UI BROADENS ONLINE LEARNING FOR REGULAR STUDENTS

In a message shared recently, the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Idowu Olayinka FAS stated that this move predated the current global migration online caused by COVID-19 lockdowns. Rather, University of Ibadan had been planning and gradually moving online even before the pandemic began.

According to him, “the University of Ibadan is a dual-mode University. Sixteen of our programmes are approved for distance learning under our highly regarded Distance Learning Centre (DLC)”.

In demonstration of this commitment, the University has uploaded learning resources for newly admitted students covering seven faculties.

According to the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic), Prof. A. B Ekanola, “Within 30 seconds of opening the learning portal, 40 students logged in to the websites, and within 5 minutes, the number of students rose to 81. This is a clear demonstration of students’ readiness for this mode of instruction”

All indications point to the readiness of students to embrace the online instructional mode. The Vice-Chancellor, Prof Olayinka, noted that he had received requests from students on how soon the institution would be in a position to kick-start e-learning for the regular students who hitherto have always been taught on the face-to-face mode.

As a result of this, the University has intensified preparations for the migration. For instance, the University had implemented the complete Result Management System (RMS) during the 2018/2019 session and Senate has been duly informed that the next logical step is the Learning Management System which will require that the University upgrade its IT infrastructure through additional investment in Human Capacity Development and physical facilities.

Another aspect of the preparation for the online migration was the training of over 400 academic staff under the Pedagogical Leadership for Africa (PEDAL) Project led by the Partnership for African Social Governance Research (PASGR), Nairobi, Kenya with funding from the Department for International Development (DFID), UK .

The PEDAL project is a platform to revolutionise teaching; a major integral part of the project is technology-enhanced teaching and learning.

It is firmly hoped that once the ongoing industrial action is over, online learning would begin for all students.

May 2020

UI LMS