The development of innovation in the field of education is very important, especially when creating new teaching methods for teachers so that they can be well understood by students. Therefore, English Education Lecturers and Arabic Education Lecturers of Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta (UMY) performed a community service program by holding interactive English learning workshops with virtual reality implementation for English Teachers of Muhammadiyah Middle School in Yogyakarta on Thursday afternoon (7/30) in Classroom E7.102 of the KH. Ibrahim Building, UMY Central Campus.

Fitria Rahmawati, S.Pd., M.Hum., a Lecturer of UMY English Language Education stated that the community service program was aimed at representatives of Yogyakarta City Muhammadiyah Middle School teachers from SMP Muhammadiyah 1, SMP Muhammadiyah 2, SMP Muhammadiyah 3, SMP Muhammadiyah 4, and SMP Muhammadiyah 5 to assist learning in the use of virtual reality technology. ” The use of virtual reality was carried out in the workshop. Virtual reality is becoming a trend in the world of education, especially during this pandemic when students cannot go anywhere but they must keep learning. Therefore virtual reality becomes an alternative learning method by using padlet production,” she explained.

Furthermore, Lanoke Intan Paradita, S.S., M.Hum., Lecturer of UMY Arabic Language Education Program also stated that this learning innovation should be done contextually and meaningfully. “Learning must be as contextual as possible, but also meaningful. The presence of virtual reality should help teachers bring experiences that may not be felt directly but can also be presented virtually to their students so that meaningful learning can be achieved. Because we do learning based on experience, learning using virtual reality can bring students to feel the details of the material presented through virtual reality,” she stated.