Blending Academic Writing: The Use of Technology to teach amid Covid-19 Pandemic

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, teachers have to hesitantly switch to the virtual world of teaching, known as enriched virtual blended learning in which technology, surely plays a significant role in material delivery and discussion. Studies related to blended learning in English language classes, especially in academic writing classes, have been done in many countries, but they are still lacking in the Indonesian setting. This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of technology utilization in enriched blended learning to teach academic writing and the students' perspectives towards the use of technology in blended learning. This study involving forty-five students in a university in Jakarta applied both quantitative and qualitative methods. A pre-test and a post-test were assigned before and after the blended learning period to study the effectiveness of blended learning. In addition, surveys and interviews were conducted to investigate the students' perspectives. The results indicated that the use of technology in blended learning effectively helped students develop their academic writing skills despite being a new experience. Furthermore, despite some limitations, this strategy of using technology in teaching-learning was accepted with optimism as they started to get accustomed to it. Hence, the use of technology is promising for the future of learning. © 2023 IEEE.

Exploring Covid-19 Hoaxes in the Post Pandemic Society

The world is currently being affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, which has caused major changes in societies. To lessen the woes of the global pandemic, a change is required for the survival of life. The post-pandemic period of society 5.0 has resulted in everything being totally digital and it has become increasingly dependent on the internet especially in the term of communication and discovering information. In this pandemic situation, there is a lot of information gained from social media that raises the topic of Covid-19 which leads to hoaxing. The problem formulations of this study are, first what are the structure and categories of Covid-19 hoaxes on the internet? Second, how are those hoaxes countered? The researcher uses qualitative methods. To get the data, the researcher took several posts in social media especially Twitter and Facebook, the post leads to Covid-19 hoaxes in order to analyze the structure and category of hoaxes. Using Rahadi's theory, this study revealed 3 out of 7 types of hoaxes, which were: Hoax containing fake news, 2) Hoax containing misinformation, 3) Hoax containing Post-truth. This study aims to raise people's awareness in order to interpret the rampant hoaxes in daily life. © 2023 EDP Sciences. All rights reserved.

Technological Challenges and Strategies in Implementing e-Learning in Higher Education

During the current COVID-19 pandemic, e-learning was the only option for continuing education at various levels. As a result, all education stakeholders should turn to online or virtual learning notwithstanding their different readiness levels. This study examines the technological challenges that lecturers confront when teaching e-learning at the university and the working strategies used in e-learning classrooms. The data were gathered through an online poll of 100 university lecturers at a private university in West Jakarta. The responses were then evaluated numerically and qualitatively to determine the respondents' perceptions of the difficulty of virtual learning activities. The findings show that the technical issues faced by lecturers can be separated into three categories: connectivity, teaching technology and inter activity. To increase efficiency, they require better internet connection, boosting engagement with certain technologies, as well as technical and pedagogical training. © 2022 IEEE.

The Impact of Digital Marketing Media on the Household Business Sales during Covid-19 Pandemic

The covid-19 pandemic has forced many people to stay at home and changed their way to do business. However, with the advance of digital technologies, even stay-at-home women can begin their businesses from home, which can be termed as household business. The purpose of this article is to find out how these home enterprises sustain their small-scale businesses by using certain digital marketing media (Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, and Word of Mouth). The data were obtained from the sales reports of three household businesses in Jakarta, which specialized in selling traditional snacks such as donuts, dimsum, and spring rolls. Their sales were analyzed based on the type of digital marketing tools they were using. The results show that household businesses obtained the biggest sales by promoting through social media platform Instagram. The findings signify that social media play an important role in generating product sales.

A Survey of Teachers' and Students' Demands of Ideal E-Learning Management System Features during the Covid-19 Pandemic

Learning Management Systems have been used in educational institutions, particularly higher education, for over a decade. Previously LMS were used to support face-to-face as well as remote or online learning. However, due to the recent COVID-19 pandemic, all educational institutions have to switch entirely to e-learning mode. In effect, some features in the current LMS should be revised, improved, or adapted to the new learning paradigm. This paper explores the perspectives of the teachers and students at a private university in Jakarta regarding the features available in their university's LMS. The data were taken from an online survey towards 100 university lecturers and 512 undergraduate students. The data were then analyzed quantitatively using SPSS software and qualitatively to find out the respondents' perception of four main features of the LMS, i.e., discussion forum, video conference, learning video and assignment. Results show that the current LMS features should be improved or integrated with other technologies to meet the demands of the current e-learning practice.

Teachers' Challenges and Needs in E-Learning Environment

E-learning is the only available alternative to carry on education at various levels during the recent COVID-19 pandemic era. Thus, albeit different stages of readiness, all education stakeholders should turn to online or virtual mode of learning. This paper explores the challenges and needs faced by the lecturers in conducting e-learning in the university. To answer the research questions, we conducted an online survey towards 100 university lecturers at a private university in West Jakarta. The questionnaires, which were distributed via Google Form, consist of close-ended and open-ended questions. The responses were then analyzed quantitatively using SPSS software and qualitatively to find out the respondents' perceptions regarding the challenges and needs in performing virtual learning activities. Results show that the teachers' challenges could be divided into three themes, namely internet connectivity, interaction, and teachers' efficiency. Accordingly, their needs also related to good internet connection, more human interaction, and technical and pedagogical training to increase efficiency.. © 2021 IEEE.