By Kofoworola Belo-Osagie
Many tertiary institutions were not ready when the Coronavirus disease led to school closures in March. However, Vice-Chancellor of Caleb University, Imota, Prof. Nosa Owens-Ibie said his institution was able to recover and quickly transit online within a short time.
In an interview at the university, Owens-Ibie said the university’s online system now allows lectures, meetings, and other activities of the institution to run seamlessly virtually.
He said: “”We have a learning management system that we are proud of – very proud of it. It was a product of necessity. We are happy that we did not miss a school day in the semester because we were not ready. God helped us. On schedule, we started our semester and we are ending it on schedule. It is the e-learning platform that we used. So all our lectures -undergraduate and postgraduate are taught online. And that is a reality now.
“Not just our academic activities – all committee meetings – as at the last time we had over 750 meeting rooms on the platform. Every committee – Senate, the management, to the departmental committees, they all meet online. And everyone has their own rooms so that all of you can be meeting simultaneously without disturbing one another. All the meetings are holding on our university platform. There are some activities that have been holding too on the university platform. On July 17, we inaugurated our Students’ Representative Council. They did their manifesto on that July 17 on the platform. That has shown that our online platform has enabled us to run almost seamlessly. ”
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Rather than wait until physical classes can hold again, the Professor of Mass Communication shared how other tertiary institutions could make e-learning work for them.
Owens-Ibie said having the right set of workers with the right skills and progressive mindset matters as it helped his institution get started online.
“I think the dedication of your staff is very important. I tell you, one of the drivers of whatever Caleb has achieved today is not primarily in IT. It has another beat entirely. But when the challenge arose, the team got together and today we have reason to thank God.
“I think it is very important for institutions to target hiring people who know what to do and who do not wait – people who are creative enough to be proactive whenever there is a challenge. Getting honest participants in midwifing the process is critical,” he said.
The Vice-Chancellor also said institutions should be ready to make the necessary investment to acquire infrastructure needed to work online.
“The IT infrastructure you need, even if you have to borrow to invest in them you just have to,” he said.
Speaking on preparations for in-person resumption, Owens-Ibie said the institution would continue running a blended programme.
He also said the institution was preparing a mini-isolation centre within the medical centre being built by parents of its students; while measures are being put in place to ensure social distancing.
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