Essay：Interviewee's View And Group Discussion

Step 5:

Discuss The Interview' View and Group Discussion to Choose the Best Solution

Written by : Nurul Athirah Binti Mohd Rosli, Yee Zhi Yew, Tisyalene Thangarajoo, 

Nicholas Tan Kae Jer, Tan Jie Ying

Interviewee’s View 

Through this interview session, we get to see the changes in lifestyles due to the impact of Covid-19. As the interviewee’s said, the learning method used in UMP before Covid-19 was actually face-to-face lecture like any other university does. However, due to this Covid-19, everything has to be adapted with the online learning methods such as the online lecture, online talk, and the online laboratory.  At first, it was really an issue for university students to get adapted to this new online learning phenomenon. Everyone, including the students and the lecturers, needed some time to adapt to it. If we go back to the March of 2020, when  Covid-19 was first found to begin to spread in Malaysia, our government launched the fully MCO (Movement Control Order) for about 2 weeks where everyone was forced to stay at home, without attending work, school, university physically and no socializing with family or friends for any events.

At first, everyone was panicking like it was the end of the world. However, as time passed by, people adapted to it and started to spend quality time with their loved ones and enjoyed it. There were also people who enjoyed it as a holiday and thought that the MCO should be extended. Moreover, the interviewee also took some time adapting to the new learning methods. He utilized some time to get himself ready physically and mentally by purchasing a new webcam (camera) and a new drawing tablet for the online class’s purpose. The interviewee also said that sometimes they are also struggling with online learning, this is because university students would not only need to focus on their online classes but household chores as well. The interviewee as a university student also admits that the Covid-19 pandemic has changed his lifestyle drastically. As before the pandemic, everything was going offline with physical lectures, tutorials, and labs but now, everything is fully held online. At the moment before the pandemic occurred, the interviewee knew nothing about online learning applications like Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and other online platforms for learning. This is because before this he was relying on almost everything with the traditional method. For example, the assignments would have to be submitted in paperwork, reference books need to be bought or borrowed from the library and group discussion would be carried out physically.

However, starting from the pandemic everything would have to be submitted online in soft copy through Google Classroom and Kalam. Furthermore, for the group discussion, it can be done anywhere and anytime online. The interviewee also admitted that these changes of lifestyle in university made his learning methods become less effective. About two years from the beginning of the pandemic (Covid-19) until now, the interviewee is still staying at home, without being able or allowed to go back to his university. The interviewee also faced some difficulties such as internet connection issues as he only depended on mobile data and lived in a rural area which made his connection to be even slower. Moreover, the pandemic has also affected the mental health of the interviewee because of the overload of assignments which made students be completing their assignments by the time given without taking a break. The interviewee also expects that the pandemic Covid-19 will have a long-term impact on university students’ lifestyles. This is because we never know how long this pandemic will keep going. Even after the pandemic is gone, university students may still have to always wear masks, maintain social distance, and take care of their hygiene. If we look at the bright side, there could be a positive impact. Due to the pandemic, we had a chance to explore more into technology. After the pandemic, we will still rely on these technologies such as Google Meet, Google Classroom, Zoom, and other platforms. This is because it still brings us a lot of benefits as we can learn in a hybrid way between traditional (offline) learning methods with the online methods (new)  to achieve a better and higher level of learning.

Certainly, the interviewee also said that there were no physical interactions with friends as well, as everyone was staying at home and everyone lived in different states. Thus, to help his friends who face the same problems as him in this pandemic, he will give them motivation and also teach them whenever they face problems in any subject. 

Group Discussion 

A group discussion was held to select the best solution to overcome the impact of Covid-19 on university students’ lifestyles. Each of us has to choose a solution which we think is the best forehead. The solution that we chose includes: learn how to deal with stress, consult professionals, positive thinking, and self-discipline. 

Tan Jie Ying chose ‘ learn how to deal with stress as the best solution in the beginning. This is because the university student’s lifestyle has been disrupted by the Covid-19. As the interviewee says, before Covid-19, they could go study at the library, have their social life, and learn through face-to-face lectures. However, everything has changed after the Covid-19 pandemic. During their online classes, they might face internet connection problems, overloaded assignments, and lack of balance between social and study time. Hence, when university students learn how to deal with stress, they should take some rest, do some yoga, and eat healthier. These activities could help them to calm down and have a positive mind. Undoubtedly, when they have good stress management, they are happier and able to regain their own positive lifestyle without being affected by the Covid-19.  However, after listening to others’ views, Tan Jie Ying changed her opinion to choose self-discipline as the best solution.

Athirah chooses 'adapt self-discipline as the best solution for university students. As we know during this pandemic, we have to go through our study life on our own. Clearly, we don’t have friends to remind us of anything whether about the task, quiz, or others. So, self-discipline is very important for university students to survive for their studies during this pandemic since they are having online distance learning (ODL). They also should be disciplined and always give their best in completing every single task given by their lecturers. For example, if the lecturer gives a task or an assignment, students should be responsible to finish it on time. Even though they are learning from home, it is important to finish the task on time as it is their responsibility as a student. Thus, self-discipline is very crucial for university students. She also thinks that self-discipline is the best solution because when university students are disciplined, it will be easier to achieve their goals. In that, they will also easily succeed in their university life.

Yee Zhi Yew agreed with Athirah's opinion that adapting self-discipline is the best solution. This is because self-discipline will push university students to deliver on their best intentions and goals, even when they don't feel like doing so. Someone who practices self-discipline is able to put off short-term pleasure in the pursuit of long-term gain. Through self-discipline, disciplined university students will learn how to control themselves and to make themselves work hard or behave in a particular way without needing anyone else to tell them what to do. This means that a disciplined university student will not stop learning even during the Covid-19 pandemic. Instead, they will learn how to adapt and come up with solutions to improve themselves. Therefore, she believes that adapting self-discipline will make university students look for any solutions that are suitable to overcome obstacles that prevent them from achieving their goals. Solutions such as having positive thinking, consulting the professionals, and so on might be considered by disciplined university students to overcome the problems.

Tisyalene initially chose seeking professional help as the best solution for university students to deal with their stress. This is because, as discussed in the meeting she said that seeking professional help would help the university students in self-regulating their behavior and emotions. Moreover, seeking professional help would also help them to learn many adaptive ways of dealing with stress that these students mostly get from their assignments, quizzes, and exams that would be most commonly held every week. In addition, she also said that the university students would also be able to learn a lot of advice from the professional counselor which could help the university students to identify the goals of their life and start their day positively. However, she then changed by saying adapting self-discipline as the best solution to deal with stress. This is because it would help the students to be more disciplined and alert to finish their assignments and projects on time. Evidently, she also said that by adapting through self-discipline students would also learn how to manage their time well. Hence, this is why she chose to adapt self-discipline as the best solution for university students to deal with stress.  

At first, Nicholas Tan Kae Er thought that the adapted self-discipline solution was a great solution, but he prefers more to the second solution which is to consult the professionals, and the last solution which is to use positive thinking and affirmations. This is because, in the first solution, the university students can have a lot of professional skills such as learning how to manage things professionally or solve university student’s problems efficiently as it would be very useful in their lifestyle. Moreover, he also prefers the last solution because it can improve the university students' personality and it would help them to have a healthy diet. He thinks it is very important for university students to be positive in their daily life as there are many advantages to this solution. By comparing all three points he prefers the last solution the most, which is the use of positive thinking and affirmations because he thinks that improvement of personality for university students is very crucial for every student. Nevertheless, after listening to others (such as Zhi Yew, Athirah…), he changes his view and agrees that adapting self-discipline can be the best solution because discipline is also one of the key personality traits for university students to be a successful university students for the future.

In this group meeting, all of us had discussed the advantages and the impact of the solution that was initially chosen on every university student’s life. Finally, every group member had all agreed and chose to adapt self-discipline as the best solution to overcome the stress that has affected the university students' lifestyle mentally and physically.