By Mildred Christiana Saccoh in Makeni
The University of Makeni (UNIMAK) has started its online lectures programme ago with postgraduate students the first to take off because of the huge challenges associated with the availability of technology and the resources to manage it.
Vice-Chancellor Professor Joseph Alimamy Turay told Politico that lectures had to go on despite the closure of schools due to Covid-19. He said that with the new normal they had to start their virtual classes in a phased approach starting with the postgraduate programme only.
“Our virtual learning programme entails online classes for only postgraduate students, with a compliance rate of seventy to eighty percent engagement. We use a blended approach for online courses, which is a combination of various platforms for virtual teaching, using Zoom, WhatsApp, e-libraries, emails, Google classrooms and the university’s radio station for easy access to learning materials,” he said.
Prof. Turay noted that the decision to start small was informed by some challenges with the inability of all students to access internet connectivity, time, the type of students and their affordability of the programme. He said a good number of the postgraduate students could afford to take part in online classes because most of them are of the working class.
A post-graduate student, Amadu Wurie Jalloh, who was among the first set of those commencing the online lectures after they had been admitted into the programme before the closure of universities, expressed mixed feelings regarding the virtual learning.
“The virtual learning is not what I paid for at the university, hence I am not well prepared for it. It’s a double cost to us because we had originally paid our tuition fees and now we are paying service providers for internet connection to be part of the online classes,” he said.
He said even with the high cost of data they had also encountered problems with the online classes because of frequent interruptions and slow internet connection, making it difficult for some of them who struggle to cope with the course.
“I guess that is what we have to sacrifice to earn something or capacitate ourselves. Otherwise, we will have to wait in uncertainty as to when normal classes will resume after the Covid-19 pandemic,” he said.
Dr. Santigie Kabba, who is Dean of Faculty for Commerce and Management and part of the virtual learning coordinating team, said that apart from some minor hiccups classes were going on smoothly, at least to ensure their students were not left behind.
“We make sure the students get the necessary links to materials and are able to participate in virtual learning. In fact the number of students grows, and participation increases every day. Some students who were not au fait with the virtual learning process are comfortable now. Our ICT staff are working very hard to make this happen,” he said.
He, however, reiterated the point that the university, accredited in 2009 as a private institution run by the Catholic Church in northern Sierra Leone, did not have all the logistics to provide the service for the first to final year students because the number was huge. This, he said, was why they decided to prioritise the postgraduate students.
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