The Covid-19 pandemic has given a new color to the lives of the world’s people in 2020, including in Indonesia. The emergence of this virus has brought changes to all sectors of life, from tourism, economy, socio-culture, education, and other sectors. All brought to a new order of life(new normal) The Covid-19 pandemic repeated events 100 years ago when the world also experienced the Spanish Flu pandemic.“Earth is under construction”, the earth is under repair. This extraordinary event makes people characterize. Agile is defined as the ability to adapt quickly, the ability to change the culture or habits that are already rooted in oneself, the ability to highlight one’s self-defeating nature, as well as the ability to optimally utilize technology, and the ability to optimize its potential.
Ganesha University of Education (Undiksha) as one of the tertiary institutions in Indonesia also does not want to falter in dealing with this pandemic situation. The leadership as the captain remains strongly committed to bringing this university to move faster. Through hard work and togetherness that has been built into a weapon to bring Undiksha to become one of the superior and competitive universities, and is targeted to becomeTrend-Setter University and Go International.
In the midst of this difficult situation, Undiksha is moving to make changes even from the smallest things to answer all demands and challenges, including those related to the era of technological disruption that we are currently experiencing.
Undiksha as an academic institution, one of the state universities on the island of Bali, has responded quickly to this pandemic by issuing the Chancellor’s Instruction Number 01 of 2020 which replaces theoretical/face-to-face learning with online learning using either e-learning with various platforms existing (such as Undiksha e-learning, Schoology, Edmodo, etc.) or non-e-learning applications (such as WhatsApp, Facebook, Telegram, or other social media). Currently, every academic community is willing and able to take advantage of various existing platforms to provide services to students, especially in terms of education and teaching.
It is very encouraging that everyone wants to change and wants to make changes by utilizing online learning as a medium in the teaching and learning process. But we also need to standardize the online learning that we have implemented. We need to carry out continuous monitoring and evaluation of this online learning so that the quality of learning is maintained.
In addition to theoretical lectures, practicum lectures in laboratories, workshops, or the like are also suspended, replaced with assignments, or held in June and July 2020. The implementation arrangements are left to the respective study programs with a note that they always implement the protocol to prevent the spread of Covid-19. The same thing applies to the examination of the final work as well as the implementation of research and advocacy activities in the community which involve data collection and activities with the community must be accompanied by precautions.
Undiksha leadership also prohibits all lecturers, students, and education staff from traveling abroad, including traveling abroad for student exchanges, lecturers, or other programs that have been designed and agreed upon. The change movement was positively welcomed by the academic community. Online learning, which previously ran for a number of courses, was successfully implemented one hundred percent.
Even though in a difficult situation, Undiksha also continues to make optimal efforts to achieve the targets set through the Chancellor and Minister performance contracts as well as programs that refer to 9 criteria of BAN-PT, Higher Education Clusterization, RPJP (Long Term Development Plan), and RPJM (Medium Term Development Plan) Undiksha, which will guide Undiksha for the next 5 to 20 years.
During this pandemic, programs that have been designed in 2020 are not allowed to be executed with the aim of “just running” to achieve high absorption. All sections are directed to refocusing and restructuring programs, whether they have been designed, both in the fields of education and teaching, research and publication, community service, as well as other routine activities both in the academic and non-academic fields if these activities cannot run in 2020.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, state universities were also faced with accepting new students. Undiksha took part in the implementation of the SNMPTN (National Selection of PTN Students) as well as the Independent Selection – Talent Interest specifically for Diploma III students. The selection that has been carried out still prioritizes the implementation of the precautionary protocol and prevention of the spread of Covid-19. The number of interested people who register at Undiksha through both SNMPTN and Mandiri Interests Talents is more or less the same as in 2019. So there is no significant difference.
Re-registration during the Covid-19 pandemic, all processes took place online. There are several simplified administrative requirements to prevent people from leaving their homes or gathering in large numbers, such as: (1) not asking for a statement from the village head to explain the socio-economic situation of prospective students, but asking for the statement to be signed by parents/guardians with a stamp of 6000; (2) not asking for a color blindness certificate issued by the puskesmas or an authorized institution, but we are replacing it with an online color blindness assessment, and other things the committee is doing to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
Innovation in the Covid-19 Pandemic This difficult situation was never predicted before. However, we must face it with shared commitment and discipline in implementing the government’s appeal. The Covid-19 pandemic has brought many changes to how we carry out our daily activities compared to normal times.
Undiksha as a tertiary institution must continue to carry out the Tri Dharma PT optimally. The Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 has indeed created a new order in various sectors, one of which is education. Along with this, right now we are in the era of the Industrial Revolution 4.0. The era with such massive technological developments. We must be able to make optimal use of this situation so that on the one hand the transmission of Covid-19 can be prevented, but on the other hand, learning activities can still be carried out. On that basis, Undiksha initiated several innovative programs in the fields of education and teaching, research, and community service. For example, in terms of implementing the Real Work Lecture (KKN).
In the midst of this unpredictable situation, conventional KKN activities are impossible to carry out, because it is clear that this would violate the government’s appeal regarding preventing the spread of Covid-19 and the Undiksha Chancellor’s Instructions regarding the learning system in the midst of a pandemic. Even if this pandemic ends in the near future, conventional KKN is still not possible to do. Feelings of anxiety, trauma, and fear seem to still linger in the community, the Undiksha academic community, and the organizing committee.
For this reason, Undiksha changed the pattern of conventional KKN to Online-based Independent KKN (KMbD). This is the pattern that we most realistically carry out during this pandemic. In this KMbD activity, students were presented with several topics, including (1) preventing the spread of Covid-19; (2) tackling the social, economic, and psychological impacts of Covid-19. There are two concepts in this KKN, namely KKN independently, and its full implementation is carried out in an online or virtual or online mode. Independent, means that the implementation of KKN activities is carried out independently/individually, which is adjusted to the knowledge and skills mastered to learn to solve various problems faced by the community.
Because this is done independently, individual reasoning, creativity, and mastery of technology are the main assets. This is in contrast to the previous Conventional KKN which was usually carried out together in one group. On the other hand, online implies that the KKN process (starting from the planning, and implementation, to the evaluation stage) is entirely carried out through the online mode. The topics raised in the KMbD related to the Covid-19 Pandemic, namely prevention from a clinical aspect, overcoming social and economic impacts, overcoming psychological impacts, and education/learning during/after the Covid-19 pandemic.
Apart from KKN, Undiksha, which is the largest state university in North Bali, also implemented a new mode for implementing the Introduction to School Fields (PLP) program, namely in the form of Introduction to School Fields Based on Social Restrictions (PLPbPS). There are at least 7 characteristics in this new program, namely (1) implemented during a pandemic, (2) freedom for students to determine training schools, (3) demands creativity and learning innovation according to the situation, (4) restrictions on the number of study group members, (5) online guidance, (6) online monitoring, and (7) modification of assessment instruments according to the situation. In this program, the basis of social restrictions is really emphasized to support the government’s efforts to break the chain of distribution of Covid-19.
