Crisis management and communication experience in education during the COVID – 19 pandemic in Indonesia

Abstract

The focus of this research is crisis management in the education sector during the COVID-19 pandemic. This was done following an atmosphere of crisis in the field of education that encouraged the Indonesian government to issue policies in the form of the Study from Home (SfH) crisis programme. The object being analysed is related to the application of crisis management and the communication experience of students during the programme. The purpose of this study is to describe the opinions of students during the crisis programme. The study was conducted in the city of Bandung by involving lecturers and students. The methodology used is a qualitative approach to phenomenological studies. Data collection was conducted through online interviews and literature studies. The study found that the government established SfH as an emergency learning programme during the COVID-19 pandemic. The implementation of SfH was through online learning using various chat and video conference applications. There were two weaknesses of online learning namely technical and communication weaknesses. Technical weakness is influenced by geographical factors, internet networks, and internet costs. While communication weaknesses include slow adaptation, learning media are not optimal, and an interactive atmosphere has not been developed, and there is no atmosphere of empathy. This situation results in lecturers not being able to manage the learning effectively. Studying online during SfH should be able to build collaboration classes to be able to foster motivation and interest in student learning. Collaboration classes are realised when lecturers and students try to improve communication competencies.