Development of Online Degree During the Pandemic; Case Study on the Role of International Open University in Indonesia

Abstract

Education is a crucial individual need, regardless of the level of wealth and status in society (Ogbu, 1983; Subotnik et al., 2011). As through a circular from the Ministry of Education and Culture in 2020 by Nadiem Makarim urging him to cancel the teaching and learning process during the pandemic. Shifting habits that are formally run traditionally in the classroom now have to be done online. Moreover, Indonesia has had impromptu online lectures for the past year, and each has a different application in conveying the teaching and learning process. Even their names are different, such as online learning, e-learning, online lectures (Arifani, 2021; Faisal, 2021; Syamsuddin et al., n.d.). Meanwhile, seeing the current state of the pandemic in Indonesia is pretty alarming; from 2020 until now, the nation's economic condition has fallen apprehensively (Peterman et al., 2020; Sparrow et al., 2020). This has negatively affected the development of education in Indonesia, where significant dropouts and discontinued studies occurred. On the other hand, there are several challenges for students who need quite a long time in adapting to online lectures that have been implemented for the past year (Teräs et al., 2020; Yarrow et al., 2020). In the current pandemic conditions, it is necessary for students or prospective students who want to continue their studies to see the costs incurred in participating in teaching and learning activities at a higher school level. Likewise, it is appropriate for universities to follow the current conditions, namely reducing costs for students who want to continue their studies at the undergraduate level (Chang & Fisher, 200