On Friday (03/02/2022), the TVUPI team visited IPB TV and TV UI to enhance service and broadcast quality. This visit seeks to impart knowledge gained from both University TV stations. Students from various study programs, who is an intern at TVUPI, participated in this comparative study, including Communication Studies, English Language and Literature, and Indonesian Language and Literature, took part in this comparative study. As well as, TVUPI and UPI Public Relations staff.

The main objective of conducting this comparative study in accordance with Arga Wijaya’s statement as the chief committee is to expand knowledge and experience related to university TV broadcasts. “This comparative research is an information-sharing tool that could improve knowledge and the creative process in the broadcasting areas”

The TVUPI Team received a valuable source of information during this comparative study visit, as stated by one of TVUPI’s staff, Fachmi Maulana, “What is studied is more about the management of human resources, because the difference between IPB TV, TV UI, and TVUPI is the Human Resources (HR) management.” For the IPB TV system, they separate the unit, so the HR does focus on providing information and the image of the university.

Several televisions are managed by the University of Indonesia’s Public Relations Department. There are TV UI managed by study programs, especially the Vocational Study Program and the Communication Studies Study Program, and UI Teve is managed by the University Public Relations. These programmed televisions have several focuses. As for UI Teve, it is more focused on broadcasting ceremonial events. According to Pak Wahyu, the Head of UI Teve, “UI Teve truly wants to learn from TVUPI, which is already capable of managing and broadcasting numerous programs, particularly in the sector of education.” A collaboration program between UI Teve and TVUPI is also planned for that occasion.

The study program at University of Indonesia already manages a wide array of programming on television. UI TV, which is managed by the Vocational Study Program, has even become a revenue-generating and commercial television station. Technically, TVUPI is identical to TV UI, with the exception that TV UI has more platforms in study programs, faculties, and universities, as well as involves more students in the production process. “We at TVUPI have a lot of programming centered on education because it is the cornerstone of UPI, it may be a university image enhancer, so indeed they are very good and we should be able to learn from it,” Fachmi stated.(Anies Rufaida, translate by Nabiilah Prodi B Inggris, Kontributor Humas UPI)

The TVUPI Team is expected to make this venture a learning experience for them in the future. “So that we can use what we’ve learned previously, it can be applied. Additionally, the chancellors should pay more attention to TVUPI so that they may be more productive in providing great content material,” said Kevinadya, Editor-in-chief of the Sekilas Isola program at TVUPI.

The Visual Communication Design (DKV) Study Program FPSD-UPI in collaboration with the Sukabumi City Government held a research project and City Branding development, the Tourism Industry and MSME Products which was attended by MSME actors, tourism industry managers, Sukabumi City DISPORAPAR, DKV lecturer team and students. With the theme “Implementation of Case Method & Team Base Project”, this event was focused on efforts to develop various entities through a visual communication design approach (15/2/2022).

Located at the Taman Sari Hotel, the project began with the handover of students to the Sukabumi City Government who then distributed to various groups of entities as a form of implementation of lectures with a project base approach. The symbolic handover along with the signing of the Cooperation Agreement (PKs) was carried out by the Head of DISPORAPAR of Sukabumi City, Tejo Condro Nugroho with the Head of DKV Study Program Dr. Nanang Ganda Prawira, M.Sn.

The activity continued with data collection from entities registered by representatives of student groups as the first step to obtain a brief design to be processed into design ideas and concepts. In addition to the target of developing industrial entities, DKV is also trusted to design the city’s anniversary logo. The design works are planned to be exhibited to coincide with the 108th anniversary of Sukabumi City on April 1, 2022.

For students, this event accommodated various subjects in their class lectures including visual branding, web design, applicative typography, comics and 3D animation which lead to one course by the name Consulting Projects. This is a new course contracted by 6th semester students which equals PPL subject, so that this course is a substitute choice for field experience practice.

It is hoped that this event can contribute to both the local government of Sukabumi City and Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia. In addition, the establishment of sustainable collaboration with the Sukabumi City Government as a form of development and solutions in solving visual communication problems, especially in the tourism and creative industries sector (Arief Johari, S.ST., M.Ds)

Most surveys conducted by various study programs at Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia show that corporations and government institutions demand that UPI alumni should possess soft skills needed to be able to best fit in with the professional environment once they enter employment, apart from the hard skills that they have studied formally on campus.

Soft skills constitute indirect abilities within individuals that relate to communication, social, and adaptation. For instance, a marketer has the responsibility to attract customer interest. Hence, Soft skills are necessary for the professional setting especially, besides intellective skills, or even they are not just necessary, but very important. Here is how soft skills work in business and academic settings.

Apart from the business environment, I also asked Dr. Ruswan Dallyono, S.Sos., M.Pd., to give his opinion about soft skills from the academic point of view. He said that soft skills are the ability to deal with other people. “When you want to have a relationship or want to collaborate with someone, soft skills are needed. It is not a visible skill, but you can feel it.” He mentioned that students are already using their soft skills unconsciously. “For example, when you are participating in ESA, you must organize an event. You have to communicate with the head of the faculty to get permission. You have to cooperate with your teammates too. That is when you use your soft skills.” He added. Dr. Ruswan also explains that someone with good soft skills has good intentions, which means they can adapt to any situation. “We can learn new things easily nowadays. That should be fine for every student. Even for someone who is introverted.”

We cannot talk about soft skills without Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats identification within ourselves. Therefore, I asked both Gugun Gunawan and Dr. Ruswan how to recognize them. Gugun told me that we must have listened and paid attention to how others think about us. What he meant is do not be mad when people give you suggestions or opinions about the project or even about your personality. Try to listen to them. Their idea may be the best solution and it may be the way to make you a better person. “It is all about balance. Be welcome with people’s suggestions but do not be too focused on your weakness. So, take the good and leave the bad. Often self-muhasabah (self-introspection) is the solution after all.”

In contrast, Dr. Ruswan said that sometimes we never really realizeour strengths. “Let’s say you are good at public speaking; you may not realize that you are good at it until someone asks you to do public speaking for them. We never realized it until we had the opportunity to show it,” told him thoughtfully. He also explains that we do not have to be afraid to ask for help because sometimes we cannot do everything alone. “I once have chosen to organize an event. I have to invite the students to come to this event. The students were very busy at that time, so there were only forty people who came. Then I ask someone who has a connection to invite more students from other universities to join the event, and alhamdulillah, the number of participants increased up to 100 people. So, it is about how you get things done. Whether it is done by yourself, or with other’s contribution.”

Both soft skills and hard skills are necessary for our upcoming career and job. Improving our soft skills is like preparing ourselves to deal with someone and something in the future. With soft skills, we can invite, persuade, and convince people to make something happen. It may not be as simple as learning hard skills, but it is not impossible. There are many sources that we can use to improve our soft skills. Being a part of a campus organization, attending positive seminars, practicing public speaking, and more. All roads lead to Rome, and we only have to choose the most comfortable road for us to go there. (Sherish N. Az Zahra, Mahasiswa Bahasa dan Sastra Inggris, FPBS UPI)

Due to this COVID-19 pandemic, all the activities are restricted by the government for almost a year. Not without cause, those restrictions are made to reduce the spread of the virus. Several attempts have been made by the government to overcome this virus, among others as follows: first, urging the public to wear masks, wash their hands, and keep distance to avoid infection. Second, monitoring the rate of spread of new variants of the virus that emerges then developing and updating technology. Third, increasing the 3T (Testing, Tracing, and Treatment) program. Last but not least, the government has made ‘work from home’ rules since the beginning of the pandemic. This rule applies to several aspects of the industry, not except the education industry. The government assumes that the education world can undergo distance learning through assorted learning media provided.

Online learning is a form of distance education carried out from homes over personal computers (PCs) or laptops that are connected to the internet network with a smooth signal. This is a good method because there is no direct physical touch between students and teachers, so the spread of the virus does not increase significantly. In addition, online learning is very practical and flexible. Teachers and students do not have to go to school which will take a lot of time. Also, online learning allows students to manage their own study time; as a result, they become more productive by doing another activities after-school.

Aside from many benefits of online learning, it cannot be separated from the problems faced. Some issues normally encountered in online learning are quotas and networks. The high price of internet quotas, overwhelmed lower-middle-income parents. In remote or rural areas, unstable networks often occur because their location is quite far from the reach of cellular signals causing a lack of concentration and good mood for learning that ultimately makes the guidance of learning to be less effective. On various social media, many parents share their experiences while accompanying their children to study. Some of them are already oversaturated in online learning. This happens because their children are spending more time playing online games than studying.

Responding to the problems faced in online learning, the Minister of Education and Culture, Nadiem Makarim, has been allowed to conduct face-to-face learning but performed mixed (blended learning). Blended learning is a combination of direct face-to-face interactions in the classroom and online learning. This blended learning must be carried out with strict health protocols and prioritized for students who are doing research and practicum. Several universities have implemented this blended learning method. Then, what about UPI?

Salsa Dina Aisya is one of the 3^rd semester students of entrepreneurship majors who have experienced blended learning. She has to come to campus to do marketing management lab work. According to her, this blended learning needs to be done to try out face-to-face learning. To make this program a success, UPI Tasik has implemented strict health protocols; moreover, all the students must have been vaccinated and get parental permission to come to campus. Before this blended learning was implemented, the campus management had conducted a survey containing questions regarding the readiness of students for face-to-face learning via Google form. Another rule that applies is the maximum number of students in one class is only 10 people, while the rest of them still do online learning via zoom.

 Source:  Tasikmalaya Campus Entrepreneurship

Salsa said that she was very pleased to perceive blended learning because it is not a secret anymore that learning on campus was more effective than online learning. The significant difference she found was the interactions with lecturers and friends, especially when discussing business products directly, became more comfortable, easier to understand. Apart from that, Salsa certainly has difficulty organizing offline and online activities.

“To be honest, if I could pick between blended learning and online learning, I would choose online learning or fully offline learning. Because if learning is done in a mixed way, it may be unfair in terms of capturing the material and in terms of distance.”

Furthermore, Salsa feels that she has not been able to optimally divide time between blended learning, internships, and the organizations she participates in. However, she can handle it by making a schedule and a priority scale, so all the activities she does can run well.

As a person who has experienced blended learning, she stated that UPI Tasik is ready enough to carry out the actual face-to-face learning. Salsa advised them who will or are doing blended learning to always wear masks, wash their hands, and keep distance from people around them to avoid viruses and other diseases.

For some people, online learning is may be fun. However, problems and challenges are inevitable. Therefore, the solution to all the problems faced is to carry out blended learning as a trial of actual face-to-face learning so that the effectiveness of the education industry returns to normal. (Gendis Wagiswari, Mahasiswa Bahasa dan Sastra Inggris, FPBS UPI)

The ability to write scientific papers is very important for students. Nowadays, the truth of a written work needs to be questioned considering the amount of fake news on social networks. One way to prove the truth and authenticity of a written work is to conduct research that will produce scientific works that are useful for the community

The Importance of Scientific Writing for Higher Education Levels

Scientific writings that have been documented or published will certainly be more valuable, especially the one that contains research. It is so helpful for other people to learn from our experience of success in finding solutions to a problem by applying the same thing in their context. Although the results may vary because we cannot generalize the results of research on a small scale, research still can be used for recommendations for policymakers and stakeholders, as well as a basis and recommendations for improvement

The difference Between an English and Indonesian Scientific Papers

Writing a good English scientific paper is not easy. For students majoring in English, the ability to write will be highly valued, especially for a scientific paper. There are several differences between writing Indonesian and English scientific papers

The Perspective of Writing Procedure

    In terms of writing, the difference depends on the author’s preference. The structure of the scientific work depends on the journal addressed, not on the language. For Elis Homsini, she always applies direct writing based on the language used so that the style is not mixed. “If I want to write a journal in English, I will try to write it directly in English.” She said.

    For beginners, we can start writing scientific papers by determining the object of research using Indonesian to sharpen ideas, then submitting them to Indonesian journals. If we are trained, we can try to write directly using English, so that it is not too thick with Indonesian elements. We can read many journals that discuss the same things to form our writing structure by looking from various sides of other research

The Perspective of Scientific Work Structure

    All scientific works are almost the same in structure. The difference is the way the author develops and expresses their writing. The structure of scientific papers must contain the title, author’s name, email, and other author’s information, abstract, introduction, research background and theory, methodology, finding discussion, conclusion, and references. Some introductions have been combined with theory, some are not. For now, most authors combine the introduction with the theory.

The Perspective of Grammar and Ideas

    In terms of grammar and vocabulary, of course, it will be different. However, from the perspective of ideas, scientific works made in any language will remain the same. Scientific works must contain the creativity of the author, the originality of the writing and research, and the novelty of the object of discussion.

The Obstacles in Writing Scientific Papers and How to Overcome Them

    We often find some obstacles in writing scientific papers using English. Not a few students find it difficult due to a lack of grammar skills and knowledge of vocabulary. There are some efforts that we might be able to do to improve our grammar and vocab skills.

Use the Learning Facilities in Class

    Elis Homsini said that to overcome the lack of grammar skills and knowledge of vocabulary, it could be facilitated by learning in class. However, we cannot rely solely on it because grammar is very complex and numerous, as well as vocabulary. “Vocabulary and grammar are something that needs to be integrated into your life, and must be made into a kind of lifestyle.” She said.

Learning Autonomy from The Teachers

    The efforts to improve vocabulary and grammar will depend on learning autonomy. If teachers or lecturers can motivate students to acquire their vocabulary according to their respective interests, then it will be very good for these students’ development.

Learning Independence

    Learning independently will also be very influential. For Elis Homsida, drilling is very useful to improve grammar skills. To consistently improve vocabulary, we can learn it from songs and movies. We can also enrich our knowledge by reading something in English, such as magazines, newspapers, articles, research, journals, etc. The extensive graded reading method is very helpful by starting from the easy one, to the complicated one. These processes will help us to find the right and comfortable learning style.

The Approach to Research Methods for Developing Scientific Writing Skills

    We can see the approach method in teaching scientific works from the research journal created by Pauziah Aisah Al Azhar, student guidance of Elis Homsini, entitled “Process Genre Approach in Teaching Writing Narrative Text: Its Implementation, Benefits, and Obstacles. Pauziah conducted qualitative research in a high school in Cianjur to examine the learning process using the Process Genre Approach in teaching writing narrative text. (Al Azhar & Maolida, 2019)

    The teacher has a big influence on developing students in writing. However, Elis Homsini said that it was not the only factor. “There is no single best method that can solve problems in all classes, but the most appropriate method to be applied in solving problems according to the context.” She said.

    Learning methods will be more focused by using the most appropriate method by adjusting the needs of students, and it will facilitate their optimal learning and development process. However, that does not mean that the method that is not used is not good. It could be the best, but not suitable to be applied elsewhere. There is no method in this world that is suitable for all contexts.

    The journal also states that there are three approaches to teaching methods, which is Process Based Approach, Genre Based Approach, and Process Genre Approach. Elis Homsisni stated that the reason for choosing the Process Genre Approach was because she saw that the student’s needs refer to a combination of process and genre. This selection process uses an eclectic approach method, so teachers can choose and combine methods from several approaches. The goal is that the methods used can complement each other.

    In the journal, it stated that there were six steps in applying the process genre approach conducted by the teacher following Badger and White (2000): preparation, modeling, planning, joint constructing, independent constructing, revising, and editing. Based on the teacher’s perspective, the benefits of using the process genre approach in teaching writing narrative text were the students can write a text step by step and learn about a genre of text in detail, that’s why this method is most appropriate for High School students there.

The Importance of The Research Quality and The Way of Writing Scientific Papers

 Both in terms of the research quality and how the work is written will affect the quality of our scientific work. Scientific work will be considered good if; First, the data is valid and correct. Second, contribute and benefit the reader. Third, the method of collecting data is correct, either from the approach, subject determination, or data analysis.

The quality of scientific work also depends on the ability of the author to convey his writing in a way that is correct and understandable to attract the attention of the reader. The scientific work must contain novelty and adapt to the latest information. Although we tend to be based on previous research, with this novelty element, we can continue the research of others with new things offered.

From this, we can conclude that writing scientific papers is very important for the continuity of our education, especially for those of us who want to continue to a higher level of degree. However, there must be challenges such as low mastery of grammar and vocabulary, especially if the scientific work is written in English. To face this challenge, we can use the facilities in the classroom, learn autonomy from the teachers, and learn independence. In addition, we can also use the most effective methods that can be obtained from the results of experiments and research. From this, we also realize that the quality of research and how scientific work is written is very important to determine its quality (Shofia Isna Noormuzakky, Mahasiswa Bahasa dan Sastra Inggris, FPBS UPI).

Source

Al Azhar, P. A., & Maolida, E. H. (2019). Process Genre Approach in Teaching Writing Narrative Text: Its Implementation, Benefits and Obstacles. Journal Jeopallt, 12.