Workshop ‘Pengembangan Media Digital’ for Students’ Digital Portfolio

MEDIA—Friday, 06th September 2019, The Creative Media Unit of the Cultures and Language Faculty of IAIN Surakarta held a workshop specifically for students of the fifth semester of the Cultures and Language Faculty. This event was held in the 4th Floor Hall of the Cultures and Language Faculty Building with a total of nearly 400 students from five departments in the Cultures and Language Faculty. Mohammad Romdhoni Prakoso, S.Pd, M.Pd. or more known as Mr. Dhoni, a lecture of IAIN Surakarta was invited to be a keynote speaker of this workshop. There were also 15 facilitators who were ready to help Mr. Dhoni and the 400 students. This workshop also attended by some Cultures and Languages Faculty’s lectures; they are Mr. SF. Lukfianka Sanjaya, S.S, M.Hum., Mr. Robith Khoiril Umam, S.S, M.Hum., and Mrs. Fitriana Ika Dewi, M.Hum.

On this occasion, as the person in charge of the Creative Media Unit, Mr. SF. Lukfianka Sanjaya, S.S, M.Hum., gave his speech which mentioned that this workshop was aimed to introduce to students an application that can hold the entire work of students as a form of a digital portfolio, which will be very useful for finding jobs after they graduate. Furthermore, this application also can be the way for them to earn money, by uploading it on the Google Play Store using an account owned by the Cultures and Languages Faculty.

There were two tools used for this workshop, and both are digital, following the times that are already full of creative industries. These tools are Google Sites and Thunkable Classic. First, Google Sites is an application from Google for making a website. Here, Mr. Dhoni explained in detail about Google Sites, starting from the advantages until its disadvantages. He also shared aspects that compared Google Sites with other website-making sites such as Blogspot, WordPress, or Wix. Not only that, Google Sites also has some potential for students, such as: stay up to date, develop creativity, develop life skills, and form digital portfolios—like what Mr. Lukfianka said. How to use Google Sites is also fairly easy, simple and completely instant. So, almost all students can follow all the explanations of Mr. Dhoni easily, together with the facilitators' assistance.

Second, Thunkable Classic is a tool that enables anyone to create beautiful and powerful mobile apps. To create an application using Thunkable Classic, only needed the URL from the Google Sites website that was previously been made. The steps given by Mr. Dhoni on the use of Thunkable is very easy to understand and simple, in less than one day all students who attend this workshop also managed to have a beautiful website complete with its application.

At the end of the workshop, Mr. Lukfianka informed the students that they needed to collect the URL of their Google sites and the applications they had made through the facilitators who had been their assistants. After they collect the URL for Google sites and applications, they will get a certificate that can help them for graduation later. The workshop has gone well and most of the students feel worthy to come to this opportunity.