MALANG, June 6 – Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) and Universitas Negeri Malang (UM) jointly hosted a service learning programme titled “Uprise Digital Media” from June 3rd through June 5th, 2023. The collaboration for organizing a joint service learning program between two Asian countries was the brainchild of Assoc. Prof. Ts. Dr. Asnul Dahar bin Minghat, Director of Institute For Life-Ready Graduate (UTM iLeaGue Kuala Lumpur).

Eleven UTM KL students enrolled in the UTM iLeaGue’s Semester 2, 2022/2023 Digital Media and Community (UKQF2012) course, led by Bryan Alfeus Anak Tutong and Siti Adabiyah binti Asmadi, both second-year students in the Bachelor of Science (Industrial Design) and ten UM students from various undergraduate programs collaboratively co-designed and organized the programme in addition to adding their role as co-facilitators.

The students were supervised and led by two respected faculty members from UTM’s Razak Faculty of Technology and Informatics (RFTI), Ts. Dr. Sahnius binti Usman and Dr. Sya Azmeela binti Shariff and supported by UTM iLeaGue’s staff Nurul Diana binti Kayat.

Also, this program would not have been possible without the support of UTM iLeague’s team and collaboration from Dr. Muhammad Aris Ichwanto and Dr. Fuad Indra Kusuma, Universitas Negeri Malang.

Their ideas, cooperation, and assistance made it possible for the programme to go off without a hitch so that the participants could fully engage themselves in the activities organized by UTM and UM students.

The program took place at Desa Pagelaran, Malang, Indonesia. A total of 19 participants, all of whom were from Desa Pagelaran, took part in this programme.

The goal of this programme was to provide the community with exposure to the value of digital media, especially in marketing their local products and services via social media.

One of the key activities in this programme focused on increasing the community member’s abilities and understanding of photographic techniques in addition to using the Canva application for photo and media editing when producing a media piece.

The programme’s activities were designed to provide training on the fundamentals of photography theory and focused on how to take good photos only using a smartphone or tablet.

In addition, the goal of this programme was to demonstrate to the participants how to design a media piece such as a poster using the Canva application in an easy, manageable, and engaging approach.

To achieve the objectives of the programme, all participants were exposed to scaffolding activities and managed to follow the instructions, methods, and techniques successfully. Participants were organized into four groups and each group had three to four participants with three to four facilitators assisting each group.

In the “Uprise Digital Media” programme, the community members of Desa Pagelaran are able to learn how to capture beautiful photos with their smartphones’ cameras, including the best angle, lighting, and background settings. They were also able to learn how to create posters using the Canva application, including how to upload the desired photos to the template and how to insert the appropriate words using one of the formatting options that Canva offers.

As a result, people of Desa Pagelaran can create attractive posters to promote their handmade ceramics to the wider public on their own social media accounts, such as Facebook and Tiktok.

The UTM and UM facilitators taught the important theoretical concepts related to photography techniques, followed by hands-on practice. The first hands-on task provided the participants with the opportunity to apply the knowledge that was taught by the facilitators, and they were asked to create high-quality images.

After the photography lesson, participants were taught how to use Canva, giving them an opportunity to explore the application. In the second task, the participants were asked to create a unique poster using the images from the first task. Participants in each group collaboratively worked together on their final task while UTM and UM facilitators assisted them.

A panel of judges with representation from UTM, Dr. Sahnius bint Usman and UM, Dr. Abdul Rahman Prasetyo evaluated the final poster from each group at the end of the programme. The first place was awarded to Group 4 with the title Celengan due to the exceptional uniqueness of their poster.

In short, Desa Pagelaran’s participants were exposed to the use of digital media for local product marketing. In other words, they did learn the basics about utilising Canva to create images and design posters. They were able to independently produce posters for marketing their local products to the world.

Moving ahead, the communities gained from creating their own marketing strategies independently without needing much assistance in using digital media, particularly with designing posters using Canva.

By using the techniques and strategies they had learned throughout this programme, participants are certainly improving their poster-designing and photography skills.

It is hoped that the Desa Pagelaran participants truly enjoyed this programme and felt inspired to start advertising and dedicate their time to making more posters to advertise their local services and business.

Believe it or not, if they applied the knowledge into practice, their pottery, known as gerabah, may reach a global market in the near future.

By: Ts. Dr. Sahnius Usman (Senior Lecturer,), Dr. Sya Azmeela Shariff (Senior Lecturer) at Razak Faculty of Technology and Informatics; Assoc. Prof. Ts. Dr. Asnul Dahar Minghat (Director, UTM iLeaGue), Nurul Diana Kayat (Manager, UTM iLeaGue)