The series of activities for new students, or what is commonly known as orientation, is one part of the journey that every student will definitely go through.
However, often, the orientation provided by higher education institutions makes students only a target for the delivery of information by speakers.
Template What is commonly found in orientation is the delivery of material related to college life, academic systems, and motivational seminars.
The Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences (FMIPA) of the University of Indonesia (UI), through its Introduction to the Physics Department (PDF), attempted to break this standard. In this activity, 145 new undergraduate Physics students were involved not only as targets for information delivery but also as sources of knowledge.
This activity entitled Singularity was held during the month of September every Friday and Saturday, starting from September 13, 2019, in the Main Seminar Room of Physics, FMIPA UI, Depok.
Dennis Bawole, the chair of the committee, stated that the presentation process could be two-way. This means that information wouldn’t just come from the speaker, but could also come from fellow new students.
“Because indeed, in general, that person gak “People will remember more about the material, the moments they felt and the moments that were memorable for them,” said Dennis.
He and his team designed the activity concept to be as dynamic as possible without neglecting the essence of the orientation itself.
Dennis said that designing a schedule of activities like this is also intended to provide a memorable experience for new students so that they not only remember the material presented, but also remember special moments from the orientation period.
“We see the target audience for delivering the material is Generation Z students, a generation that doesn’t really like things that are stagnant and really wants to do things dynamically,” he said.
So three main activities were formed that involved new students to play an active role in conveying ideas and information through discussions.
Pertama, Physics Group Discussion which generally discusses the role of physical science for Indonesia. Second, Debate for The Future which generally discusses problems that may occur in the new student generation that they are aware of but have not yet found a way to solve them.
Lastly, there is the Community Service Discussion which focuses on the idea of student contributions to the surrounding community.
Apart from the series of activities that actively involve students, the delivery of material in the form of seminars was also provided in the first week of PDF Singularity 2019. The seminars delivered were Self-Development presented by Adryan Fitraa, a Physics alumni of FMIPA UI 2006, and leadership.
The new students also gave an explanation regarding the Student Creativity Program and the specializations in Physics at FMIPA UI that they can choose in semester 5.
Through this PDF activity, new students are expected to increase their sense of pride in the Department of Physics, FMIPA UI, so that they can contribute and innovate optimally.
