Digital Pocket Book as Learning Medium for Disaster Preparedness in the Technological Era

This study develops a digital pocket book as an innovative learning medium to enhance disaster preparedness among high school students in disaster-prone Imogiri, Indonesia. Using a Research and Development (R&D) approach with a modified Borg & Gall model, the research involved needs analysis, expert validation, and three-stage field testing (preliminary, main, and operational) with 15-94 students and teachers. The digital media, designed with localized disaster content (floods, earthquakes, landslides) and interactive visual elements, was evaluated for practicality and effectiveness. Results showed high practicality scores from both students (average 71.60-76.67) and teachers (4.7-4.8/5), categorized as "very practical." Most significantly, the experimental group demonstrated a moderate improvement in disaster preparedness (gain score = 0.57), significantly higher than the control group's low improvement (gain score = 0.17), as confirmed by ANOVA (F = 36.139, p < 0.05). These findings prove that contextually designed digital media effectively bridges gaps in disaster education by aligning with digital-native learning preferences and transforming theoretical knowledge into operational readiness. The study offers a replicable model for technology-enhanced disaster education in vulnerable regions, contributing to global disaster risk reduction goals. This study presents a novel digital pocket book designed to enhance students' disaster preparedness. It significantly contributes to disaster education by demonstrating how interactive, locally-focused digital resources can translate theoretical knowledge into actionable readiness. Furthermore, the research offers a reproducible development framework, enabling the creation of similar tools in other high-risk regions and thus supporting global initiatives for disaster resilience through educational technology.