Unimus Academic Develops Digital Textbook to Prevent Campus Violence

Semarang (ANTARA) – Muhammad Sabbardi, an academic at Universitas Muhammadiyah Semarang (Unimus), has developed an innovative digital Indonesian-language textbook based on Outcome-Based Education (OBE) and designed to promote the prevention of violence in higher education institutions.

“Violence in higher education remains an issue requiring serious attention,” Sabbardi said in a statement in Semarang on Thursday.

He said violence took forms beyond physical and sexual abuse, including bullying, intimidation, discrimination and verbal abuse, which could occur in academic interactions and students’ social lives.

Regulations and case-handling mechanisms are therefore an important part of efforts to protect members of the campus community, he said. However, preventing violence also requires an educational approach that can build students’ understanding, awareness and sense of responsibility on an ongoing basis.

Efforts to prevent violence at universities do not have to rely solely on seminars, information sessions or dedicated campaigns. Education about violence, including sexual violence, can also be integrated into Indonesian-language courses, which are compulsory for students, he added.

That idea prompted him to develop BukuAjar.ID, a digital textbook combining academic literacy skills, the OBE approach and material on the Prevention and Handling of Violence (PPK) in higher education.

The doctoral examination is scheduled to include Minister of Primary and Secondary Education Prof. Dr Abdul Mu’ti as an external examiner.

In his research, Sabbardi argues that Indonesian-language learning is strategically placed to support this goal. Language is not merely a means of communication; it is also connected to how people think, their social relationships and their attitudes towards others.

Language can foster communication that respects human dignity, but it can also be used to demean, discriminate against or harass people, and to normalise violence.

BukuAjar.ID invites students to learn Indonesian through material related to real-life experiences in higher education. This includes text analysis, examinations of news coverage of sexual violence and the identification of discriminatory language.

The textbook has been tested with 191 students at six universities in Central Java and the Special Region of Yogyakarta, including Universitas Muhammadiyah Semarang (Unimus), Universitas Diponegoro (Undip) in Semarang and Universitas Ahmad Dahlan (UAD) in Yogyakarta.