BANDUNG, unpas.ac.id – It has almost 2 years since Covid-19 has struck the world and affected to all campus activities, including research and student’s final trial sessions which are forcefully switched to an online one.
How does it feel? It certainly feels different with the offline one. It might be the same when it comes to the nervousness, but its atmosphere seems less sacred and lacks euphoria with friends as loyal supporters.
How does it feel when doing online trial session? Doing research and supervision are conducted online. These are experiences of Fauzia Nur Meilda, student of Biology Education Department, Faculty of Teaching and Education, and Dearyl Marcnesyah, student of Management Department, Faculty of Economics and Busieness, who have currently attended their online final assignment trial session.
Casually Serious
Friday, 8 October 2021 seemed to be the historic day for Meilda, since she would have completed her study by doing her final test. Right at 6 o’clock in the morning, she has already prepared wearing her attire: white shirt wrapped with black blazer and black skirt. She, along the other friends waited for their trial session schedule in turn.
Although it was held online, she still paid attention on small details, including the ethics, such as the attire and presentation itself. The session started when two of her examiner teachers joined in the laptop screen. She presented the important points of her final assignment entitled “Kelimpahan Spesies dari Ordo Coleoptera’ di Hutan Nyawang Bandung, Jawa Barat”.
“It was tense, but it turned out that the examiners were more relaxed, even joked a lot. Presentations are still carried out, but I need to only convey important points in our style, along supported by theories. We should also look at the camera during the session,” she said.
Did Not Expect to Be Cum Laude
The result was not disappointing: there was no need for her to revise her final assignment. She even got her final test cum laude. Even more, the committee said that there were 7 students from the Biology Education Department who failed the session, although it was finally only a joke.
“We panicked at that time and were pessimistic. ‘Are the teacher convinced with my answer’, that was my thought. I did not expect to get the cum laude. I feel relieved, bucat bisul in Sundanese term. Alhamdulillah and I feel grateful, but I keep thinking that this is not the end of journey, but the beginning of sacrifice,” she said.
It felt empty; that was what Meilda described the final trial session that she has been just doing. There were neither celebration nor friends waiting in the corridor while handing flower bouquet or ‘Happy Graduation’-written banner.
“I did the final test right before the regulation [regarding the PTM allowing students to conduct the final test offline] was issued. It might probably be more tense if I did it offline while the teacher could also see our presentation seriously during the trial session,” she said.
Unstable Connection
Unlike Meilda who passed her trial session without any serious issues, Dearyl had few obstacles found in the unstable connection/network, when he presented his final assignment entitled “Pengaruh Soft Skill and Kepemimpinan Transformasional terhadap Kinerja Pegawai pada BLUD UPT Angkutan Dinas Perhubungan Kota Bandung”.
“By online trial session, I am very happy, it certainly helps students from outside Bandung to present their final. However, the unstable internet connection hinders while the trial session is also limited,” Dearyl explained.
His trial session went smoothly and there were not much chit-chit. He can pass each session without having so much trouble. He successfully answered every question from the teacher since he already prepared himself before.
He thinks, the way he presented his final assignment and convinced the teacher about the answer was not as hard as he thought before. He only needed to take his time as optimal as possible in order to convey his presentation.
“To convince the teacher, I have made a brief summary of research phenomenon, supported with both current primary and secondary data,” he continued.
Dearyl had his trial session on Thursday, 4 November 2021, two weeks after the regulation of limited PTM was issued. However, he preferred doing the trial session online to offline, since it would be effective to reduce the number of Covid-19 case.
“Alhamdulillah, on 6 November 2011, I passed the final examination and had completed my degree. I feel relieved to get the result, less worried,” he explained.
From his experience, Dearyl hoped students would be given additional time, since he was only given 10 minutes to present his final assignment.
Well, that’s all about the online trial that Meilda and Dearyl went through. What about your story and struggles? (Reta)*
