Online Application Development in Blended Learning to Increase Ease of Collaboration and Communication, and Students' Freedom of Thought Ability

Entering the 21st century in the industrial era 4.0, it is recommended that the learning process uses a blended learning model that combines face-to-face and online meetings. To facilitate this learning process the researcher wants to facilitate this learning by designing an application form that is easy to access and easily understood by students and has cheap funds to implement it in the field. This research is a development research and aims to develop online applications that are easy to follow to improve communication and collaboration routines and improve students' thinking skills. The research method in designing this application uses two methods in its development, namely: To develop the product being developed. The researcher used the instructional development model of Dick and Carey (2001), while the research flow was developed using the Borg and Gall (2003) model. This study aims to produce a book output on online application development with a blended learning model to improve collaborative routines, communicate and increase students' thinking skills. In the first year of this research, developed an online application tool and a blended learning model. In developing the application, an initial survey will be carried out on online applications that are of interest to students, and the creation of a lecturer web / blog as a forum for providing additional material and reading material to expand students' insights. In the second year, a limited scope (small scale) product dissemination / trial was carried out and product evaluation and revision, after a small group test was conducted and a revision was carried out, this learning design model was continued by implementing the learning design model implementation on a wider scale. After the implementation in this stage, a final revision and evaluation is carried out for final dissemination. The third year of implementing training and assistance for innovative learning design models for learners, it is hoped that additional and compulsory outputs can be published and have been implemented. From the survey results obtained a high percentage of online application procurement, while the results of material expert validation obtained a percentage of 95% and validation of IT experts with a percentage of 95%, this means that the product developed can be applied as a trial. From the comparison of the old model in the learning process using blended learning, it is found that blended learning is better. Collaboration and communication using a smartphone application is said to be more fun and can facilitate the learning process. Meanwhile, student learning outcomes with the development of problem-based learning strategies, students find significant progress in improving their learning outcomes.