Purwokerto (9/2020). The COVID pandemic that spread to Indonesia starting in March 2020 inevitably brought changes to learning activities in the Sastra Inggris study programme at Unsoed. Classes that were originally conducted face-to-face were replaced by online lectures. Even in the odd semester of 2020-2021, classes that began in September 2020 still used online format. This was to protect the academic community from virus transmission by implementing distant teaching and learning.
Since the pandemic was announced, lecturers in Sastra Inggris quickly switched to online learning modes. According to a survey by GKM Sasing, various media were chosen such as Eldiru, Gmeet, GClassroom, Whatsapp, and Zoom, with their use adapted to the characteristics of each course. Among these media, Google Classroom and Whatsapp were the most popular, with more than 50% of users. According to the lecturers, besides course characteristics, other considerations were the completeness and ease of use of the media, availability of infrastructure, and cost-effectiveness. Whatsapp, for example, became a favorite because almost all members of the academic community have it and it requires no significant cost. Meanwhile, Eldiru as Unsoed’s platform was considered quite comprehensive but still needed improvement in terms of capacity.
Several obstacles were encountered during online classes, related to technological proficiency, availability of infrastructure (such as internet connection or data plans), and learning techniques. For example, some lecturers stated the difficulty of preparing teaching materials, the challenge of monitoring student engagement during class, and conducting learning outcome evaluations. To overcome this, Sastra Inggris lecturers exchanged tips and participated in various training sessions and webinars on online learning organized by the faculty, the university, and external parties. This needed to be done to continue providing quality education in the Sastra Inggris study programme at Unsoed amid this uncertain situation. (RPH).