Online Learning Experience from Home during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Hello! I would like to start this essay by introducing myself. My name is Hanifah Aprilia N, but often called Han. I’m a final year student at the University of Gunadarma in Information Systems mayor. My purpose for writing this essay is to provide a personal perspective of my experience throughout this global pandemic, Covid-19.

First of all, the first time I heard about the COVID-19 virus was around December 2019. Even though I had predicted it would be a big and complicated problem, but the reality still surprised me. Due to the pandemic, activities outside the home were restricted to break the chain of spreading the virus. And because of the pandemic, the government made a policy for school activities to be carried out from home with an online system.

I felt comfortable and able to adapt quickly when learning online from home started. By studying from home, I can do many things like help with my parents' work and also give me more time off. Besides, studying from home has allowed me to save pocket money and build better family relationships. When I feel bored, I will easily overcome the boredom with activities that I enjoy.

Although I adapt quickly, I also had a hard time studying online from home. One of the difficulties I faced was that it was difficult to concentrate when face-to-face lectures virtually carried out. To deal with this problem, I overcome it by notifying my family before attending virtual face-to-face lectures. After telling them about my situation, they would then try not to make noise during my activity. If the noise continues and cannot be controlled, as an alternative, I would go to a room away from the center of the noise. Besides having difficulty concentrating during face-to-face lectures virtually, I have difficulty with the large number of assignments given. Not only a lot, for some courses even have a high level of difficulty. To overcome the large number of assignments given, usually I will make a list of tasks by sorting them starting from the task with the closest deadline. After that, I will sort it again by sorting it from the task with the lowest difficulty level. And when I have trouble with assignments, I usually discuss them with close friends.

For me learning online from home is really fun, but there are times when I just feel bored and have difficulty understanding the material provided. To overcome the boredom, I usually turn on a song that can get rid of my boredom or take a break by watching movies, reading webtoons, or watching videos on YouTube. Then, if I have difficulty understanding the material provided, I usually deal with it by discussing it with my close friends in class. During online study activities from home, my close friends helped me a lot in giving me an understanding of the material that I did not understand.

Although learning online from home is very fun for me, I hope that teaching and learning activities can be done offline or traditional system again. And because I am a final year student, I hope I can re-enjoy the busy and boring campus atmosphere before I graduated from university. I also hope that this pandemic will end soon. So that, my friends and I can do graduation offline.