discussion on the design

thinking stage and how each stage is conducted will

be carried out until the prototype stage at the

construction test only.

5.1 Empathize

The first stage of the design thinking process is to

gain an empathic understanding of the problem we

are trying to solve. Empathy is crucial to a human-

centered design process as empathy allows designers

to set aside their own assumptions to gain insight into

users and their needs (Dam & Siang, 2021).

This stage was conducted the longest as initial

understanding of community engagement models

expected is different from usual community

engagement implemented in service-learning classes

done previously. Understanding (sense-making) and

purpose are central in design thinking (Nielsen,

2017). As students are given more flexibility in time

and attendance, the community engagement model is

expected to shift from problem-based model to

service internship model.

Initial discussion with management of Rumah

Langit and Generasi Peduli was done virtually.

Project overview, community profile, and facilities

needed were communicated. To gain deeper insight

of the occupants needs and the community potentials,

direct observation, interviews, and field

measurements are still necessary to be done directly.

Figure 3: Observation in Rumah Langit.

This stage is crucial to be conducted physically and

directly, since dealing with a community, we may

encounter many possibilities of implied needs. In this

stage students were forced to practice communication

skills, sensitive to capture surroundings potentials, to

be selective of information received from virtual

meetings, and to be open for other possible change of

plans. Information received from virtual meetings

with Generasi Peduli consisted of brief explanations

or Rumah Langit, activities involving volunteers

under Generasi Peduli, their need of acrylic separator

to protect the children and volunteers, and

arrangement of contacts for further observation and

design activity needed. In order to gain those insights

and datas, students got their hands on volunteering for

a few meetings.

First meeting on site was done by having an

interview with the chairman of the household, Rumah

Langit coordinator, PIC from Generasi Peduli for

Rumah Langit, and a few residence representatives.

The students were expecting to find potentials in

residence to be invited for collaboration for their

learning house. Unfortunately, adults' responses were

lacking, as well as the chairman of the household

support was minimal and returned all data requested

to be achieved from Rumah Langit coordinator only.

However, at this stage, the students found that

children in Rumah Langit were very enthusiastic.

Apart from academic learning conducted routinely in

Rumah Langit, the children also developed very well

in art (see figure 4).

Figure 4: Few Art Activities Done in Rumah Langit.

Contrary to previous service learning or final

projects that mostly deliver conceptual design with

less human centric design due to time constraint in

group interaction, community engagement done in

Independent Learning Curriculum for final year

students provide enough time to lengthen the

empathize stage and to conduct in depth interaction

Addressing the Independent Learning Curriculum (Kurikulum Merdeka Belajar) as a Form of Positive Disruption to Empower the

Community

171

individually. During the empathic stage, the students

found that Rumah Langit not only needed just any

acrylic separator, but also a storage system as well as

play and learn objects.

To collect data of building orientation, needs,

building regulation especially in interior related

works, and gain insight of design preference on site

through interview, casual discussion, and routine

interaction from zero was the hardest part for the

students. To shift from project-based paradigms that

focus only to deliver a conceptual design to meet the

needs of a community, into service internship that

require closeness to blend in the community and be

able to deliver a design that gives the community an

opportunity to grow independently post program is

such a game changer.

In this stage, the challenge to shift paradigm was

not only faced by the students but also by the

supervisors, not to mention lack of adult community

member support that making the community

involvement usual plan is no longer possible.

Therefore, frequent communication and to discuss

closely with the final project coordinator, who holds

the mapping of curriculum transformation for

particular subjects, is found to be necessary. At this

stage, service internship sessions are used to observe,

interview, and collect data as well. Supervisors are

assigned to broaden how students will view

community service that is engaging and empowering,

not just to give. Hence, at this stage, populist

communication skills can be assessed. By the end of

this stage, students were able to arrange data

collection, but yet define the problem and conceptual

problem solving.

5.2 Define

Define stage is when we put together the information

gathered during the empathize stage. In this stage,

analysis and synthesis were made to define the core

problems that will be presented as a problem

statement in a human-centred manner (Dam & Siang,

2021).

Problem seeking method used in this research is

by using affinity diagrams. Scattered on site data was

compiled and analyzed with affinity diagrams to gain

the bigger picture of current problems, potential

occurring problems, needs, determine goals, and state

the main problem to be solved within a given time

frame. The affinity diagram was then presented in

table. The conclusion of this table should be a

problem statement.

Figure 5: Example of Data Analysis.

Through analysing the collected data and mapping

them in an affinity diagram, students understand the

potentials and shortcomings at Rumah Langit to

define their needs, problem to face, and programming

their needs in interior related matters and activities.

Design approaches were made with consideration of

environmental condition, user characteristic, and

estimation of usage duration.

From mapping the data, facts, expectation, needs,

site condition, timeframe, and economic value for

realisation and maintenance in an affinity diagram,

the students are then able to state the problem in

Rumah Langit to solve. The facts are Rumah Langit

learning house serves children with a wide range of

age, the children have interest in arts, mostly have

kinesthetic ability, they are able to play independently

in groups of 2-3 in usual context pre-pandemic, and

the facility has a very limited space available.

However, any facility tends to face problems of

durability due to usage by different excites children.

Volunteering activity was expected to happen even

ini limited batch of children.

By those facts, Rumah Langit not only needed just

any acrylic separator, but an acrylic separator that was

compact, enabled interaction, and easy to store.

Rumah Langit also needed renovation on existing

damaged folding tables to accommodate tutoring

activities and skill development, storage for folding

tables, storage system for teaching materials and

tools, and art training, and also a play and learn

objects. The programmatic concept brought then was

to make use of a vertical plane so that it won’t

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obstruct teaching and learning activity, and to

incorporate a simple Montessori method into the

design. Due to lack of adults’ responses, the

community to engage and empower will focus on the

children and the volunteers.

Define stage is closely related to emphasize stage.

So, these 2 stages are possible to be assessed

altogether by assessing their communication skill and

sharpness of analysis. These two points may need a

supervisor's accuracy in reading the data and

confirmation.

5.3 Ideate

At this stage, ideas are generated as much as possible.

There are hundreds of ideation techniques,

brainstorming sessions are typically used to stimulate

free thinking, out of the box ideas, and to expand the

problem space. It is important to get as many ideas or

problem solutions as possible at the beginning of the

Ideation phase (Dam & Siang, 2021).

Figure 6: Example of Ideation Stage.

Brainstorming, mood board discussion, and

schematic designs were discussed online with

supervisors. Each student made 5 design alternatives,

brought them for discussion with supervisors, and got

them selected into top 3 (figure 6). Selected design

alternatives were then delivered in FGD mode with

volunteer’s coordinator and some students in Rumah

Langit to gain broad insight and suggestions.

First FGD carried out by showing design renders

in casual discussions while carrying out activities as

usual to get an honest opinion on design interest,

material selections, activities to cater. After the first

FGD, selected design or designs will be developed for

another 3 alternatives to be discussed with tutor

regarding design, brought to wood and materials

laboratorium regarding realisation possibility, and

selected 1 to be made the 1:1 mock up.

Figure 7: Example of Renders Brought in Discussion.

The second FGD was conducted in free discussion

by putting a mockup in the middle of the group to

observe their interest, trial for usage, possibility of

product ease of use understanding, and testing of the

ergonomic body movements on complaints and what

was expected (figure 8). The activities made at the

mockup voluntarily or directed were documented for

further analysis as well as any inputs or jokes on

potential problems.

In this stage as well, students were looping back

to empathize and define phases as new data such as

renovation permits, and work restrictions were

informed. Students also did a test on possible art

activity that children of Rumah Langit were interested

in and possible to be combined with the storage

design later that may bring additional economic

benefits. The activity chosen was macrame making.

The storage design will be done vertically, flexible to

assemble in various combinations as per needed for

tutorial activities and incorporate simple montessori

in it (figure 8).

Addressing the Independent Learning Curriculum (Kurikulum Merdeka Belajar) as a Form of Positive Disruption to Empower the

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173

Figure 8: Trial with 1:1 Mockup.

Figure 9: Macrame Making Activity.

At this stage, students did their discussion with the

supervisors virtually and visitation to Rumah Langit

was lessened. In exchange, they were required to

think of the production stage and budgeting that often

missed out on the on-campus learning process.

Discussion with supervisors mainly to ensure each

need were met, schematic design alternatives were

well understood, and to give advice on possible

realisation to enter prototype stage. Assessment at the

ideation stage is proposed to be combined with the

prototype stage.

5.4 Prototype

After ideation design alternatives were chosen, the

next step was to test the 1:1 prototype on construction

durability. This is an experimental phase, and the aim

is to identify the best possible solution for each of the

problems identified during the first three stages. The

solutions are implemented within the prototypes to be

further investigated and examined. By the end of this

stage, the design team will have a better idea of the

constraints inherent to the product and the problems

that are present and have a clearer view of how real

users would behave, think, and feel when interacting

with the product (Dam & Siang, 2021).

The prototype was made with a hybrid method

between student designers and furniture contractors.

Direct meetings were conducted to explain the

design, discussion, and agreement on the working

process (figure 10). Virtual updates were sent by the

contractors to the students simultaneously (figure 11).

Update on working progress delivered to supervisors

virtually.

Figure 10: Direct Meeting and Updates Videos.

Figure 11: Virtual Updates Through Videos.

The prototype was then tested before it went into

the finishing stage and delivered to Rumah Langit to

be re-examined, evaluated, and repaired for any

minor adjustments before finals (figure 12). After the

prototype is coated and finished, designers should test

the joints and configuration before shipping it to

Rumah Langit for further testing (figure 13).

At this point, discussion with supervisors may

only be to share progress. Students are encouraged to

explore workshops, and the construction market, and

lead the production process. A visitation to Rumah

Langit was done as the prototype was ready to be

tested.

Ideate and prototype assessment shall look deeper

into the suitability of design with location, ease of

use, and design capabilities to become the answers to

the needs on site. However, the test stage (that hasn’t

been done yet by the time this paper is produced) shall

put user’s feedback and willingness of designers to

adjust their design to meet the needs seriously by

giving it higher credits than just as evaluation for

future design. In the community engagement path, the

“future” is now, and the spirit of engagement is

shown by immediate wise action.

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Figure 12: Prototype Ergonomic and Construction Test.

Figure 13: Joint, Finishing, and Configuration Test.

These stages were often skipped in the previous

curriculum which then cut students’ opportunity to

experience the full range of design thinking process.

Oftentimes, in the previous curriculum, the final

project studio was finished at the prototype stage as

technical drawing ready to produce or as far as the

first stage prototype due to limitation of time and

administrative reasons.

Unfortunately, due to time constraints, by the time

this paper was written, the stages were not yet

finished to be conducted and reviewed. Up to

prototyping stage, the interaction between the final

year students and Rumah Langit community was still

up to design realisation. The engagement was still

limited to achieving the final products. The

empowering itself was still unable to be investigated.

Ideally, it will take another minimum of one semester

to really judge whether the engagement was really

empowering. Therefore, it is good to have a third

party that actually runs the community to maintain

what has been designed, when the community

engagement is done for the final year project. In this

context Generasi Peduli has run the Rumah Langit

learning house before the community engagement

students came to learn. Hopefully whatever the

design and training incorporated in it will keep

running after the program ends.

6 CONCLUSIONS

The community engagement program conducted in

accordance with the Independent Learning

Curriculum (Kurikulum Merdeka Belajar) has

brought significant shifting in understanding

community engagement for students and lecturers.

With one year off campus provided in the new

curriculum, as well as expectations of human literacy

implementation and emphasis to bridge academic to

real life experiences, accelerated learning processes

were forced to be enabled.

The practice of first community engagement for

the final year project with service internship model

was still far from perfect. It was lacking in

collaboration with the community and understanding

of empowerment from the students and supervisors.

The students and supervisors were still anxious by the

requested outcome of empowerment that opened for

intangible outcomes, but the assessment scoring

system still called for products of interior elements.

To ensure better practice of this path, new assessment

aspects are needed.

Independent Learning Curriculum may not offer

a whole new method for design students, or for any

other skill-based programs, to learn and practice their

skill, as well as to graduate. However, this curriculum

may disrupt the long stable threefold missions of

higher education. It may force acceleration in

teaching and learning, as it will also call for

collaboration in applying research and community

service. Since this curriculum is still newly launched,

Addressing the Independent Learning Curriculum (Kurikulum Merdeka Belajar) as a Form of Positive Disruption to Empower the

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175

there are still so many rooms for improvements on the

field particularly in assessment aspects.

In terms of assessment, some aspects are needed

to be reviewed. Conventional assessment with

singular instruments may not be suitable to facilitate

a wider range of learning paths. Suggested stopping

points to review and their assessment aspects are as

per follows:

Table 3: Assessment Points Proposal.

Stage Output Assessment Points

Empathize

Understanding and

formulation of site

● Communication

skill

● Sharpness of

analysis

● Presentation

Define

Problem statement

and programmatic

conceptual

Ideate

Design alternatives,

mock u

● Design suitability

● Ease of use

● Solutive design

Protot

e 1:1

rotot

Test

Product

acceptability

● Users’ respond

● Users’

understanding of

design

● Feedback action

Nevertheless, this research was just made to

observe the first batch of final projects using the

Independent Learning Curriculum (Kurikulum

Merdeka Belajar) in practicing community

engagement. There are still rooms for improvements

and study to be done in the coming years and other

fields of study to complete and enrich the assessment

instruments. With many possible paths and flexibility

given, it is possible to have no definite key to assess

every variation of situation. There also needs to be

examined on how students may differ to approach the

community when they mix the path of learning for

each semester or stay in one path for consecutive

semesters.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We thank LPPM of Petra Christian University for

providing funding for this project, Amanda Adelia

and Raissa Renatta for being such an easy to work

with individuals with big heart during this pilot

project of LEAP Community Engagement, Lucky

from de Palma for giving endless support and

suggestions for our students in LEAP CE, and last but

not least our coordinators in LEAP CE Andereas

Pandu for extending our knowledge or community

engagement in such a way that this program not only

beneficial for the brain but also our heart.

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