(Journal of English Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics) Volume 8, No. 1, January 2022 Page. 19-27 p-ISSN: 2356-2048 e-ISSN: 2356-203x 19 THE STUDENTS RESPONSE OF USING GOOGLE CLASSROOM FOR ONLINE CLASS Novita Eka Tristiana1, Rahmatika Kayyis2 1,2 English Education Department, University of Muhammadiyah Pringsewu Email Correspondence: kayyis@umpri.ac.id Abstract This research aim is to know the students' response in using the platform Google Classroom for an online class. This research used the qualitative method and took students of Universitas Muhammadiyah Pringsewu as a sample of research. In-depth interviews, questionnaires, and observations were used as data collecting techniques. The result is the students felt confused because the situation is different from the classroom. The student’s opinion of the platform Google Classroom is a good platform but they need to have a good internet connection to access it and some students have problem with it. They also mentioned that this platform is effective for teaching as long as the teacher can maximize the function of Google classroom. Keywords: Google Classroom, ICT, Online Class, Pandemic Era ‘ INTRODUCTION 2020 is the year when everything in the world should change into a new paradigm. It can be called the technology paradigm where every side of life is taken and controlled by technology. People in the ’90s would be so wondering about life that does not need to be face to face but still can have meaningful communication. This can happen because in 2020 all humans in this world are facing the pandemic that is named coronaviruses 2019 ( COVID-19). It is a new type of coronavirus disease that has never been identified in humans before. The first infection and death case caused by this novel coronavirus was first found in Wuhan, China and later it spreads all over the world. According to A Spinelli & G Pellino (2020), COVID-19 has been declared a pandemic by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as confirmed cases approach 200 000 patients with what will exceed 8000 deaths across over 160 countries1. After the initial description in Wuhan and China, Italy was hit first in Europe and the impact has been immense2. The virus spread very rapidly such that 2 weeks after the first cases were diagnosed 1000 patients tested positive. One week later the number of positive cases exceeded 4600, mailto:kayyis@umpri.ac.id The Students Response... 20 reaching over 30 000 patients and 2500 deaths on 18 March 2020. The common symptoms of COVID-19 infection include symptoms of acute respiratory disorders such as fever, coughing, and shortness of breath. The average incubation period of this virus is 5-6 days with the longest incubation period of 14 days. Due to its transmission through physical contact, the virus can spread rapidly from one person to another person, from one place to another place, and from one country to another country. On March 2nd, 2020, Indonesia officially reported its first COVID- 19 case, which involved 2 positively infected citizens. Within only three months, the case has significantly expanded to much terrible number. According to data from the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Indonesia’s official COVID-19 response website, up to Auguts31st 2020, there have been174.796 citizens tested positive and 7.417 death cases occurred. Due to the emergency, the Indonesian Government through the Ministry of Education and Culture made the regulation in the form of Surat Edaran No. 4 March 24th, 2020, explaining that the teaching and learning process for all educational institutions in Indonesia must be carried out at home through online learning. At this point, the term “online learning”, “distance learning”, or “remote learning” has become a common word to be used by people all around the world to describe such a system, but it is then argued that these terms are not quite appropriate. In a recent study, it is concluded that there is a difference between online learning, which delivery is well- planned and designed to be online, and the unprepared temporary shift of instructional delivery to an alternate delivery model due to crisis circumstances, which then suggested to be newly called as Emergency Remote Teaching (ERT) (Hodges C. et al, 2020). ERT itself is new for Indonesian teachers and also students. At this time teachers should have a better solution to do the teaching-learning process without having to meet students in the classroom face to face. A virtual classroom is a choice for teachers who are still capable to teach without having physical contact with the students. A virtual classroom here by means an online classroom that allows the teacher to present the materials in the form of videos or presentations and this also enable students and teacher to have interaction. One of the recent virtual classrooms is Google Classroom. Google Classroom is considered one of the best platforms out there for enhancing teachers' workflow. It helps to keep classes organized. It is also completed by a free suite of productivity tools including Gmail, Drive, and Docs. There are several benefits of using Google classroom that is mentioned by Janzen (2014), those are easy to use, save time, cloud-based, flexible, free, and mobile-friendly. While Keeler Novita Eka.... 21 (2014) also mentions the other benefits of using Google Classroom such as ensuring streamlined counseling only by posting an announcement and encouraging collaboration between students. Furthermore, Crawford ( 2015) states that Google Classroom facilitates collaborative learning. Here teachers can upload materials and can give feedback to students. Students also can upload materials and make a personal comment. Moreover, students can collaborate. They can share their documents and assignment and thus they can produce the best assignment. According to Sukmawat& Nensia (2019), “Google Classroom is to offer a platform of blended learning in schools to simplify creating assignments and getting the grade out to the students in a paperless way. There are many facilities provided by Google classroom, they are: it will make it easier for teachers to carry out learning activities, the intended learning is not only in class but also outside the classroom because students can learn wherever and whenever by accessing google classroom online. A subject that relating to discuss as in the mobile that emphasizes the acquisition of observational skills; and allow students to see the concept of teaching and learning material.” This is in line with the result of a study conducted by Almio Susetyo Harjanto and Sri Sumarni in 2019 with the research’s entitled Teacher’s Experiences on the Use of Google Classroom found that teachers mostly use it as a facilitation tool for managing students’ tasks, organizing the classroom, and accommodating students’ interaction. However, the teacher’s perception is not always the same about it. Google classroom with all the best benefits that it can bring still has some lackness in the use. Based on the previous study by Kaukab Abid Azhar and Nayab Iqbal entitled Effectiveness of Google Classroom: Teacher’s Perception 2018 state that teachers perceive it as only a facilitation tool that can be used for document management and basic classroom management, without having a significant impact on teaching methodologies. It also indicates that the lack of a user-friendly interface that becoming a reason for inefficiency. However, those are from the perspective of teachers. Need more investigation about exactly the student’s response toward Google Classroom. Further, it is also believed that some students experienced more than just technical problems such as the loss of internet connection, the physical and mental tiredness students might have to endure in utilizing Google Classroom, the number of emotional burdens students might bear, the motivational struggles, the stress, the tasks, and many other challenges. How do students respond? How do these affect students? What do students think about the current situation, ERT, the government, the school, the parents, and the policy? The Students Response... 22 METHOD The Muhammadiyah University of Pringsewu was chosen as the site of research. The population was taken from the students in Language and Art Faculty especially in English Education Program who experience utilizing Google Classroom as a teaching-learning process during Emergency Remote Teaching (ERT). This research is categorized as a case study. Experts have consistently described case study as a versatile form of qualitative inquiry most suitable for a comprehensive, holistic, and in-depth investigation of an issue (phenomena, event, situation, organization, program, individual, or group) in context, where the boundary between the context and issue is unclear and contains many variables (Harrison H. et al, 2017). Harrison also mentions that case study is primarily exploratory and explanatory, it is used to gain an understanding of the issue in real-life settings and recommended to answer what, why, and how research questions. The data was collected by using interviews, questionnaires, and documentation. The validation used data triangulation by verifying from the investigation of phenomenon or fact from a different outlet. To analyze qualitative data, it used content analysis and narrative analysis. For getting the real data, in the interview processor, the researchers interviewed 6 students from different faculties. Namely, 2 students from FKIP, 2 Students from FKes, and 2 Students from FEB. the questionnaire was given by using google form with the total respondents were 113 students, and documentation was taken from the process of google classroom. RESULT The result of respondents’ education department background that completed the questionnaire with the total respondents were 113 students of the University of Muhammadiyah Pringsewu, who have different education department backgrounds, such as; Management, PGSD, Nursing, English Department, Indonesian Department, and Mathematics Department. Based on the data obtained from the research on the students’ responses on the utilization of Google Classroom, how these affect students, and students’ opinions about the current situation, ERT, the government, the school, the parents, and the policy. The researchers got five main issues. The findings in this section were based on the data taken from the interviews, questionnaire, and observation. Novita Eka.... 23 a. The students’ first impression on Google Classroom The first questions are on what are the students’ first impressions when they should Google classroom in the teaching and learning process they should study from home. A small number of students feel confused because this is the first time they study using Google Classroom, so bad because they do not have good connection internet, need to adapt, feel boring, and difficult to follow. On the other hand, the majority of the students have a positive impression on the utilization of Google Classroom, following answers were cited; challenging, pretty good, challenging, excellent, helpful in studying, Google Classroom can record all of the teaching and learning process, modern, fluent, more simple, easy to be used, easy in submitting the task, and fun. The finding is relevant to the previous research conducted by Haber, J, and Tesoriero (2018) that the study would lead to a more effective teaching style that aligns educational goals and criteria with desired student impressions. b. The students’ personal opinion on Google Classroom Having experience teaching and learning process by using Google Classroom, the students have different opinions both positive opinions and negative opinions. The positive one is Google Classroom is a good platform in online learning since it provides complete facilities, such as; room for a presentation, discussion, giving tasks, and test. The other effectiveness of Google Classroom is easy to use, saves data, and is not economical. This result is in line with the research finding investigated by harjanto, A.S.& Sumarni, S (2019) which asserted that most students, amounting to up to 56,8 %, agree that within the factor of using this Google Classroom is useful. While the experience of easiness when using, 61,22 of them agree that the application is easy to use. The negative opinion on Google Classroom is in the technical and conditional aspects. Such as; the bad internet connection, bad signal and the lecturers do not use Google Classroom maximally. The lecturers only give the tasks not teaching. c. The effectiveness of the Utilization of Google Classroom in Learning Process In responding to this question the students have a different point of view. The first group of students said that this is effective as long as both the lecturer and the students follow the procedure well. That is supported by a good internet connection and well structure of the teaching and learning process. Furthermore, the students also mention The Students Response... 24 that Google classroom is more effective than other applications like WhatsApp. Meanwhile, the second group asserts that Google Classroom is not effective for some reasons, such as the bad internet connection and Google Classroom only used to check the students’ attendance, giving the task and submit the task. The finding of the research conducted by Alim, n, et.al (2019) also mentioned that Google Classroom is very useful in improving the abilities and skills of each student. Students can learn by themselves and through guidance. So, both teachers should have well interaction by using Google Classroom. d. What should the lecturer do in improving the performance using Google Classroom In this session, the students give various criticism and suggestion, such as; the lecturer should give extra time for the students in submitting the task, the lecturer should be more creative in teaching, and in each new discussion should create new room chat, the lecturer also should be balanced in giving the material and tasks, the lecturer would be better giving video than PPT in teaching, the lecturer should increase the ability in ICT, the lecturer should be more responsive in answering the students’ question and the lecturer should build a good interaction with the students. Moreover, the students also suggested the lecturer use the facilities in Google Classroom for giving directed feed bask to the students. This is similar to the finding of the research conducted by Shaharance, I.N.M., et.al the respondents strongly agreed that in terms of the usefulness of the Google Classroom, the feedback provided by the lecturer is very useful. e. The advantages and disadvantages of the utilization of Google Classroom The students mentioned that Google Classroom is a good platform that helps the students to learn the material in this pandemic era. All of the application of technology brings its benefit and also weaknesses. According to students, Google Classroom is easy to use, this virtual classroom provides the facilities for the teacher to share the material by giving instructional teaching process, it has specific room for doing the interaction, also has the facilities to give the portfolio task and quiz with the specific storage. The Previous Research conducted by Okmawati (2020) found that Google Classroom is an effective platform for teaching in the pandemic era. Harjana (2003) mentioned in measuring the effectiveness of Communication, several aspects should be considered, such as the message recipients, contents, communication, media, format, source, and timing. Google Classroom full fill that requirement. The disadvantages of the utilization Novita Eka.... 25 of the Google Classroom mentioned by the students are it consumes so much internet data, the students need to increase the cost for studying. For the students who live in a remote area they face difficulty accessing it because of the bad internet connection, and the students can not study maximally. The previous research by Iftakhar (2016) found that low internet speed also bars to implementation of Google Classroom Effectively. DISCUSSION The changing situation force both the lecturer and student to be able to adapt and think faster to choose good platforms in learning. In this pandemic era, Google Classroom is like oases in the desert that help the students to reduce their knowledge. As mentioned by Izenstark& Leahy (2015), there are so many advantages of using Google Classroom as one of Learning Management Systems (LSM), such as; Quick and convenient setting, Time Saving, Increase in cooperation and communication, Centralized data storage, and quick and sharing of resource. This platform allows the lecturers to give make the virtual classroom where the students can learn effectively. As a result of the research, the students have a good impression and opinion of the utilization of Google Classroom in the teaching and learning process. Of course, all application brings not only advantages but also disadvantages as mentioned by the students. They need a good internet connection and the ability in using the technology. Moreover, this platform is beneficial for the virtual classroom as long as the lecturers can teach the students attractively, for example; bringing the video with the detailed explanation for each material, various kinds of tasks and tests, and also having good interaction with the students. For the improve the quality of utilization Google Classroom for an online class, the students suggest the lecturers prepare the material well by making the interactive video of the teaching and learning process, be more disciplined in starting and ending the classroom, the lecturers should not only give the tasks but also the material, and increase the ability to manage the Google Classroom. REFERENCES Alim, N, et.al (2019) The Effectiveness of Google Classroom As An Instructional Media: A Case of State Islamic Institute of Kendari Indonesia. Humanities & Social Sciences Reviews. 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