ABSTRACT
Many industries experience and struggle with financial hardship during the global COVID-19 pandemic, including bookselling industry. Due to the imposed lockdown and stay-at-home orders, retail bookstores had to transform their selling method to online selling. This study investigates the issue further by focusing on independent bookstores, specifically the shift from physical space to digital space. A case study is conducted on one independent bookstore based in Jakarta, namely Transit Bookstore. This paper discusses what kind of challenges that occur, the strategies they apply to adapt, and how they use Instagram during the pandemic. The data are collected by conducting a mixed method (textual-visual analysis and semi-structured interview) and then analyzed using qualitative approach. The result shows how by incorporating social media into their operations, Transit Bookstore manages to not only sell and promote their books but also engage with the reading community and create a new book buying experience. The objectives of this paper are to make a significant contribution to the discussion of independent bookstores in Indonesia and to offer a new perspective on the impact of social media for independent bookselling. © 2022 IEEE.
ABSTRACT
Cases of the COVID-19 pandemic have spread throughout the world and caused a high mortality rate. This virus is self-limiting, so the healing process is related to the immune system. One of the medical therapies given to hospitalized COVID-19 patients is vitamin D-based therapy to boost the immune system against the COVID-19 virus. This paper aimed to determine the effectiveness of vitamin D-based therapy to reduce the clinical impact on COVID-19 patients. The clinical impacts observed in this systematic review were the length of hospital stay, length in the ICU stay, cure rate, severity, mortality rate, and signs of inflammation. A literature search was carried out on the Scopus, Sciencedirect, and PUBMED databases. Search articles using the keyword vitamin D therapy in COVID-19 patients. The final result of the search found 6 articles that met the specified inclusion and exclusion criteria. Vitamin D in its active form (1,25(OH)2D3) can enhance chemotaxis, phagocytic response, and production of antimicrobials such as cathelicidin from macrophages as a series of innate immune responses. Administration of vitamin D-based therapy can also reduce the severity, decrease pro-inflammatory cytokines, and mortality in COVID-19 patients. The paper shows that vitamin D-based therapy can reduce the clinical impact in COVID-19 patients.
ABSTRACT
The global Covid-19 pandemic has interrupted many aspects of life, including education. Students are asked to study at home, and the classrooms are conditioned to adjust to the changes. The use of technology is maximized so that students can still study effectively despite the situation. However, a challenge occurs when students claim that online learning creates distance between them and their lecturers, resulting in demotivation and unproductivity. They also feel emotionally disconnected to their peers and lecturers. By studying multicultural literature, it is expected that students can develop sense of empathy and broad-mindedness;thus, they can get connected to people more conveniently although they are separated by distance. This paper discusses experiences and methods of studying multicultural literature in virtual classrooms. Firstly, it investigates students' perception toward multicultural literature. The responses were collected from a questionnaire given to English-majored students from Bina Nusantara University, Indonesia. Next, it shares experiences from activities of virtual classrooms in two universities. The purpose of this paper is to shed a light on the importance of multicultural literature, especially during the pandemic-induced online learning.. © 2021 IEEE.
ABSTRACT
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the world saw a rise of active users on web-based learning platforms such as Kahoot and Quizizz. This research intends to find out how students prefer their gamification experience with these online quizzes during the period of study from home. A survey that consists of 12 questions was distributed to 147 active students of Bina Nusantara University. The survey reveals varying results, such as the preference of non-formative assessment with the quizzes, as well as the preference of not needing to make the quiz competitive in the class and focusing on the students' own learning and self-improvement instead. How most of them preferred it just for fun and for self-improvement instead of it being a graded quiz/assignment, is contradictory to the characteristics of Generation Z. The survey also revealed other issues such as the popularity of the online quizzes among teachers, as well as a small but significant number of students unaware of the quizzes' existence before the pandemic. The overall findings of the research suggest that the interactive online quizzes like these should be used by teachers when teaching online as well as making it one of their primary tools in teaching but not to be used as formative assessment all the time since it might distract the students for learning-sake as well as self-development.. © 2021 IEEE.