The Dutch-funded Niche/IDN/265 project focuses on curriculum improvement of the integrated coastal zone management and integrated water resource management curricula in place at respectively the Institute Teknologi Bandung (ITB) and the Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS). As the project is currently half-way its implementation, with some activities being carried out and others yet to be started, it is appropriate to obtain feedback from the lecturers, students and management staff involved in the project and find out more about project’s progress and expectations for the future.

To do this, the Sprockler methodology was used, an innovative research method to collect both stories as well as data. Through this methodology, more than 60 stories from lecturers, students and management staff were collected. In this report, you can click on a dot to read or listen to the experiences storytellers. Clicking on a dot enlarges the dot in that particular question and highlights this persons answers everywhere in the report allowing you to trace this person’s answers. Clicking on a dot a second time will close the story. It is also possible to trace several people at the same time. The stories were collected in English and in Indonesian. If the story is in Indonesian, an English translation is provided. Read your own story and that of others now!

A total of 61 respondents answered the Sprockler inquiry. The three graphs below show more details about who these respondents are. A larger part of the storytellers came from ITB. There were more males than females who responded to the questions and the majority of the storytellers from both universities are students.

We asked lecturers, students and management staff to share a story about a specific experience they had during the project. This story (positive, negative or neutral) could be about any moment that they found valuable to share. It could be about new knowledge, new connections, new exposure, or anything else that they find worthwhile describing, in relation to the project IDN265. After sharing a story, participants were asked to answer a series of questions interpreting their stories. Storytellers were also asked to give their story a title.

From the question about what the story related to, we can see that a large part of the storytellers shared stories about short courses. The next graph shows that some stories happened just once and others continuously. To the question about which parties were involved, storytellers from ITS and ITB mainly indicated that their own university was involved in their story, but also selected each other, which shows that collaboration did take place.

The next question asked whether the tone of voice of the stories was positive or negative. Most storytellers indicated that they shared moderately to highly positive stories. Teaching staff seems to be sharing especially positive stories. Some students shared more negative stories, and mainly talked about the fact that they were not fully involved in the project yet or did not know how to use new software. When combining the question about tone with the question about frequency, a matrix like above appears. Here we can see that most stories that were shared are about events that are positive and happen continuously. This indicates that continuous positive moments occur within the project. There are also quite a large number of stories that are positive and happen just once. The stories that are negative but happen continuously require attention. Clicking on those dots in the interactive report and reading those stories tells us that these experiences mainly relate to obtaining data, and that that is still a difficult process.

The next set of questions asked participants about their participation in the project. Most storytellers have been involved in the project through participating in short courses, needs assessment/planning or meetings and seminars. A relatively small amount of people has had exposure abroad or was involved in the development of ICT infrastructure.

Most storytellers have been involved in the project through participating in short courses, needs assessment/planning or meetings and seminars. A relatively small amount of people has had exposure abroad or was involved in the development of ICT infrastructure.

When asked which goals they believe the project has been contributing to most, storytellers claim that that is transferring new knowledge and skills. Improved courses and curriculum, applying modern approaches and collaboration among stakeholders are also goals that are currently being contributed to according to the storytellers. Enhancing entrepreneurship and communication between education institutes are goals that are only limitedly contributed to right now. This indicates opportunities for the future. In the next question, most people believe their views on adequate educational approaches have changed moderately to a lot. There is a small group of students from ITB who shared a story and indicated that their view has not changed yet. Reading their stories gives insights into how they have been involved and how they could be included more in the future.

In general, the hopes and expectations for this project have been met or exceeded. No storytellers shared that they are unfilled with the project. To the question whether there is more interaction because of this project, storytellers say that the project has mainly lead to more interaction with government and other universities. Some interactions with the local community and the private sector have been made. The level of the new curriculum is considered adequate by most. It is remarkable that there are a few members of teaching staff who consider the new curriculum too low, which shows that there is room for more improvement. Students consider the level of the curriculum to be adequate or slightly too high.

Regarding the wishes for the future, students feel that support of management and expertise are what is most needed to continue applying new insights. See the image below. This seems to be in line with students considering the new curriculum slightly too difficult, as they would benefit from more expertise and support in understanding the new curriculum. For lecturers, financial resources seem to be most important. Collaboration between the different players in the water sector and between the educational institutes in Indonesia is what the project needs most of according to the storytellers. This could be influenced by the timing of the Future Search conference, and shows that although one of the previous questions showed that other parties were involved in the events described by the storytellers, even more collaboration is desired. More practice into the courses and better communication and information infrastructure follow this. Two people indicated that the project is currently doing all the right things. In general, we can infer from this that, although a lot of positive stories have been shared and that good things have been achieved, there is a lot of energy to continue and to do more within this project.

Participants were also asked about the gender balance in the courses. Most storytellers believe that the gender balance in their courses is not an issue. There is a slight difference between males and females. Some stories that are shared (mainly) by women note that there are not many female lecturers, there is body shaming in class, and that working with software requires being at the university, which can be difficult with a family. The full responses can be read below.