Dian Nusantara University (UNDIRA) is a private university located in Tanjung Duren, West Jakarta. Based on the decision of the Minister of Research, Technology and Higher Education of the Republic of Indonesia No. 115/KPT/I/2023 dated February 18, 2019, UNDIRA received permission to change its location from the city of Medan, North Sumatra to DKI Jakarta by the Dian Asra Foundation.

Dian Nusantara University has a Vision "To become a trusted and professional university with a global outlook, to meet the needs of the industrial and entrepreneurial world based on Science and Technology in 2030". Based on this Vision, UNDIRA understands what is needed so that this Vision can be realized, especially in today's digital era, through the use of technological developments UNDIRA tries to actively contribute in creating and developing better human resources, one of which is through Google Workspace for Education Plus.

Four years is a short time for a university, but UNDIRA has the determination to continue to develop so that it can be equal to other private universities in Jakarta. Dwi Sapto Febriantaka, MBA, UNDIRA's Vice Chancellor II for Finance, said, "We have a lot of catching up to do. That is one of the reasons we decided to use Google Workspace for Education Plus. Because there is a lot of paper work that can actually be streamlined, work that can be processed faster. We want all departments to be able to collaborate, communicate and contribute more easily. And Google Workspace for Education Plus can help us realize the efficiency and effectiveness of our performance."

On the same occasion, UNDIRA IT Director, Giri Purnama S.Pd., M.Kom, said that Google Workspace for Education is indeed a necessity at UNDIRA in the learning process.

"Initially it was due to the COVID-19 pandemic, where a platform was needed for distance learning, and where lecturers and students could collaborate with each other. In fact, until now we still apply a lot of e-learning models. Now, we are upgrading to Google Workspace for Education Plus, so we get many additional benefits. We really need the recording feature on Google Meet, apart from being used as evaluation material for lecturers, it can also be used by students who are unable to attend. Interestingly, the originality report feature is unlimited, so we no longer need to use other platforms to check plagiarism," said Giri.

Google Workspace for Education Plus, which has the ability to be integrated with Moodle, is also a consideration for UNDIRA. "It's not that we don't want to switch to Google Classroom, but we have integrated Moodle with the existing academic information system, where our lecture model does not look at the number of student or lecturer attendance, but looks at their activities in e-learning," added Giri.

It is also important for UNDIRA to familiarize members of the academic community to use officially licensed platforms and applications, and not pirated ones. Even UNDIRA includes this Google Workspace in the curriculum. In the Computer Applications (Aplikom) course, which is an MBKM course, UNDIRA requires lecturers to provide material about Google Workspace. "One of the goals is to be able to optimize the use of Google Workspace for Education Plus, and this is already a direction from Management. So we want this to become a habit for the entire academic community to work and learn in the Google technology ecosystem," explained Giri.

UNDIRA is also considering using Chromebooks as the main device in its educational ecosystem. "Maybe not for students, but for administrative services that are web-based, we are considering utilizing Chromebooks," explained Giri again.

Because Google Workspace for Education Plus has become an integral part of UNDIRA's ecosystem, REFO will also hold Google Certified Educator Level 1 training for participants who will be selected by UNDIRA. It is the selected participants who will later transfer to other members of the UNDIRA academic community. For this reason, Giri stated that only participants who are fully committed will be selected by UNDIRA to take part in the Google Certified Educator Level 1 training.

Muhamad Al Faruq Abdullah, S.Kom., M.M., Secretary of UNDIRA Management Study Program, said that the Management Study Program is the largest study program, with the largest number of lecturers and students at UNDIRA. And as an administrator in the largest study program, Faruq stated that one of his duties with the Head of Study Program is to bridge between lecturers and students, which is quite difficult.

"We must be able to mobilize lecturers and students to make changes. But the spirit of change at UNDIRA is very big, one of which is where the leaders at UNDIRA are committed to going digital, and utilizing Google technology," said Faruq.

The challenge faced by Faruq is where many lecturers are quite senior and students are timid to utilize this Google technology.

"So we implemented Google Workspace for Education Plus gradually in the field. Periodically, we issue appeals so that lecturers and students continue to optimize the use of this technology to collaborate and communicate in the teaching and learning process. We will continue to encourage all members of the academic community not to be afraid of change," explained Faruq.

Faruq also stated that the training provided by REFO greatly added insight into the optimal benefits of Google Workspace for Education Plus. He is optimistic that the adoption of Google Workspace for Education Plus with assistance from REFO will bring changes in a much better direction for UNDIRA.

UNDIRA is one of the progressive universities, which is still implementing massive e-learning in its teaching and learning process. So indeed this Google Workspace for Education Plus digital platform is very helpful, and even a necessity.

"We hope that the use of Google Workspace for Education will make it easier for us to collaborate, reduce the use of paper and document storage space, and speed up a lot of work, such as approvals. With this technology, we can also work from anywhere. The bottom line is efficiency and effectiveness, both in terms of cost and performance management. In the future, we also want to develop e-learning modules that can be superior and a plus for UNDIRA. We aspire to become an international campus, hopefully, the implementation of Google Workspace for Education Plus is one step towards UNDIRA's better future," said Dwi Sapto Febriantaka, MBA, UNDIRA's Vice Chancellor II for Finance.

(Sekar Ayu/HUMAS UNDIRA)

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