The Institute for Education Studies (IFES) is urging educational institutions in country to work on resolving challenges that have identified in the roll-out of their respective online learning programmes rather than being headstrong in its implementation.
Over the past two weeks, students in various tertiary institutions have been complaining over the migration of academic activities online, following the closure of schools in a bid to curb the spread of the coronavirus, as directed by President Akufo-Addo.
Key among the complaints are high data costs, poor internet connectivity in some areas in the country, and unavailability of appropriate devices to connect to internet in order to engage in online learning activities.
Speaking on the matter, Executive Director of IFES, Peter Partey Anti said that the digital divide in the country was huge and that enrolling a e-learning programme is practically impossible.
Peter Partey Anti wants educational institutions to acknowledge that there is a major problem of many people not having access to a computer and internet connectivity and soften their stance on rolling out their respective e-learning programmes.
“The extent of digital divide is so huge that in this short time it is going to be practically impossible to enroll our students into our e–learning platforms for everybody to get equal access to undertake whatever measures that we are trying to do. That is why all stakeholders should soften their stance and use modalities that will help the students to be able to continue their learning whiles we continue to roll out policies that will help us bridge the digital divide,” he said.
Peter Partey Anti also added that it was going to be difficult for students to adjust to e–learning initiatives considering this period where the world is dealing with a pandemic.
He further entreated lecturers and universities to employ dynamic assessment methods to assess students.
“I think I have come across a notice from one of the universities that is suggesting they would give students take– home exams and in most of the advanced countries that is what they are doing. I think this is the time for lecturers to resort to some of this kind of questions so that students who cannot even upload their assignment online can send by e–mail or through WhatsApp. Lecturers should combine all these to assess students. So there should be various forms of assessment techniques. There should be a compromise so that all students will be able to partake in any kind of assessments” he stated.
NUGS calls for suspension of online academic activities across tertiary institutions
The National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS) has called on the government to direct all universities in the country to halt online academic activities, saying that the use of technology has left some students in a disadvantaged position.
In a statement addressed to the Minister of State in charge of Tertiary Education, the union stated that “many universities have not made available bundle incentives for their students and this is making accessing various virtual learning platforms for lectures simply impossible.”
Source: universnewsroom