The outbreak of coronavirus may have caused inevitable disruptions in educational institutions globally. But for Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU), Ago-Iwoye, the pandemic has given new impetus to take a giant leap and make inroads into online teaching.
The Vice-Chancellor, Professor Ganiyu Olatunji Olatunde, who confirmed the digitization drive of the University, said necessary technological equipment are being purchased and installed on campus to achieve the in-demand online instruction model.
Olatunde stated that, already, the Governing Council has given approval for the University to fully go digital, adding that the institution would soon be one of the best in Nigeria in terms of online teaching.
In an attempt to contain COVID-19, governments all around the world closed educational institutions earlier in the year. The widespread shutdowns meant students were out of schools for a long period of time and everyone had to readjust and adapt to a new normal.
The new normal was that in some Universities, especially, the private ones, classes went online. A lot of approaches were given to this forced experiment and from home and other remote places, everyone began to undertake teaching and learning over video conferencing apps.
For many people who were accustomed to physical teaching, it appeared the online fad was going to be short-lived. However, with the ravaging rate of coronavirus infections worldwide, and the recent surge in some countries, the prevailing situation suggests that things may never go back the way they were.
As a result, schools at all levels would have to embrace measures to make education easier, more accessible and compliant to emerging safety regulations.
Bearing the foregoing in mind, OOU authorities are intensifying efforts to improve the University for digital exploit.
In an interview with the OOU Bulletin Crew in his office, the Vice-Chancellor explained the rationale behind the institution’s investment in information and communication technology to enhance online teaching.
He said following the lockdown imposed over coronavirus outbreak, educational planners and policy makers started reviewing trends and utilising the opportunity of the pandemic to chart the course for online teaching and learning.
“There is nothing bad that does not contain some elements of goodness. And that’s one of the ways I see things,” Prof Olatunde said of the opportunities inherent in the coronavirus pandemic.
“If you run into turbulent water and you are able to think with less panic, there is the possibility that you would see a ray of light during darkness,” he added.
Speaking further, the VC said the University had capitalised on the present situation to optimise its online teaching and make learning more convenient.
He said, “A lot of people have established new businesses during this COVID-19 based on the pandemic itself. In this University, initially we were doing less of online teaching, now we are going digital such that all our lectures would be online.
We’ve advanced to a level we can compete with international or foreign Universities, the way we are going now. Just recently, the Council gave us approval to fully go digital and with the kind of equipment we are currently purchasing and installing, this University will be one of the best in this country in terms of online teaching and OOU will upscale its online teaching
We’ve seen what goes on in other Universities, even private Universities, and we are going to beat them for OOU will upscale its online teaching,” the Vice-Chancellor submitted.
On how the institution intends to handle internet access and electricity which are crucial to digitization, Prof. Olatunde disclosed that the University has made appreciable progress.
He said, “We’ve discussed with the service providers that we are using, we are going to make data more affordable for our students. The service providers have also agreed to contribute to it because they see the goodness of the equipment we are using.
So, it’s a combination of they agreeing to contribute and we also investing heavily to ensure that anywhere that a student is, he can receive lectures. What we have done is that the service would be optic fibre driven, not radio that would be failing.
such that all our lectures would be online which which make OOU to upscale its online teaching.
We’ve advanced to a level we can compete with international or foreign Universities, the way we are going now. Just recently, the Council gave us approval to fully go digital and with the kind of equipment we are currently purchasing and installing, this University will be one of the best in this country in terms of online teaching.
We’ve seen what goes on in other Universities, even private Universities, and we are going to beat them,” the Vice-Chancellor submitted.
On how the institution intends to handle internet access and electricity which are crucial to digitization, Prof. Olatunde disclosed that the University has made appreciable progress.
He said, “We’ve discussed with the service providers that we are using, we are going to make data more affordable for our students. The service providers have also agreed to contribute to it because they see the goodness of the equipment we are using.
So, it’s a combination of they agreeing to contribute and we also investing heavily to ensure that anywhere that a student is, he can receive lectures. What we have done is that the service would be optic fibre driven, not radio that would be failing.
The remaining 40 can be anywhere on campus and they would be seeing the lecturer live and listening to him through their phones, laptops or, even, they may be at home to listen to lectures. So, that’s the way we are going. It’s not everything about COVID-19 that is bad.”
Prof. Olatunde further revealed that the University will now upload all the lecturers’ notes online so that students can have access to them even before the lecture.
He said, “I don’t see any lecturer now going to class and dictate. You give a two-hour lecture because you are dictating. But if your lecture is already online and it’s in a power-point format or a format that is presentable to the students, you just address it. Within the next 45 minutes you would have done your lectures and you spend enough time interacting with the students.
So, the number of hours we run our generating set is still the number of hours that we’ll still run it. Now, the lecturers are less under pressure because they are not dictating. You are discussing your notes with your students, the notes are online and on YouTube, they can replay it when they get home.
So, we don’t envisage that power would be a problem for us. We’ve been running it and I think we would continue to run it that way,” said the VC.
