The new normal is a new chapter for the world of education to continue education even though conditions due to the COVID-19 pandemic have not fully recovered. Because the idea of making the nation’s life intelligent must continue to be fought for through education. For 4 months, the learning process has been carried out without going to school, there is a need for evaluation to improve the online learning process which caused a lot of criticism from the public at the beginning of its implementation. Academics also show their concern by holding webinars as a forum for discussion and sharing online. As the organizer of the webinar, the Gde Pudja Mataram State Hindu Religion Institute chose 2 resource persons who are very competent in the field of education. One of them is a lecturer at Ganesha Education University, Dr. I Wayan Widiana, M.Pd.
The webinar entitled Improving the Quality of Online Learning in the New Normal Era was held on Thursday, 16 July 2020 using the media Zoom and YouTube. On that occasion, Widiana had the opportunity to present material about evaluating online higher education learning in the new normal era. At the beginning of his presentation, he expressed his joy because he saw his friends were very enthusiastic about improving learning conditions, which showed concern for improving the quality of learning.
Continuing to deliver the core material, it was explained that the learning and assessment processes were different. Learning may change but the assessment of its functions and principles cannot change. What can change is the method. The assessment principles are continuous, comprehensive, integrated, valid, objective, criteria-based, open, accountable, and fair. He said he had read old books and found references according to Nitko in 1996 which stated that learning is said to be maximal when more activities are used for assessment. A good assessment guarantees a picture of the learning that occurs. A good assessment provides valid data so that appropriate follow-up action can be taken. That is the importance of assessment according to Widiana.
Then the deputy Dean III, FIP, Undiksha explained things that should not change in the learning process, namely the mandatory existence of plans, processes, assessments, analysis, and feedback in learning. Before Covid-19, learning was dominated by face-to-face, whereas during Covid, learning was dominated by e-learning or other online learning methods. So in the new normal period, Widiana believes that universities will tend to be easier to adapt to blended learning or a mixed learning pattern between classroom and online learning. How is the assessment? Taking the example set at Undiksha, the lecturers explained that they were not allowed to change the assessment function, only the method was changed online, because the way it was done online was that there were many applications developed at Undiksha. So that you can interpret what has been assessed, making sense of what has been assessed can be useful and useful.
Widiana also emphasized that assessments should not be standardized because of the differences in competencies possessed by students. Recently the term authentic assessment has emerged. Authentic assessment is an assessment given to students to measure competency. Competencies desired by an educator and his students. Assessment can be carried out through project creation performance, and portfolios that can be used at various levels of education. It is necessary to sort and select materials that can use authentic assessments. Widiana gave an example, “if in Balinese language learning there is material about lontar, for example, the desired competency is the competency to make lontar, well that can’t just be done with a test. If only tests are given, they will not measure actual competency. Therefore, authentic assessment is needed, for example by providing projects, assignments, or portfolios.” How do we know that the assessment we are using is useful? 5 things need to be done according to Bachman and Palmer (2001):
- knowledge of the topic
- Knowledge of language
- Personal attributes
- Affective schemata
- Problem-solving strategies
He also explained independent assessment according to principles and honesty so that students can learn more. If UTS and UAS provide scores, independent assessment is actually to improve abilities. This assessment is one of the most difficult to carry out because on average there are still people who are dishonest, cheat and cheat. Independent assessments need clear instructions on the learning process. According to Widiana, it is interesting that mothers who sell online have carried out independent assessments. Starting from learning to cook independently by imitating YouTube videos and then tasting the results of his cooking until he commented and decided to sell them online.
Assessments that can be carried out during the new normal are performance assessments, projects, portfolios, and essays. Self-assessment is already used at the Open University. He explained in his lecture that when giving observation assignments to students, they could use Google Forms and distribute Google Forms online. Meanwhile, in learning, Widiana usually provides a learning video, then gives instructions on the assignment, then students send the assignment they have completed, the assignment is checked and feedback is given in the form of comments. According to him, this is effective and the most important thing is that there must be feedback. From this feedback, it is hoped that students can improve their knowledge, attitudes, and skills. “Don’t let it happen that because of the new normal we use applications but the essence of the assessment doesn’t work, for example, we want to use Google Forms and e-learning but don’t provide feedback, in my opinion, that’s a lie,” said Widiana. Independent assessments can be carried out by,
- Make a lecture contract, if the instructions are complete you can study independently and don’t have to wait for the lecturer.
- There are clear evaluation instructions
- There are clear evaluation/explanation instructions to clarify
- There is feedback
Various applications that can be used are also explained, such as Google Classroom, Edmodo, Plikers, and most importantly the Turnitin application or similar. The application used to check similarity This is important to ensure that the assignments made by students are their work and not plagiarized. In conclusion, there is no difference in the learning process, the only difference is the place. The proof is that several schools have succeeded in routinely implementing online learning processes.
https://youtu.be/R_I60z-a_bg
https://youtu.be/R_I60z-a_bg
