Wednesday, December 21, 2011

GENERATING POSITIVE HUMAN VALUES THROUGH PEER ASSESSMENT AS PART OF CHARACTER EDUCATION

I.G.A. Lokita Purnamika Utami, S.Pd., M.Pd
English Education Department, Language and Art Faculty, Ganesha University of Education
Jalan A Yani no 67, Singaraja, Bali- Indonesia
Email: lokita.purnamika@yahoo.com



ABSTRACT
Character education is defined as an instruction in basic human values and morals as part of school curriculum. Many scholars have put serious efforts in establishing ideal character through formal education at schools. These efforts can be in the form of modifying curriculum, teaching techniques, assessments, classroom activities, school environment which introduces local wisdom, culture, human values, as well as moral to the students. This paper is aimed at presenting the notion of character education and an idea that some positive human values that are similar to the traits of character education can be generated through peer assessment. Peer assessment is defined as an arrangement in which individuals consider the amount, level, value, worth, quality, or success of the products or outcomes of the learning of peers of similar status. In other words, it is a kind of assessment which involves the students to review, value and give comments and suggestions towards their peer’s work. Through the process of reviewing, valuing and giving comments and suggestion toward their peer’s work, the students subconsciously generate some positive human values such as respectful, helping and understanding, confident (self-esteem), independent, persistent, responsible and autonomous. As these positive human values generated through peer assessment, students are changed into active learner rather than passive learner as well as into autonomous learner rather than depended learner. Besides, peer assessment offers other academic benefits such as personal accountability, as well as interpersonal and collaborative skills that do not only help students academically but also socially as a member of society.
Keywords: peer assessment, human values, character education

INTRODUCTION
The notion of character education has awakened scholars to do many efforts to establish it properly. For instance, meetings discussing how to do character education are held, researches upon character education are conducted, articles and books about character education are written and so on.
Ideally character education should be done largely at schools and community involving all people i.e. scholars, instructors, students, parents, government, society, social service staff etc. In small scope, at schools for instance, all schools staffs do serious efforts to emphasis character education. Scholars meet to discuss about curriculum, classroom activities, assessment and typical school environment that support character education. They involve students with activities which provide them with character building experiences. The teacher may also use various instructional techniques which allows them emphasis character building. Also, teachers apply various assessment approaches that allow students to practice good values and character.
As teaching technique and preparing lesson plan, designing assessment is a very normal activity done by teacher. The main function of giving assessment is to figure out how well the students master the lesson that has been taught. Teacher may ask students to answer questions or test, draw pictures, sing a song, fill the blanks, write paragraphs, review their friend’s work and so on to see their mastery.
The type of assessment used may be varied. It depends on what purpose the teacher wants to achieve. It can be either formal or informal. Formal assessment is usually a written document such as a test, quiz, or paper. Formal assessment is given a numerical score or grade based on student performance. This type of assessment is used for teacher to have record on students’ achievement which later contributes their final score. Meanwhile, informal assessment does not contribute to a student's final grade. It usually occurs in a more casual manner, including observation, inventories, participation, peer and self evaluation, and discussion
Too many teachers believe that assessment is only used as a process of recording data of students’ progress. Only some critical teachers can see assessment as a tool to generate positive learning values that influence the students’ character. To generate these positive values the assessment should be used often and repeatedly. Thus, the assessment to be considered is the formative assessment - the assessment that is carried out throughout a course or project as to aid learning- which is in a learning context referred to as ‘assessment for learning’ instead of ‘assessment of learning’.
In an educational setting, formative assessment might be a teacher (or peer) or the learner, providing feedback on a student's work, and would not necessarily be used for grading purposes (Hanna & Dettmer; 2004). When the peers provide feedback to each other work’s it is called peer assessment. Peer assessment involves the students to review, value and give comments and suggestions towards their peer’s work.
Peer Assessment is believed to improve students’ academic achievement as well as interpersonal skills. Utami (2010) found that through the process of reviewing and discussing one’s work with their peer, students train themselves not only academically but also socially. In line with this Sheppard (2000) states about an emergent constructivist paradigm in which close assessment of students’ understandings, feedback from peer would be a central part of the social processes that mediate the development of intellectual abilities, construction of knowledge (both are academically), and formation of students’ identities (socially). Thus, peer assessment can be considered as a social process that mediate the development of intellectual abilities, construction of knowledge and formation of students’ identities.
Therefore, in the new perspective of involving character education in school curriculum, teachers may consider to apply peer assessment as it is compatible with and supporting this new perspective. Through peer assessment students may form their identities as some positive human values are generated in themselves. Peer assessment allows students to train themselves to be respectful, helping and understanding (cooperative), confident, independent, persistent, responsible and autonomous. As these positive human values generated through peer assessment, students’ character are changed into active and responsive learner rather than passive learner as well as into autonomous learner rather than depended learner. These changes bear great influences to the students’ identity in the sense that they bring these characters not only in their academic life but also their social life as human beings who are autonomous, independent, cooperative, responsive, etc
The basic aim of this article is to discuss the notion of character education as well as to introduce the idea that peer assessment can generate some positive human values which greatly influence students’ character into favorable human beings. The followings are the notion of character education, and the discussion on how some positive human values that are similar to the traits of character education can be generated through peer assessment.
THE NOTION OF CHARACTER EDUCATION
The Definition of Character Education
Elkind & Sweet (2004) states that all people are actually character educators already, whether they are teacher, administrator, custodian, or school bus driver, they are helping to shape the character of the kids they come in contact with. It is in the way they talk, the behavior they model, the deeds they encourage, the expectation they transmit. Thus, it simply about whatever people do to teach their kids good values.
However, to put it more specifically let us take a look on Lickona’s definition of Character Education. Lickona (1991) states that “character education is the deliberate effort to help people understand, care about, and act upon core ethical values.” Furthermore, he assert that when people think about the kind of character they want for their children, it’s clear that they want them to be able to judge what is right, care deeply about what is right, and then do what they believe to be right—even in the face of pressure from without and temptation from within.
The benefits of character education as it is cited from the Character Education Informational Handbook and Guide(2002) are as follows:
• It promotes character development through the exploration of ethical issues across the
curriculum.
• It develops a positive and moral climate by engaging the participation of students, teachers and staff, parents, and communities.
• It teaches how to solve conflicts fairly, creating safer schools that are freer of intimidation, fear, and violence, and are more conducive to learning.

The Components of Character Education

After more than a decade of experience with diverse communities, educators learned that these components are critical to the lasting success of character education. These components are cited from Character Education Informational Handbook and Guide(2002):


• Community participation. Have educators, parents, students, and members of the community invest themselves in a consensus-building process to discover common ground that is essential for long-term success.
• Character education policy. Make character education a part of your philosophy, goal or mission statement by adopting a formal policy. Don’t just say it—put it in writing.
• Defined traits. Have a meeting of parents, teachers and community representatives and use consensus to get agreement on which character traits to reinforce and what definitions to use. Formally state what your school means by “courage” or “perseverance” before they are discussed with students.
• Integrated curriculum. Make character education integral to the curriculum at all grade levels.Take the traits you have chosen and connect them to classroom lessons, so students see how a trait might figure into a story or be part of a science experiment or how it might affect them. Make these traits a part of every class and every subject.
• Experiential learning. Allow your students to see the trait in action, experience it and express it. Include community-based, real-world experiences in your curriculum that illustrate character traits (e.g., service learning, cooperative learning and peer mentoring). Allow time for discussion and reflection.
• Evaluation. Evaluate character education from two perspectives: (1) Is the program affecting positivechanges in student behavior, academic achievement and cognitive understanding of the traits? (2) Is the implementation process providing the tools and support teachers need?
• Adult role models. Children “learn what they live,” so it is important that adults demonstrate positive character traits at home, school and in the community. If adults do not model the behavior they teach, the entire program will fail.
• Staff development. Provide development and training time for your staff so that they can create and implement character education on an ongoing basis. Include time for discussion and understanding of both the process and the programs, as well as for the creation of lesson plans and curricula.
• Student involvement. Involve students in age-appropriate activities and allow them to connect character education to their learning, decision-making and personal goals as you integrate the process into their school.
• Sustaining the program. The character education program is sustained and renewed through implementation of the first nine elements, with particular attention to a high level of commitment from the top: adequate funding; support for district coordination staff; high quality and ongoing professional development; and a networking and support system for teachers who are implementing the program.
How To Do Character Education
There are probably many ways offered by experts on character education. Lickona (1991) believes that a developmental process that involves knowledge, feelings, and action is required to provide an integrated foundation on which to structure a coherent and comprehensive Character Education effort. Thus, scholars need to engage kids in activities that make them think critically about moral and ethical questions, inspire them to become committed to moral and ethical actions, and give them ample opportunities to practice moral and ethical behavior.
Another approach is called Holistic Approach. Berkowitz as cited in Character Education Informational Handbook and Guide(2002) states that effective character education is not adding a program or set of programs to a school. Rather it is a transformation of the culture and life of the school. This is called Holistic approach that integrates character development into every aspect of school life. Here are some of the distinguishing features of the holistic model:
• Everything in the school is organized around the development of relationships between and among students, staff, and community.
• The school is a caring community of learners in which there is a palpable bond connecting the students, the staff, and the school.
• Social and emotional learning is emphasized as much as academic learning.
• Cooperation and collaboration among students are emphasized over competition.
• Values such as fairness, respect, and honesty are part of everyday lessons in and out of the classroom.
• Students are given ample opportunities to practice moral behavior through activities such as service learning (see below).
• Discipline and classroom management concentrate on problem-solving rather than rewards and punishments.
• The old model of the teacher-centered classroom is abandoned in favor of democratic classrooms where teachers and students hold class meetings to build unity, establish norms, and solve problems.
And if it is a way too difficult to restructure school environment and habit as a caring community, then there are still many activities that scholars can do to provide students with meaningful character building experiences. The activities can be done in the classroom so that the students can play an active role in shaping the culture and environment of the classroom, as well as of the school at large. These activities are using Smorgasboard Approach. Here are the activities that can be done to build character:
• Hold class meetings in which students establish group goals, decide on rules of conduct, plan activities, and solve problems.
• Have your students collaborate on academic tasks by working in cooperative learning groups. Give them regular opportunities to plan and reflect on the ways they work together.
• Organize a Buddies program in which younger and older students get together to work one-on-one on academic tasks and other kinds of activities.
• Teach conflict resolution and other social skills so that students become skilled at resolving conflicts fairly and peacefully.
• These strategies help students learn to establish and maintain positive relationships with others. They also turn the school into a laboratory where students practice the kinds of roles, and cope with the kinds of challenges, they will face in later life. (Schaps, Schaeffer & McDonnell, 2001)
Besides, the above approaches, scholar can also teach values through the curriculum. For example, teacher of literature may discuss about character in the story or moral values found in a poem (Utami, 2011). In science class students can be asked to discussed about ethical issues of things like genetic testing or the use of animals in research.
And the last approach is Direct approach. This approach means teaching the students about character education explicitly. The direct approach is to teach it as a subject in itself, by creating specific character education lesson plans. This approach is often organized around a list of specifically named virtues like respect, responsibility, integrity, etc., and typically involves the kids in reading, writing, discussing, role playing, and other kinds of activities that help them understand and apply these values.
PEER ASSESSMENT IN CHARACTER EDUCATION
Peer Assessment and Smorgasboard Approach
The idea of working with Peer assessment in the classroom is not for no reason. If we take a look again at the above list of activities based on Smorgasboard approach, we will find that the list shows activities that are actually done in Peer Assessment. To have a better understanding of how peer assessment is done the following is the general procedure of doing peer assessment (Utami, 2010):
1. The teacher set a rubric or a review guideline to be used as a reference later by the students.
2. The teacher make sure that the student understand the target of each component in the rubric. This can be done by providing a training session of reviewing. All students will learn about the goal or the target of the assignment, how to review and how to give value.
3. The student are assigned to do particular assignment
4. After finish doing the assignment, the teacher help them swap their work and make sure to hide the identity of the creator perhaps by writing only the initial of the creator’s name.
5. The students start reviewing and giving comments or suggestion on their peer’s work.
6. The students then decide the value of the work based on the rubric of assessment provided
7. The reviewer and the creator then discussed about the strengths and the weaknesses of the work. They also find solution or ways to revise the work into a more appropriate one. In this process the students learn to use their interpersonal skill such as arguing, stating opinion, refusing, respecting other’s opinion. They learn collaboratively and maintain a positive ad friendly atmosphere of learning
8. The teacher may help if necessary, especially if the students can’t decide what is the right thing or how to revise or solve the problem. The teacher can facilitate the students to solve problem fairly and peacefully by conducting a class conference that involving all students and teacher to solve particular problem or to highlight particular concept learn from mistakes done by the students.
The above procedures is not an exact sequence. Any scholars may add or reduce the step based on the purpose of the lesson she taught. However, whatever changes made, Peer Assessment is all about involving students in assessing their peer’s work.
From the above procedure, it is obvious that through peer assessment students will improve their knowledge as well as their interpersonal skill which is very important for them to play their role as a part of society.
The Parallelism of Peer Assessment and Eight Traits of Character Education
The Character Education Informational Handbook and Guide (2002) mentions about the eight traits of character education for inclusion in character education instruction, they are:
1. Courage. Having the determination to do the right thing even when others don’t; having
the strength to follow your conscience rather than the crowd; attempting difficult things that are worthwhile.
2. Good Judgement. Choosing worthy goals and setting proper priorities; thinking through the consequences of your actions; and basing decisions on practical wisdom and good sense.
3. Integrity. Having the inner strength to be truthful, trustworthy, and honest in all things;
acting justly and honorably.
4. Kindness Being considerate, courteous, helpful, and understanding of others; showing care, compassion, riendship, and generosity; and treating others as you would like to be
treated.
5. Perseverance. Being persistent in the pursuit of worthy objectives in spite of difficulty, opposition, or discouragement; and exhibiting patience and having the fortitude to try again when confronted with delays, mistakes, or failures.
6. Respect. Showing high regard for authority, for other people, for self, for property, and for country; and understanding that all people have value as human beings.
7. Responsibility. Being dependable in carrying out obligations and duties; showing reliability and consistency in words and conduct; being accountable for your own actions; and being committed to active involvement in your community.
8. Self-Discipline. Demonstrating hard work and commitment to purpose; regulating yourself for improvement and restraining from inappropriate behaviors; being in proper control of your words, actions, impulses, and desires; choosing abstinence from premarital sex, drugs, alcohol, and other harmful substances and behaviors; and doing your best in all situations.

In parallel with those eight traits above, Peer Assessment also offers similar positive human values such as
1. Confident in stating opinion or give comments (courage). Assigning the students to review their peer’s work “forces” them to learn the required concept to be able to review and give comments or suggestion on their peer’s work. To do this the students are trained to be confident stating their opinion or comments i.e. what they think is right or appropriate and what they think should be or should not be done.
2. Good judgment. In reviewing process the students think about whether the work is good, appropriate or need to be revised. They also need to decide in what way the work should be revised and how much value the work worth.
3. Honest and Objective (integrity). In reviewing the friendship factor is tried to be avoided to maintain the objectivity. This is by assigning the students to review a work without they know who the creator is. This will be done until they finished reviewing. They are going to be told later the creator of the work so that finally they can talk more deeply about the work. This process teaches the students to be objective and to be honest with what they think without being influenced by intimacy or friendship.
4. Helping and understanding (Kindness). After reviewing the students (both the reviewer and the creator of the work) are given time to discuss orally about the work. The reviewer may tell what he thinks, what should be done or what strength of the work is having. The creator will be listening and perhaps giving additional comments or reasons why he does the work in a particular way. Also, peer involvement in assessment helps students to learn not only from their mistakes but from the mistakes of others and makes economical and efficient use of the students' and the teacher's time (Falchikov, 2001). Both of the party will try to share knowledge they have based on the concepts or books they have read. In short, peer assessment let the students help each other on particular concept.
5. Persistent in learning (perseverance). The students automatically update their knowledge every time they have discussion session with their friends. Besides that, during the process of reviewing the student may learn from one’s mistakes and strengths. They also have great motivation to read books to justify the concept they perceived before, since they know that the knowledge will be valuable to share with their friends.
6. Respect. Again throughout the process of reviewing and assessing the students build up the feeling that everyone has value and opinion that they need to respect.
7. Autonomous learner (Responsible). Each of the students are given responsibility to review, to give comments or suggestion upon their peer’s work. They also become responsible with their own learning such as reading books, asking teacher or friends to improve their knowledge to be able to review one’s work. Moreover, Teo (2006) states that active involvement of students in the process of dealing with mistakes is important: it stimulates active learning; induces cooperative atmosphere; and develops autonomous learners.
8. Independent (Self-Discipline). Since peer assessment involves the students in assessing their peer’s work, the class becomes more students-centered rather than teacher-centered. The students learn more independently by given responsibility to do assignment and to review each other’s work. Hoque (2008) states that students should be given chance very frequently to correct each other work, which is very important because 'self-correction or peer assessment help to focus student attention on the errors and to reduce reliance on the teacher.

Moreover, as cited in the handbook of character education, Berkowitz mentions four supported practices to do character education. They are (1) Promoting student autonomy and influence; (2) Student participation, discussion, and collaboration; (3) Social skills training; (4) Helping and social service behavior. Again, these four practices can be also found in the implementation of Peer Assessment. By conducting peer assessment students are changed into independent and autonomous learner. The students work together in a discussion; help each other to solve the problem or to revise the inappropriateness in their work. Furthermore, automatically students practices their interpersonal skills which is one of social skills that aims at having a good social relation in the society. The students practices their communication and interpersonal skills such as arguing, giving opinion, refusing and respecting others. And the last, the students basically trained to help each other to learn. They subconsciously trained their social service behavior. The students review their peer’s work without thinking about any personal advantage. They do it because they feel responsible for it.
CONCLUSION

As it has been discussed in the previous pages, clearly peer assessment can help students to improve their academic achievement as well as to generate some positive human values in themselves. Peer assessment can be considered as a great tool to teach character education since students engage in collaborative learning and discussion. The students learn how to respect and value; to be independent and responsible with their own learning; to be persistent in learning; to be helpful and understanding etc. These positive human values generated by Peer Assessment do not stop only inside the classroom; instead, the students bring them along as they live their life as member of society. And living socially in real life setting with these positive characters is the most important target because a great intellectual is a little value before it is added with integrity, respect, responsibility and other positive human values.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This article is financially supported by English Education Department, Ganesha University of Education. This article is developed based on the result of the observation in a research done by the author on peer assessment in writing in year 2010. Also, some important information in this article are derived from the following references.
REFERENCES
David H. Elkind, David H.; Sweet, Freddy. (2004). How To Do Character Education. Available online :http://www.goodcharacter.com/Article_4.html [ref type: article]
Falchikov, Nancy. (2001). Learning Together:Peer Tutoring in Higher Education. New York: Taylor and Francis [ref type: handbook]
Hanna, Gerald S. And Dettmer. (2004). Assessment For Effective Teaching: Using Context-Adaptive Learning. Boston: Pearson Education, Inc [ref type: handbook]
Hoque, M Enamul. Error Correction Preferences in of higher secondary students in Bangladesh: An Evaluation. http://www.articlesbase.com/languages-articles/error-correction-preferences-in-written-work-of-higher-secondary-students-in-bangladesh-an-evaluation-329528.htm [ref type: research report]
Lickona, Thomas. (1991). Educating For Character. New York: Bantam [ref type: Handbook]
Public School of North California; State Board of Education. (2002).Character Education Informational Handbook & Guide, North Carolina Dept. of Public Instruction (Raleigh, NC: http://www.ncpublicschools.org/charactereducation/handbook/pdf/content.pdf) [ref type: handbook]
Schaps, Eric; Schaeffer, Esther F & McDonnell, Sanford N. (2001). What’s Right and Wrong In Character Education Today. Published in Education Week, September 12, 2001. Available on line at www.edweek.org [ref type: article]
Shepard, H. Lorie. (2000). “The Role of Assessment in a Learning Culture”. Educational Researcher, Vol. 29, No. 7, pp. 4–1. [Ref Type : Journal]
Teo, Adeline. K. (2006). Using a Peer Assisted Activity to Promote ESL/EFL students’ narrative writing skill. The Internet TESL Journal, Vol. XII, No. 8, August 2006
http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Teo-PeerAssistedWriting.html [ref type: journal]
Utami, I.G.A. Lokita Purnamika. (2010). The effect of Peer Assessment on Students’ Writing Achievement with Differing Achievement Motivation. Unpublished Thesis [ref type: research report]
Utami, I.G.A. Lokita Purnamika. [2011] The Importance of Introducing Poetry to EFL Students. An article, presented in Asia Creative Writing Conference in Jember on 31 march 2011- 1 april 2011 [ref type: proceeding]

PENDIDIKAN KARAKTER DI KAMPUS: BAGAIMANA MEMULAI?

Setiap pagi sehabis mengabsen, saya akan segera menuju kelas yang harus saya ajar. Dalam perjalanan dari tempat parkir menuju ke kelas saya, biasanya saya akan berpapasan dengan para mahasiswa. Pernah suatu pagi, saya berpapasan dengan segerombolan mahasiswa dengan pakaian mereka yang unik, tapi bukan itu yang saya risaukan, yang saya risaukan adalah cara mereka menyapa dan cara mereka bersikap terhadap saya. Salah satu dari mereka mulai berkata “Pagi ibu, ajarin saya dong” dan sapaan ini diikuti dengan cara mereka menatap dengan gaya meremehkan dengan beberapa suitan suitan khas anak muda yang sangat tidak pantas. Saya menoleh dan menatap mereka, saya sempat bertanya-tanya dalam hati apakah mereka mahasiswa, atau memang orang “luar” yang iseng kebetulan ada di kampus. Tetapi lama kelaman, setelah sekian hari saya perhatikan rupanya mereka memang mahasiwa di fakultas tempat saya bekerja. Sebagai seorang dosen muda, saya menyadari bahwa mahasiswa cenderung menganggap saya “teman” dibandingkan “dosen”. Tetapi apakah memang begitu cara mereka berkomunikasi terhadap orang yang lebih tua, apalagi dengan status sosial-akademik yang lebih tinggi (sebagai pengajar)?
Saya harus mengakui bahwa perubahan adalah hal yang paling kekal. Perubahan pada fenomena-fenomena sosial juga demikian. Salah satu dari fenomena sosial yang berubah adalah cara mahasiswa berkomunikasi terhadap dosen pengajarnya, seperti yang saya ilustrasikan diatas. Dulu para mahasiswa sangat berhati-hati dalam memilih kata-kata untuk berbicara dengan dosennya. Sebelum bertemu atau bertandang kerumah dosen pengajarnya, mereka akan dengan sopan membuat janji bertemu. Selain itu para mahasiswa dulu selalu berusaha bersikap hormat dalam berkomunikasi dengan dosen pengajarnya, entah dalam menyapa “selamat pagi” atau menanyakan sesuatu yang berkaitan dengan mata kuliahnya. Tetapi sekarang mahasiswa bahkan tidak tahu bagaimana mengutarakan maksudnya dalam teks sms. Bahasa dengan tulisan “gaul” yang biasanya digunakan untuk teman digunakan juga dalam teks sms yang ditujukan ke dosen pengajar. Saya sudah berkali kali terkaget-kaget dengan sms mereka seperti “Ibuk dmna nieh? Saya sdh mencari ibuk k’mna2. Saya mo ktemu sma ibuk”
Rupanya keprihatinan ini sudah menjadi pembicaraan dikalangan para dosen pengajar. Saya sebagai salah satu dari komunitas ini mengamati perubahan fenomena sosial ini dan dampak yang dirasakan oleh para dosen pengajar. Kami sering berbincang bincang mengenai sikap-sikap para mahasiswa yang kurang tepat dalam tataran etika dan moral serta hal-hal yang mungkin menyebabkan terjadinya penurunan prilaku beretika dikalangan mahasiswa. Salah satu dari faktor yang diyakini berkontribusi pada penurunan prilaku beretika ini adalah semakin sedikitnya peran orang tua dirumah dalam memberikan pengaruh atau model prilaku yang diharapkan. Setelah memasuki masa sekolah, siswa cenderung menghabiskan banyak waktu diluar rumah, dan “menyerap” contoh-contoh prilaku teman-teman sebayanya. Sementara kesibukan orang tua berkarir menyebabkan mereka jarang ada dirumah untuk bisa berbincang dan “mengajarkan” hal-hal yang sesuai dengan etika dan moral. Sehingga saya pikir perlu ada usaha-usaha untuk membangkitkan pendidikan karakter di kampus, tempat dimana mahasiswa sering menghabiskan waktu mereka dan bersosialisasi. Yang menjadi pertanyaan sekarang adalah bagaimana memulai sebuah pendidikan karakter di kampus?
Saya meyakini bahwa universitas sebagai salah satu tempat pendidikan, tidak hanya memiliki kewajiban untuk membuat siswa pandai, tetapi ia juga memiliki sebuah “tugas” untuk mendidik para mahasiswa nilai-nilai moral dan etika sehingga bisa berprilaku yang baik di kehidupan mereka.
Pendidikan karakter dikampus, saya pikir, harus mampu mengajarkan mahasiswa untuk memahami, berkomitmen, dan bertingkah laku berdasarkan nilai-nilai etika, dengan kata lain, mahasiswa tahu hal yang benar, memiliki keinginan dan pandangan yang benar dan melakukan hal-hal yang benar. Nilai-nilai inti yang sangat dijunjung dalam pendidikan karakter adalah nilai-nilai seperti rasa hormat, tanggung jawab, kepercayaan, keadilan, kepedulian dan kemauan berpartisipasi dalam masyarakat.
Dalam pemikiran saya, kampus haruslah benar-benar memiliki komitmen tinggi pada pendidikan karakter dengan melakukan berbagai usaha-usaha. Usaha usaha tersebut seperti menekankan pentingnya pemberian model dari orang orang dewasa (pengajar, pegawai, seluruh warga kampus) tentang nilai-nilai etika baik didalam kelas maupun di interaksi sehari-hari. Hal ini sangat penting karena akan membantu para mahasiswa mengklarifikasi nilai-nilai moral atau etika yang mereka tahu. Sebagai contoh, staf pegawai selalu menggunakan bahasa yang sopan dan beretika dalam melayani kebutuhan mahasiswa. Hal ini penting untuk memberikan model berkomunikasi yang baik bagi mahasiswa. Contoh lain, dalam interaksi di kelas para dosen pengajar juga memberikan model penggunaan bahasa Indonesia yang baik dan beretika dalam berkomunikasi. Dosen pengajar harus mampu menggunakan bahasa yang tepat dan sopan dalam berbagai situasi, entah dalam memaparkan konsep maupun dalam memberikan kritikan atau teguran bagi mahasiswa yang berprilaku salah.
Selain itu, pemberian sesi sesi diskusi tentang fenomena-fenomena sosial seperti plagiatisme, tindak kekerasan disekolah, korupsi, aborsi, kehidupan seks remaja dan fenomena sosial lain yang menarik untuk dibahas perlu dilakukan. Hal ini sangat bermanfaat untuk melatih kemampuan mahasiswa untuk berpikir kritis, menyampaikan argumen mereka tentang batasan-batasan moral dan prilaku yang diharapkan. Para dosen juga bisa memberikan arahan tentang cara pandang mahasiswa terhadap fenomena fenomena sosial tersebut, sehingga mahasiswa akan mengerti tentang hal yang benar dan prilaku-prilaku yang sesuai etika dan moral
Selain usaha-usaha yang bisa dilakukan di dalam kelas, kampus atau universitas juga bisa menanamkan pendidikan karakter melalui berbagai kegiatan di luar kelas. Misalnya, dalam ulang tahun jurusan, fakultas atau lembaga (apapun lingkupnya) para mahasiswa dilibatkan dalam kegiatan pengumpulan dana untuk anak-anak miskin atau terlatar, kegiatan donor darah untuk PMI, kegiatan bakti sosial ditempat yang membutuhkan, kegiatan sukarelawan ditempat bencana alam dan kegiatan sosial lain. Hal ini akan membantu mengasah kepekaan sosial mereka, dan kepedulian terhadap sesama. Kampus harus berkomitmen dan benar-benar memberikan prioritas dan penghargaan bagi mahasiswa yang terlibat kegiatan-kegiatan tersebut. Misalnya, setiap kegiatan tersebut para pimpinan jurusan atau fakultas atau rektor menerbitkan SK atau sertifikat penghargaan yang memiliki poin tertentu yang bisa digunakan mahasiswa untuk mengajukan usulan beasiswa. Hal ini akan menunjukkan seberapa serius kampus menganggap kegiatan kegiatan semacam ini penting.
Beberapa usaha-usaha yang saya sebutkan diatas mungkin sudah ada yang dilakukan tetapi mungkin dengan tingkat keseriusan dan komitmen yang belum maksimal. Komitmen yang maksimal harus dimiliki tidak hanya oleh para pimpinan kampus tetapi juga seluruh warga di kampus seperti dosen, pegawai, mahasiswa, staf cleaning service, bahkan pegawai koperasi atau kantin. Saya yakin jika kampus berkomitmen dengan serius pada pendidikan karakter, hasil yang signifikan untuk pembentukan karakter yang baik dalam diri mahasiswa cepat atau lambat akan berbuah.