Semarang, April 30, 2025 — Learning innovations from students of the Physics Education Study Program, Semarang State University (UNNES) have again received appreciation on the international stage. In a thesis defense held in a hybrid manner on Wednesday morning, April 30, 2025, Mr. Mohammad Mubarrak Mod. Yusof, M.Ed., a guest examiner from Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Malaysia, praised the digital teaching material product developed by Estri Arum Sari, a student supervised by Dr. Ellianawati, M.Si.
In her presentation, Estri presented interactive digital teaching materials on the theme of Renewable Energy (https://heyzine.com/flip-book/bb267084a4.html), which not only contains rich and varied learning content, but has also integrated the Socio Scientific Issues (SSI) approach in order to increase students’ awareness of socially relevant science issues. Mr. Mubarrak stated that the product deserves appreciation because it touches on various important aspects of 21st century learning, especially in encouraging students’ critical thinking skills and contextual understanding.
“The material presented is not only complete, but also opens up space for students to reflect and discuss current global issues,” said Mr. Mubarrak. He also suggested adding Padlet-based features to strengthen interactions between students, thus encouraging active discussions that will further strengthen their critical thinking skills.
The thesis defense took place conducively from 07.30 to 09.00 WIB and was attended by a team of internal examiners, namely Dr. Bambang Subali and Dr. Suharto Linuwih from UNNES. Dr. Bambang emphasized the importance of ensuring that the learning media developed can be applied effectively in the classroom and truly function as a tool in improving the quality of learning. Meanwhile, the second internal examiner provided important notes regarding the potential for distraction from digital features connected to the internet, so that wise management and design are needed so as not to disrupt student focus.
Interestingly, the digital teaching material product developed by Estri has obtained Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), and this has contributed to the achievement of the Main Performance Indicators (IKU) of the UNNES Physics Education Study Program. Estri’s ability to answer critical questions from the examiners also shows her readiness and depth of understanding of the product she created.
This achievement shows that international collaboration in the world of education can encourage the birth of meaningful and applicable innovations, while also inspiring other students to continue to work and innovate.
