A Case Study of Classroom Seating Arrangement to Promote Students Communication Interactivity in Telkom University

Abstract

Telkom University has many facilities to support teaching and learning activities in the class. The facilities are spacious classes, projectors with its screen in every class, air conditioners, writing pads, chairs, CCTV and Wi-Fi internet connection. Beyond the complete facility, the number of students in each Communication Department class is forty. So, it needs the strategy for the lecturer to make the material he/she delivers effective for the students. I found that the seating arrangement is an effective strategy to make the students get involved into teaching and learning processes. I took my own class to adapt this seating arrangement for doing this research. I used descriptive case study to analyze a class of Communication Management at Second Semester in Communication Department, Telkom University. The observations were run weekly for Two Months (January 2015-February 2015) during Three Hours of Semester Credit. The results found that students were very active in delivering their ideas. They could see their friends’ expressions about a topic under discussion. The lecturer could also directly see students’ responses while giving feedback for the lecture. Seating arrangement was made into three cycles: Big Circle Seating Arrangement, Small Circle Seating Arrangement and Army Row Seating Arrangement.