«Indonesian Online» was developed by Dr. Sembiring, and most Indonesian language learning materials on this site were also developed by Prof. Dr. Sembiring, and his team consisting of native speakers of Indonesian and who are also experienced bahasa Indonesia instructors. Dr Sembiring studied at the universities of Hamburg, Leiden, and North Sumatra. In 1989, he became a lecturer at IKIP Medan (now Medan State University), and in 1994 he started his career as an Indonesian language instructor at the School of Asian Studies at the University of Auckland, New Zealand.
Prof. Sembiring is not only an Indonesian language teacher, but also a specialist in Indonesian philology. He is the author of several books on language, culture, and especially the writing traditions of Sumatra. He has studied not only bahasa Indonesia, but also other languages such as bahasa Karo and bahasa Batak.
Dr. Sembiring started developing Indonesian language teaching materials in 2003, and has since published a large number of text books and e-learning courses.
He has been awarded with grants from various institutions to support his scholarly interest, and also to develop online courses for the Indonesian language.
In 2016, Dr Sembiring’s achievements were awarded. He received the prestigious Award for Excellence in Online Teaching from the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. This student-nominated award recognises faculty members who have made significant contributions in teaching and student learning in online courses and distance education.
Click here to see the Award for Excellence in Online Teaching granted by the Center for Teaching Excellence of the Office of Faculty Development and Academic Support, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa.