Responding to the development of the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak that occurred in various countries declared by WHO, and the condition of the spread in the DIY and surrounding areas, UGM Chancellor, Prof. Ir. Panut Mulyono, M. Eng., D. Eng., IPU., ASEAN Eng., issued the Chancellor Circular Letter No. 1606 / UN1.P / HKL / TR / 2020 concerning Covid-19 Emergency Response at UGM on Monday (3/16).
This circular letter asked the academicians to remain calm, do not panic, and minimize outside home activities, as well as avoiding crowds. One of the policies that later put into effect was about the implementation of online learning activities starting on Monday (3/16). Besides, the circular letter also appealed in delaying various activities involving more than 50 people, as well as limiting mobility at home and abroad for UGM academicians.
Teresa Lalita Wiryarini, a Faculty of Public Health, Medicine, and Nursing UGM student of 2017, admitted that she was quite familiar with the policy. Seeing the situation that occurs, it is appropriate if UGM spells out online learning policies to reduce the spread of the Coronavirus.
According to her, learning online is the most appropriate solution that UGM can do at present. Even though in the actual evaluation, this kind of learning is less effective compared to in-person activities with the lecturer.
“Because they could not meet the lecturer directly, they did not get a complete explanation of the material, while some lecturers only gave assignments without giving lecture material,” Lalita said on Thursday (3/19).
Even so, Lalita feels grateful to have still the study material compared to a holiday at all. She claimed to study online through the gamel system, and even then, there was still a limitation to uploading video lectures. At the same time, other lecturers only gave assignments without including lecture material.
“In fact, in the beginning, they told us that we would use Webex or zoom application for online learning classes. But for now, there is no further information about using webex and zoom,” she said.
Lalita hopes this situation will end soon so that life and lectures will resume normal. She hopes that we all would resolve COVID-19 soon because she missed college and met many friends in the faculty.
“I have no choices. At home, I only work on assignments given by lecturers or try to fill the holiday with music lessons or language lessons at home,” she explained.
Even though she has not yet experienced online learning classes, Muthia Fahiratunnisa Amany, Faculty of Public Health, Medicine, and Nursing UGM as a student class of 2018, stated her opinion about online courses. She said that online classes conducted through various applications and servers, according to the use of each lecture, made not a few students complained about the large internet capacity spent on one online class.
“This comes from friend’s opinions, so let’s say for 3-4 times it can use up to almost 2GB. Not to mention the network, but sometimes it is unstable so that it then produces disturbed and unclear explanation,” she said.
As a member of the Student Executive Board Association from her faculty (BEM FKKMK), the Ministry of Student Welfare Advocacy, it is appropriate for her to accommodate the voices of her friends’ complaints. According to friends’ suggestions, she said, students could download after the live video ended. Hence, it helps anyone who did not understand could see the video again.
“However, we appreciate it because the university has collaborated with various providers. We highly hope other providers will join us to have collaboration either and cover all the needs of students,” she hoped.
Author: Agung Nugroho
Translator: Natasa A