Rahmat Budiman is the Vice Rector for Research, Innovation, Partnership, and Business of Universitas Terbuka, Indonesia, and the Secretary General of the Asian Association of Open Universities (AAOU). His research interests include student services, teaching assistance, and distance language teaching. Among his recent publications include “The Digital Literacy of First-Year Students and its Function in an Online Method of Delivery”, published in the AAOUJ in 2023.
Thank you, Dr Rahmat
Budiman, for joining us in this conversation.
For some time now, you have been an active
figure in the field of open, distance, and digital
education (ODDE), contributing through
Universitas Terbuka (UT), the Asian Association
of Open Universities (AAOU), and other
institutions. Like many ODDE practitioners,
your journey through higher education followed
a non-linear trajectory. You built a base in
English before taking a formal education turn
by pursuing a PhD on student achievement and
dropout in distance learning.
What led you to pursue a career in the field
of ODDE and how would you describe your
intellectual trajectory and experience thus far?
As I work for an ODDE institution, it is essential for me to understand how it operates.
Rahmat Budiman (RB): Initially, I had no desire to become a teacher or lecturer. After graduating from university, I planned to become a news reporter, but my colleague encouraged me to apply for a lecturer position at Universitas Terbuka (UT). That was in 1998. I was accepted, and although I hadn’t anticipated this path, I soon realised that I enjoyed teaching. This passion may have been inherited from my mother and grandfather, who were both teachers. The more I learned about UT, the more I appreciated my role. I believe that God Almighty has guided me to this position, and I see it as the best path for me. Because of this, I am committed to fulfilling my responsibilities to the best of my abilities. I consistently strive to be professional in everything I do.
teachers must foster students’ digital literacy and motivation to help them become more self-aware and confident in expressing their ideas during online discussions.
As I work for an ODDE institution, it is essential for me to understand how it operates. I have attended various training sessions and workshops to develop my skills and advance my professional career. Additionally, I have travelled extensively across Indonesia, engaging with students and other stakeholders. I value listening to their comments, feedback, and even complaints, as these experiences enrich my knowledge and provide me with a more holistic understanding of the field. At the same time, I am deeply concerned with addressing the individual needs and aspirations of students.
DL: You recently published a research article in the AAOUJ (2023) on digital literacy, a topic that is of key interest and relevance to ODDE practitioners across backgrounds. Specifically, your study examined the relationship between first-year students’ digital literacy and their participative rate in online classes in the context of a distance learning university in Indonesia. In the study, digital literacy was measured by the ability to use such tools as the web browser, software like Word and Excel, and webmail to send and receive emails. Can you unpack your findings? And can you try to relate digital literacy to AI literacy and critical AI literacy? By ‘AI literacy,’ I mean the functional ability to understand and effectively use basic AI technologies, such as generative AI. And by ‘critical AI literacy,’ I mean the curious yet sceptical and informed mindset toward AI, one that avoids being confined to purely pro- or anti-AI perspectives.
RB: As traditional distance teaching adopts
modern technology, such as the internet, as a tool
for interactive teaching and learning, students
must have digital literacy to successfully complete
their learning journey. This sparked my interest in
exploring the experiences of first-year students.
Research indicates that the first year is the most
critical phase in a student’s learning journey at
online and distance learning (ODL) institutions,
often marked by the highest dropout rates. I
also found that by the third semester, students
typically cultivate strong mental readiness and
self-regulated learning skills. The first and second
semesters act as a developmental stage, during
which students search for the most effective ways
to adapt to their new environment.
My research found that most of the students
we sampled possessed digital literacy. They were
familiar with the internet and could effectively
use it to support their learning. Overall, the study
revealed that the students had a high level of
digital literacy, which facilitated independent
learning. However, it is important to highlight that
teachers must foster students’ digital literacy and
motivation to help them become more self-aware
and confident in expressing their ideas during
online discussions.
I recognise the need for further research to
investigate whether digital literacy impacts student
achievement, such as final assignment scores
and overall grades. While I believe that digital
literacy likely influences student performance, I
acknowledge that it is not the sole factor. Other
interconnected variables may also play a role in
shaping achievement.
I am considering the idea of administering a
digital literacy assessment, similar to a cognitive
test, for new students. This would help evaluate
their digital literacy skills and provide valuable
feedback. If the results indicate areas for
improvement, students can take steps to enhance
their skills and better prepare for their studies.
The ultimate goal of this initiative is to ensure that
students possess the necessary knowledge, skills,
and experience to succeed in an ODL environment.
Based on my experience and observations, many of my students actively use AI, specifically
generative AI. In the online classes I conducted
– two in English writing and one in translation
– I frequently noticed students relying on AI
to complete assignments and participate in
discussions.
UT operates 40 Regional Offices across the nation and serves over 670,000 students. We recognise that technology plays a crucial role in managing such a large university and student body.
I believe AI is now an unavoidable part of the learning process. Even without formal instruction, students will inevitably develop some level of proficiency in using AI. Therefore, it is essential to introduce and cultivate critical AI literacy. We must equip our students with critical reading skills, enabling them to assess and evaluate information generated by AI effectively. Additionally, the university should implement an academic policy that governs the use of AI for academic purposes, ensuring that its integration supports learning while upholding academic integrity.
DL: Digital literacy and, concomitantly, digital technology in education, are clearly critical to the education that open universities (OUs) provide. Digital technology is key to the value proposition of OUs that leverage it to reach the masses across time and space, and to provide quality education at affordable costs. Against relentless popular hype, however, technology is not the panacea to all educational problems. Rather, as Alan Tait underscores in “Open Universities: The Next Phase” (2018), it is but part of a formula that combines vision and mission to deliver the value proposition for which OUs have become renowned. Based on your critical observation, with respect to Indonesia, how prevalent is the tendency to directly or indirectly think of technology as the overriding solution to most, if not all, educational ills, be it at the level of thought or practice? How would you account for it?
RB: If we look back at history, we can see how
technological advancements have ‘shaped’ – I
prefer using this word to the word ‘changed’
– the development and evolution of distance
education (DE). I witnessed how UT adapted to
technological advancements over the years. I still
vividly remember when we recorded lectures using
cassette tapes. Editors had to physically cut the
tape, remove errors, and reattach it by hand. Later,
we transitioned to using compact discs (CDs).
After completing the recordings and edits, the
editors had to ‘burn’ the CDs to produce copies
in a process that required considerable time. Fast
forward to today, UT has now reached the “fifth
generation of distance education”, a concept
outlined by Taylor (2001) in his journal article, from
which the phrase is drawn.
UT operates 40 Regional Offices across
the nation and serves over 670,000 students.
We recognise that technology plays a crucial
role in managing such a large university and
student body. It has significantly accelerated the
transformation of our operational processes. Most
importantly, technology enhances the delivery
of student learning services, making them more
efficient, faster, and cost-effective.
Although we have been adopting modern
technology, we realise that the technology
infrastructure in Indonesia is not well distributed.
For instance, many areas still lack internet
coverage, necessitating the continued use of
traditional DE methods. However, I am confident
that this challenge will be addressed in the near
future. My belief is based on available data
First, similar to gadgets, internet access has
become significantly more affordable. Second,
the government has initiated a programme to
construct base transceiver stations (BTS) across
the various regions of Indonesia. Most importantly,
the number of students taking online examinations
has steadily increased over the past four years.
This trend indicates growing digital literacy among
students and suggests that internet access is
becoming more widespread, covering more areas
across the country.
In summary, I believe technology is a
powerful force in education, with even greater
potential when used thoughtfully to support the
development of knowledge and skills. However,
it should complement – not replace – traditional
teaching methods and the value of human
interaction.
Most other HEIs offering DE programmes in Indonesia primarily target students in urban areas where their campuses are located. In contrast, UT focuses on providing access to education for all Indonesian citizens, including those in outermost, frontier, and underserved regions.
DL: Your home institution, UT, has come a long way since its founding in 1984, a time when DE was almost exclusively associated with the OU that pioneered the practice. Over time, however, the perceived near-exclusive link between the OU and DE (and later ODE and ODDE) has gradually been weakening. This has generally been a global phenomenon that has affected many OUs across the globe, including Malaysia, although each country has had to grapple with its own dynamics. In Indonesia, for instance, the first main cause of the weakening may be attributed to the decree issued by the Ministry of Education that authorised all higher education institutions in the country to offer DE; while the second was the COVID-19 pandemic which accelerated the pace and intensified the enthusiasm with which the conventional institutions of higher education have been adopting ODE as a core approach. Given the foregoing developments, how much turf would you roughly say UT has had to cede to its competitors who are belatedly getting onto the ODE bandwagon? How would you characterise UT’s main competitors in terms of technological savviness, pedagogical sophistication, and learner-centredness? Have these competitors’ reach been circumscribed by the archipelagic nature of Indonesia with its 17,000 islands?
RB: It is true that since the Indonesian Ministry of
Education authorised all eligible higher education
institutions (HEIs) to offer DE. As of 2023, a total
of 27 HEIs have launched DE programmes, with
UT serving as the pioneer. Many of these HEIs
offering DE have visited us at UT to learn from and
benchmark against our experience. UT always
welcomes HEIs planning to implement DE at any
level. UT recognises that increasing Indonesia’s
higher education gross enrolment rate (GER)
requires collaboration with the government and
other institutions. While some may perceive the
growing number of HEIs offering DE programmes
as competition, it is equally important to view this
development as an opportunity for collaboration.
To strengthen collaboration among Indonesian
HEIs and accelerate the growth of DE in
Indonesia, UT took the lead in establishing the
Association of Indonesian Distance Education
Professionals (APPJJI). Currently, APPJJI has 10
member institutions, with more expected to join
in the near future. Additionally, UT founded the
Indonesia Cyber Education (ICE) Institute (https://
icei.ac.id/). The ICE Institute is a curated online
course marketplace that offers access to highquality
online courses (micro-credentials) from
leading national and international universities and
providers. Through the ICE Institute, Indonesian
students and communities can access courses
from prestigious institutions such as Harvard,
Oxford, Stanford, and Tsinghua, as well as
platforms like Coursera, edX, and XuetangX. UT,
through the ICE Institute, actively collaborates with
Indonesian HEIs, institutions, and international
partners to expand distance learning opportunities
and broaden access to quality education.
Considering that Indonesian HEIs began
implementing DE only recently, long after UT,
many are encountering challenges in developing
adequate technological infrastructure. Establishing
and maintaining such infrastructure, like the robust
systems UT has built over decades, requires
significant investment. Most other HEIs offering DE
programmes in Indonesia primarily target students
in urban areas where their campuses are located.
In contrast, UT focuses on providing access to
education for all Indonesian citizens, including
those in outermost, frontier, and underserved
regions. This commitment to nationwide
accessibility has led UT to offer lower tuition
fees, ensuring affordability for a broader range of
students. Unlike other HEIs, which often lack the
capacity and capability to extend their services to
remote areas, UT’s long-standing infrastructure
and experience enable it to reach communities far beyond major cities.
I believe that ODDE is the most practical, desirable, and effective solution for achieving equity in education, particularly from the perspective of Indonesians, whose country comprises more than 17,000 islands.
DL: Increasingly, ODDE scholars have
questioned and continue to question if it is still
helpful to talk in terms of ‘open’ and ‘distance’
learning at a time when these terms seem
to have been subsumed and superseded by
‘digital education’. This question is in fact the
focus of a special issue that is being planned
by the Journal of Open, Distance, and Digital
Education (JODDE) to be published in late
2025. The argument is that ‘open’ learning has
come to mean too many things to different
people, and these meanings are so varied that
the term has lost its clarity or effectiveness in
communicating a specific idea; while the word
‘distance’ in distance learning, which originates
from an earlier era, no longer carries the unique
proposition that it used to. Digital education, by
contrast, has increasingly gained widespread
favour, given that most forms of education
these days are mediated by digital technologies
that have become so ubiquitous that we no
longer notice them.
How is this terminological and discursive
shift unfolding in Indonesia, if at all, in your
observation? Do you see institutions of
learning there, including UT, increasingly
favouring ‘digital education’ over open learning,
distance learning, and other older terms like
e-learning and online learning? If such a shift
is detectable, do you think it tends to have
been self-reflexively thought through, or it is
mostly a popular case of changing flavours? Or
perhaps a mix of both? At any rate, how would
you envision this shift impacting, in the next 25
years or so, institutions with the words ‘open’
and/or ‘distance’ in their names, such as the
International Council for Open and Distance
Education (ICDE) and OUs, bearing in mind that
what was once the Open University of Hong
Kong (OUHK) has dropped the ‘open’ in its
name and morphed into what is now the Hong
Kong Metropolitan University (HKMU)?
RB: Actually, since 2018, ODL has grown
exponentially in importance across Indonesia. In
that year, the Indonesian Ministry of Education
invited all conventional universities to follow the
example of UT, to use it as a benchmark and gold
standard in ODL, and to implement the ODL mode
on their campuses. Since then, several campuses
have implemented the ODL mode in their
academic services, often using the terminology
‘online learning’ as their main philosophy and
theme. At the same time, the importance of ODL,
particularly its emphasis on the use of digital media
and IT, has been increasing rapidly worldwide (and
in Indonesia) since the onset of the COVID-19
pandemic. People across the globe are now highly
aware of the importance of digital media and IT,
which can facilitate student learning without the
need for physical presence in the classroom.
On the shifting trend, we also use terms like
‘digital education’ and ‘cyber university’ in our
marketing to prospective students. Several other
campuses in Indonesia currently also use both
terms in offering their academic programmes.
However, ‘open and distance learning’ remains
our main terminology which we have used
since UT was founded in 1984. This is because
Indonesians recognise UT as a pioneer of ODL, as
reflected in the consistent growth of UT’s student
population, which now exceeds 650,000. This
trend underscores the continued relevance of the
ODL philosophy. Moreover, UT is widely known in
Indonesia for offering a high degree of flexibility,
providing access to academic degrees without
barriers related to age, location, or economic
circumstances.
In my view, the changing terminologies
you mentioned are largely a matter of shifting
‘flavours’ or ‘branding,’ as I believe the core
philosophy of ODL remains the most important.
For future academic terminology, I believe two
crucial perspectives will need to be considered:
the global perspective and the national/local
perspective. From a global perspective, terms like
‘open” and ‘distance’ may eventually be regarded
as outdated. However, advancements in digital
media and IT will likely influence how these terms
local perspective, the relevance of these terms will
depend on how communities in each area perceive
higher education delivered through ‘open’ and
‘distance’ learning. As I previously mentioned, in
Indonesia, these terms remain acceptable and
relevant because they address the need for access
to higher education with minimal restrictions on
age, finances, and location. However, in other
regions, such as Hong Kong, I assume the terms
may be seen as outdated, prompting institutions
like OUHK to rebrand in order to attract more
prospective students.
DL: To interrogate the fault lines of practice and research in ODDE – especially in the general context of the Global South and the specific context of Southeast Asia – is not to imply that everything is problematic and flawed. There is much to praise in the current state of affairs, although what counts as commendable may differ depending on the perspective of the observer. From your perspective, what do you consider the most significant achievements or strengths of ODDE practice and research in the contexts mentioned above?
RB: I believe that ODDE is the most practical, desirable, and effective solution for achieving equity in education, particularly from the perspective of Indonesians, whose country comprises more than 17,000 islands. Higher education is often viewed as a luxury due to its high costs for many. Additionally, quality tertiary institutions are primarily located in major cities, further increasing expenses as students must cover accommodation costs. In essence, ODDE embodies SDG4, which emphasises inclusive and equitable quality education and the promotion of lifelong learning opportunities for all. ODDE ensures equal access to affordable tertiary education for everyone. In Indonesia’s context, UT was established as a public service obligation, reflecting the government’s commitment to providing tertiary education across the nation and ensuring no citizen is left behind. Following the success of FutureLearn established by the Open University, UT, together with the 13 other institutions, established the ICE Institute as a marketplace for online courses from various tertiary education institutions in Indonesia and overseas. Collaborative research has been conducted to foster the development of online learning. The presence of the ICE Institute has widely opened more opportunities for anyone to study from anywhere with affordable costs.
DL: To close, could you please share with our readers any worthwhile readings you have done recently and which few, among these, you would recommend? These readings could include books, journal articles, novels, or any other works, whether within the field of ODDE or beyond.
RB: I would recommend Open and Distance Education in Asia: Good Practices from AAOU Members (2022) edited by Tian Belawati. This book provides comprehensive insights into the establishment and development of distance education institutions across Asia. Additionally, I would like to highlight an article I co-authored with Andre Iman Syafrony titled “The Digital Literacy of First-Year Students and its Function in an Online Method of Delivery” (2023). The article won the 2024 Literati Award for Outstanding Paper by Emerald Insight. Remarkably, it has been downloaded over 3,600 times, a milestone that reflects its global relevance and impact. I am particularly proud of this achievement, as I had not anticipated such significant engagement with our work from readers worldwide.
DL: Thank you, Dr Rahmat for your time and insights. It has been a pleasure connecting with you.
RB: You are most welcome, and I am happy to share my experience and knowledge with you.