E-Learning Model with SIPDA Unimed

for German Writing Skills on COVID-19 Pandemic

Suci Pujiastuti, Ahmad Sahat Perdamean and Indah Aini

German Language Education Study Program, Faculty of Languages and Arts,

Universitas Negeri Medan, Jalan Willem Iskandar, Pasar V, Medan, Indonesia, 20221

Keywords: E-Learning, Writing Skills, German, FBS, Unimed

Abstract: The need for foreign language learning such as German is indispensable. To facilitate and accelerate the

learning process, the e-learning method and the German writing method with the Moodle system which are

integrated with the Unimed online learning system (SIPDA) were developed. This study aims to (1) introduce

the developed e-learning model (2) explain how to build an e-learning model for learning German. The use

of e-learning is important because students learn German online due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A total of

31 students using SIPDA Unimed in odd semesters were involved in the research. As a result, 28 students

(93%) rated SIPDA Unimed as good, three students (7%) considered it complicated due to internet connection.

In conclusion, it is very easy to build e-learning classes with SIPDA Unimed. Many features can be used for

teaching such as news forums, topics, assignments, or video conferencing. Not only can an e-learning model

be developed, German Writing Skills teaching materials can also be made. Apart from internet problems,

students can do all the writing tasks in German relatively well.

1 INTRODUCTION

Basak, Wotto and Bélanger (2018: 192) write that the

rise of online learning technology encourages many

creative ways of learning. Opinions can be justified

especially after the COVID-19 virus came to life and

is still among us today. Many aspects of modern life

have changed due to infectious viruses, including

how to learn. One possible way of learning is e-

learning or electronic learning. E-learning is also

often referred to as website-based learning. This

learning has a lot of content as well as online tutors or

online teachers and of course requires online learning.

With this unique character, it can be said that e-

learning is interactive learning that establishes

communication between teachers and students

without problems as long as there is a good internet

connection (Valverde-Berrocoso; Garrido-Arroyo;

Burgos-Videla; Morales-Cevallos, 2020: 9).

The term E-Learning is used to describe a diverse,

objective, and organizational arrangement of

electronic or digital media for learning, virtual

learning spaces, and blended learning or mixed

learning between face-to-face and online (Arnold, et

al., 2018: 22).

E-learning can be synchronous and asynchronous.

Synchronous means that the teacher or lecturer and

students or students communicate, learn, teach, and

interact at the same time. This works for students and

teachers who have fixed schedules, structured

planned courses, and want to interact with each other

(Shapers, 2020: 1). Active learning is also needed

even though it is done online (Tanis, 2020: 9).

Shapers (2020: 1) also states that asynchronous is the

opposite of learning synchronously. This means that

asynchronous learning is a student-centered teaching

method where teachers and students interact at

different times (Jinot, 2020: 6).

Teaching by e-learning at Medan State University

uses both types. Sometimes lecturers and students are

in the same room and time, but sometimes the lecturer

gives assignments or homework to students, and

students can work on these assignments at different

times.

In this study, the use of e-learning with a

synchronous rather than asynchronous system was

chosen for research and teaching. There are three

classes with different teachers for each class.

Advanced writing courses are held twice a week for

one particular class. Although we use synchronous e-

learning during the semester, students can learn to

Pujiastuti, S., Perdamean, A. and Aini, I.

E-Learning Model with SIPDA Unimed for German Writing Skills on COVID-19 Pandemic.

DOI: 10.5220/0010337000003051

In Proceedings of the International Conference on Culture Heritage, Education, Sustainable Tourism, and Innovation Technologies (CESIT 2020), pages 551-557

ISBN: 978-989-758-501-2

551

write German further on the SIPDA Unimed website,

especially at the SIPDA Faculty of Languages and

Arts. The page is available for students to use to learn

to write anytime and anywhere. Due to the pandemic,

lectures must also be flexible, because not all students

can study on time or attend lectures on the day the

course takes place. Sometimes they just get an

internet signal at night to do assignments or read

lecture materials. The theory from Shapers (2020)

helps researchers to make a clear distinction between

the two types of learning. Several previous research

results were taken for this study, especially from Eom

and Ashill (2018) and Hennes et al. (2018).

Eom and Ashill used structural equation models

to validate the success model of e-learning at the

university level (2018: 1). They explained that there

were two problems in building an e-learning model

(2018: 43), namely the dependent and independent

variables. Both e-learning models have many

dimensions. Given these two problems, they decided

to examine how critical success factors affect e-

learning, especially for students. This research has

problems that are relevant to the research conducted

because it relates to e-learning and also has the level

of research at the university. The difference between

the two types of research is in the topic. Previous

research was about validating the success of e-

learning, while the topic of research currently being

carried out is about the development of an e-learning

model. Until now there has been no research on the

topic of SIPDA for German writing skills at the State

University of Medan.

On the other hand, in this study the theory of

Hennes et al 2018 was used. They have topics on

German writing literacy as well as an overview of

how to make a diagnosis for writing skills especially

for students and make standard test procedures for

grades 4-9 (Elementary School). They believe that

currently there are no diagnostic procedures for

writing skills that are theoretically and

psychometrically guaranteed and which can be

applied in school practice in German-speaking areas

(2018: 294). That's why they wanted to develop a test

procedure and explain the progress of the procedure

in their research paper. With this procedure, the

teacher can create individual skill tests which are also

important for the writing process. The procedure also

includes an example of a scale-based rating. There

were about 541 children who participated in the

study.

In this study, the theory of German writing from

the Hennes team was used with German variables and

writing skills. However, there is a big difference

between this study and the study from Hennes' team,

namely that the object uses students studying at a

college, not students studying in primary schools.

1.1 An E-Learning Model for Distance

Learning

Distance learning according to Shapers, 2020: 1 is as

follows:

"A form of education that provides

education to students who are not physically

present in a traditional classroom setting.

Distance learning is a way of bringing

students, teachers, and learning content

together online while they are physically

separated by time and/or space. Because

learning content and instructions are

accessible online, students have more

control over time, place, path and pace of

their learning program".

Distance learning used to be popular, and now it's

even more popular because of Covid-19. All students

must live and study at home. That is also the main

reason this research was conducted. With the

UNIMED student case studies, the distance learning

model especially for the German writing course was

designed so that students can study at home without

worry and feel comfortable. In early March 2020,

there was quite a mess for teachers or lecturers as well

as students or students to study 100% online,

especially at Universitas Negeri Medan. And now, in

October 2020, studying something online or taking

100% online courses is common and normal.

However, there are also drawbacks to distance

learning. Sokolova and colleagues stated that there

are at least 6 (six) shortcomings of distance learning

(2018: 1478), namely there are no face-to-face

meetings between teachers and students; it takes too

much time to develop teaching skills, knowledge, and

technology. In addition, the learning material must be

revised many times related to changes in learning,

sometimes the test system is less than perfect, so there

are problems with testing and assessment. In addition,

sometimes the learning materials are not up to date,

so the teacher must ensure that the material is

consistently up to date.

CESIT 2020 - International Conference on Culture Heritage, Education, Sustainable Tourism, and Innovation Technologies

552

1.2 E-Learning Model with SIPDA

Unimed for German Writing Skills

Figure 1: SIPDA of Unimed.

Figure 1 shows a screenshot of the SIPDA

UNIMED. Lecturers and students can click the

faculty picture or button then the faculty SIPDA will

be displayed.

SIPDA is a LINE LEARNING SYSTEM or e-

learning system at the State University of Medan

(Abbreviation: Unimed) and is integrated with the

Moodle system.

Moodle is "a learning platform designed to

provide educators, administrators and students with a

robust, secure and integrated system for creating a

personalized learning environment (moodle.org:

2020)". This means that users can access and

download software from Moodle for the desired web

server. Moodle also has many partners in cooperation

with various countries such as Canada, Indonesia,

Japan, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, or South Africa

who can assist users in building e-learning models for

a particular class.

There are seven faculties and one Postgraduate

Program or postgraduate program for Masters and

Doctorates at Medan State University. The faculties

are Language and Arts, Mathematics and Natural

Sciences, Faculty of Education, Engineering, Faculty

of Economics, Sports and Social Sciences. All

faculties use SIPDA for the teaching and learning

process.

Darari and Firdaus (2020) have studied the

development of teaching materials with SIPDA

Unimed for student learning behavior. The results

showed that the learning materials using SIPDA

Unimed were effective and had a good effect,

especially on students studying Mathematics at the

State University of Medan. SIPDA Unimed is "a form

of learning management system designed for the

lecture process at Unimed which was launched in

early 2019. SIPDA is more than just an online

learning portal, but a media communication system

between lecturers and students" (Darari and Firdaus,

2020: 2).

The study carried out had the same Learning

Management System (LMS) as the research

conducted in SIPDA Unimed but with different

subjects. Their study helped develop a model built to

obtain more information about the features and

functions of Unimed SIPDA.

Figure 2: E-learning at the Faculty of Language and Arts.

Figure 2 is a screenshot of the SIPDA Faculty of

Language and Arts with 10 (ten) buttons or images to

click. The pictures are a symbol of the faculty

department. The symbols are colourful and show the

uniqueness of each department, for example the flag

for the Indonesian, English, French, German and

some musical instruments for arts and music majors.

At the Faculty of Language and Arts, Medan State

University, students can study various subjects such

as German, French, English, Art, Dance, Languages

(Indonesian), and Music. Some courses are open to

visiting lecturers or visiting students. On the

Language and Arts Faculty e-learning site, users can

see the main menu, navigation, and calendar.

Lecturers and students can enter the e-learning page

with their identification numbers as lecturers and

students. Guest lecturers or guest students must also

E-Learning Model with SIPDA Unimed for German Writing Skills on COVID-19 Pandemic

553

2 THE METHOD OF THE STUDY

In this study, the method of e-learning development

and writing in German is used.

Figure 3: E-learning Method (Pribadi, 2020 and Ghirardini,

2011).

Figure 3 is an e-learning development method

from Pribadi (2020) and Ghirardini (2011). This

method was used for teaching planning with e-

learning. There were five steps that can be taken,

namely Determining Instructional Designers (ID),

Establishing Storyboards (Content Writers), Making

E-Learning Designs, Implementing Quality Control,

and Testing.

First, there must be an instructional designer for

the entire e-learning plan to be built. The concept

relates to course teams, learning materials,

comprehensive assessments, course time, simple and

complex assignments, quizzes, and self-made videos.

The most important thing in designing e-learning is

lesson planning based on the Semester Learning Plan

(SLP) or teaching / curriculum plan. With the SLP, all

learning materials are fixed, definite and cannot be

changed for one academic semester (Odd Semester

2020/2021), unless there are problems with the e-

learning system that can lead to changes in learning,

materials or ingredients were no longer actual.

For the second step, a storyboard for the e-

learning plan is created. The storyboard is very

important so that users do not go off track from the

goals set at the beginning of the semester or at the

learning design stage. This storyboard is contained in

SLP.

Furthermore, e-learning teaching is designed such

as creating space for video or audio files, making

assignments and assessments, and uploading

feedback and assignments of students taking German

writing courses. Overall users also have to control the

quality of the e-learning site.

In the end, the e-learning model for students or

learners in odd semesters starting in early September

2020 was tested and launched. Testing the

effectiveness of e-learning with SIPDA Unimed is

still being carried out until early January 2021

through a questionnaire.

Students who have been registered who meet the

criteria come from the 2019 class. They are students

in the third semester and a total of 31 people. All

students study online and communicate with SIPDA

and communication with WhatsApp is also carried

out if the internet connection at the student's location

does not allow access to SIPDA. The interesting thing

is that students are not informed that the e-learning

model and the distribution of questionnaires are part

of the research, so that learning advanced German

writing courses can run normally, naturally and

casually.

To complement this method, the German theory

of written literacy by Hennes et al. was also used.

Writing competence is the ability to produce text

based on the appropriate target group (Hennes et al.

2018: 295). There is one main question for students

in this research framework, namely: What do you

think about online learning with SIPDA Unimed?

This simple question was asked during the 14th

online meeting in October 2020. All students have

sent answers to the researcher via WhatsApp. The

questionnaire was used as the main data. The answers

from students are the result of using SIPDA

UNIMED.

The source of material for writing in German is

the studio book [express] by Hermann Funk and

Christina Kuhn (2018) with the German publisher

Cornelsen. The level of this book is A2 (German for

Pre-intermediate).

Why is there only one question? Because this

question is a process from the early stages of research.

There are many questions after the 14th online

meeting and the analysis of the answers will be used

for research and other articles.

3 THE DISCUSSION

Based on the research results, 28 students (93%) gave

the same answer to the lecturers and thought that

SIPDA Unimed, especially SIPDA, Faculty of

Language and Arts was good. There are three students

(7%) who think that the use of SIPDA Unimed is

complicated due to the bad internet. Respondents also

hoped that the rest of the online meetings would have

lots of quizzes and short videos to understand the

learning material. The task of writing German should

also be continued.

In addition to online learning questions with

SIPDA, an analysis of the results of the online

assignments was also carried out. Overall, the

CESIT 2020 - International Conference on Culture Heritage, Education, Sustainable Tourism, and Innovation Technologies

554

students succeeded in doing the assignment given by

the lecturer well, and the writing score was also good.

For example, an online assignment to write number

one. For assignment 1 which has the theme Writing

Biography, ten students got an A (32%), two students

got a C (7%) and the rest (19 students) got a B (61%).

They should write a short biography of themselves or

others. They only need to write an essay or short essay

containing about 100 good and correct German

words. All essays have been placed on the first page

of the SIPDA FBS Unimed e-learning page

specifically for advanced German writing courses.

Students also have other hopes related to the

video. The videos are short, easy to understand, and

interesting. Short means only from one to three

minutes by reason of internet quota. The shorter the

duration of a video, the better it is for students

because they can save quotas.

The following pictures will also be described to

give readers an idea of how German writing courses

are organized. Teaching plans are defined and drawn

up from the start of the course. There are materials,

mid-semester exams, plans, assessments, quizzes,

assignments, feedback from lecturers, and

assignment results.

Figure 4: Subjects for the German Language Education

Study Program.

Figure 4 comes from the German Language

Education Study Program Courses section. Courses

in odd and even semesters can be accessed through e-

learning of the Faculty of Language and Arts

(Language: Faculty of Language and Arts (FBS))

Medan State University. The link is on the following

page https://elearningfbs.unimed.ac.id/ and the

current semester is the odd semester 2020/2021. In

the German writing course section, there are many

features such as forums, course administration,

editing, or uploading image or audio files.

Figure 5: German Writing Course Part 1.

Teaching materials for students must be the same

as the studio book [express] from Cornelsen publisher

(Germany) and have level A2 (German for Pre-

Intermediate), as it is the main book for students.

However, the lecturer only chooses material that has

to do with writing German grammar and writing

topics at A2 level.

In this section of the Writing course (Figure 5 and

Figure 6), lecturers can add video links for e-learning.

Unfortunately, these video files require YouTube,

which is a platform for sharing videos online, because

the maximum byte or file capacity in the SIPDA

Unimed e-learning system is only 1 MegaByte for

one file.

Figure 6: Section of Writing Courses Part 2.

Teachers can also write text or descriptions of

online meetings that are held for one semester. The

picture below is an example of an assignment in a

German writing course.

The following picture is an assignment with the

topic "Traveling" (Figure 7) made by a lecturer in

German Language Education at Medan State

University.

E-Learning Model with SIPDA Unimed for German Writing Skills on COVID-19 Pandemic

555

Figure 7: Tasks with the topic "Traveling".

Students can write and submit their assignments

by posting or file online or online with a maximum

capacity of only 1 Megabyte. Assignment grades can

be added online. The assessment files are available in

Excel or simple text.

Figure 8: An assignment with the topic "Writing a

Biography".

For the assignment with the topic “Writing a

Biography” (Figure 8), the lecturer can provide

explanations or teaching materials, German writing

assignments, and scores for them with feedback to

students. Everything is done online and

automatically.

4 THE CONCLUSION

In conclusion, many pages and tasks in the SIPDA

Unimed e-learning integrated with the Moodle

system can be built. The advantages are as follows:

 SIPDA e-learning Unimed especially from the

Faculty of Languages and Arts is designed to

teach and learn anywhere and anytime.

 The Moodle system is proven and trustworthy.

 Operators can build and design e-learning for

specific subjects easily and automatically.

 The features used in SIPDA Unimed e-learning

are always up to date because Moodle ensures

that the system is always on track.

 Integrated e-learning can be used on any

device, whether on a laptop or on a smartphone.

 There is also a video conferencing feature for

SIPDA Unimed e-learning, namely BIG BLUE

BUTTON. The use of video conferencing

depends on the user's location internet access.

 Internet quality is not the same for every

student. Lecturers should give them more time

to do or turn in assignments, especially if there

is no or poor internet. That is, teaching using e-

learning depends on the quality of the internet.

 Activities such as assignments, attendance,

chat, quizzes, surveys, lessons, or a dictionary

can also be added to the e-learning page of the

lecturer. It functions well and can be easily

used. The development of the e-learning model

can be continued for better results.

 Online assignments don't need to be

complicated, because students need a lot of

internet quota to do all online assignments and

think about the answers to questions well. It

takes time and an adequate internet quota if

students are dealing with long, convoluted and

essay-shaped questions.

 Quizzes must be well organized for students,

especially those taking writing courses in

German. The lecturer must first think about the

questions, and then the answer, then the

lecturer places the questions carefully on the

SIPDA Unimed page. Multiple choice quizzes

always take longer.

 The success of e-learning, especially with

SIPDA Unimed, must be supported by good

interaction and communication between

students and lecturers, SIPDA itself, between

students, and the Unimed SIPDA system. This

is in line with the results of research by

Mumpuni and Nurpratiwiningsih (2018: 1).

 There are still many online meetings for

German writing courses, namely until January

2021. Lecturers must be more creative, have

high patience with both students and systems

and need time to communicate with students

and transfer knowledge.

CESIT 2020 - International Conference on Culture Heritage, Education, Sustainable Tourism, and Innovation Technologies

556

REFERENCES

Arnold, Patricia; Killian, Lars; Thillosen, Anne; Zimmer,

Gerhard., 2018. Handbuch E-Learning. Bielefeld: W.

Bertelsman Verlag GmbH & Co.

Basak, Sujit Kumar; Marguerite, Wotto; Bélanger, Paul.,

2018. E-learning, M-learning, and D-learning:

Conceptual definition and comparative analysis.

Journal of E-Learning and Digital Media. Volume 15

Number 4. Pages 191–216. Retrieved from: DOI

10.1177/2042753018785180.

Darari, Badzlan M; Firdaus, Muliawan., 2020.

Development of Teaching Materials Based “Activity or

Resources” At Sipda Unimed to Enhance Students

Learning Behavior. Journal of Physics: Conference

Series 1462 (2020) 012022. Retrieved from:

doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1462/1/012022

Eom, Sean B

†

; Ashill, Nicholas J., 2018. A System's View

of the E-Learning Success Model. Decision Sciences

Journal of Innovative Education Volume 16 Number 1.

Retrieved from: DOI: 10.1111/dsji.12144

Fakultas Bahasa dan Seni. E-Learning.

https://elearningfbs.unimed.ac.id/

Ghirardini, Beatrice., 2011. E-learning methodologies A

guide for designing and developing e-learning courses.

Roma: FAO. Retrieved from:

http://www.fao.org/3/i2516e/i2516e.pdf

Hennes, Ann-Kathrin; Schmidt, Barbara Maria; Zepnik,

Sabine; Linnemann, Markus; Jost, Jörg; Mrotzek,

Michael Becker; Rietz, Christian & Schabmann,

Alfred. 2018. Schreibkompetenz diagnostizieren: Ein

standardisiertes Testverfahren für die Klassenstufen 4-

9 in der Entwicklung. Journal of Empirische

Sonderpädagogik, Number 3, Page 294-310.

Jinot, Belle Louis., 2020. The asynchronous online

Discussion Forum as a Learning Strategy in a Distance

Learning Online Course: A Reflective Narrative.

European Journal of Open Education and E-Learning.

Volume 5. Issue 1.

Retrieved from: DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.3839063

Mumpuni, Atikah; Nurpratiwiningsih, Laelia., 2018.

Pengembangan Pembelajaran Berbasis Web untuk

Meningkatkan Kemampuan Menulis Kreatif

Mahasiswa PGSD. Journal of Cakrawala Pendidikan.

TH. XXXVII, June, Number 2. Retrieved from:

https://journal.uny.ac.id/index.php/cp/article/view/200

Moodle. 2020. About Moodle. https://moodle.org/.

Pribadi, Sugeng Iman. 2020. Proses Pembuatan E-

Learning. Retrieved from:

https://elearningindonesia.com/proses-pembuatan-

elearning/

Shapers. 2020. E-Learning Models Explained. Retrieved

from: https://www.shapers.nl/e- learning-

explained.pdf.

Sofie, Anas; Laafou, Mohamed., 2020. Effect of Using the

Online Learning Platform in Teaching during the

COVID-19 Pandemic. In book: Educational Practices

during the COVID-19 Viral Outbreak: International

Perspectives (pp.167-180). Publisher: International

Society for Technology, Education and Science

(ISTES).

Sokolova, Nina A; Pylkin, Alexander A; Stroganova, Olga

A; Antonian, Karina G. The Pros and Cons of Distance

Learning. The European Proceedings of Social &

Behavioural Sciences. ISSN: 2357-1330. Pages 1478-

1486.

Tanis, Cynthia Janet., 2020. The seven principles of online

learning: Feedback from faculty and alumni on its

importance for teaching and learning. Journal of

Research in Learning Technology, Vol. 28, 2020.

Universitas Negeri Medan. SIPDA Unimed.

https://sipda.unimed.ac.id/

Valverde-Berrocoso, Jesús; Garrido-Arroyo, María del

Carmen; Burgos-Videla, Carmen; Morales-Cevallos,

María Belén., 2020. Trends in Educational Research

about e-Learning: A Systematic Literature Review

(2009–2018). Journal of Sustainability.

E-Learning Model with SIPDA Unimed for German Writing Skills on COVID-19 Pandemic

557