Alternative Learning Mode in the university of Sierra Leone Presented by: Dr. Daniel Adrian Stevens What will be discussed Introduction The reason for the Alternative Learning Mode Steps taken to develop the Alternative Learning Mode
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Presentation Transcript
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Alternative Learning Mode in the university of Sierra Leone Presented by: Dr. Daniel Adrian Stevens<br>
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What will be discussed Introduction
The reason for the Alternative Learning Mode
Steps taken to develop the Alternative Learning Mode
Implementation of the Alternative Learning Mode
Challenges Encountered
Lesson learned at the University of Sierra Leone
The way forward
conclusion<br>
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Introduction The University of Sierra Leone comprises of three constituent college campuses: Fourah Bay College (FBC), Institute for Public Administration and Management (IPAM) and the College of Medicine and Allied Health Sciences (COMAHS). The oldest college, FBC, founded in 1827, has trained nationals and West Africans for nearly 2 centuries. The colleges have different specialized programs: FBC offers Pure and Applied Sciences, Liberal Arts, Social Sciences, and Law: IPAM offers Public Administration, Public Policy, Humanities, and Management; and COMAHS offers programmes in Medicine, Public Health, Nursing, and allied Medical Health.<br>
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Reason for the Alternative Learning Mode Around March 2014, the deadly Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak occurred in the West African region. formally known as Ebola haemorrhagic fever, is a severe, fatal illness with an average fatality rate of 50%, varying between 25% to 90%. The first EVD outbreak occurred in 1976 in rural parts of Central Africa, but the recent West African outbreak has been in both urban and rural areas. The 1976 outbreak occurred in 2 simultaneous locations in Nzara, Sudan, and Yambuku, Democratic Republic of Congo, with the latter near the Ebola River, from which the virus derived its name.
The most severely affected countries - Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone - have weak health systems and infrastructure, after long periods of conflict and instability. On August 8, 2014, WHO declared the West African outbreak an International public health emergency. A separate unrelated out-break occurred simultaneously in Boende Equateur, an isolated part of Democratic Republic of Congo.<br>
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Reason for the Alternative Learning Mode. Due to this outbreak in Sierra Leone, the government decided to shut down all educational institutions for several months. In this light, no student was able to receive any formal education or training in the whole country. It devastated the economy, shut down the hospital system, hammered the agricultural sector and even paralysed the educational institutions. Many young teenagers were getting unwanted and unplanned pregnancies as they had nothing doing for these period.
This was what triggered the Alternative Learning Mode to help engaging the students at the University of Sierra Leone.<br>
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Steps to develop the Alternative Learning Mode Ensure that management of the University was sensitised
Involvement of the academic staff
Ensure that a semi-robust learning platform was developed
Creating email addresses for all the registered students at the university of Sierra Leone
Creating email addresses for all academic and administrative staffs
Creating mailing lists for all programmes and levels within the university and ensure that the right students are placed at their appropriate mailing lists.
Train all staff on how to use the system effectively
Role out the system to the students<br>
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Implementation of the Alternative Learning Mode Lecturers were able to develop learning materials for their respective modules.
These learning materials were then attached to their emails and then selected the appropriate mailing list
Students were able to receive their various learning materials and then respond through mailing list if the need arise
Marks were even allocated to students after completing their assignments through the ALM
Students were also encouraged to do personal research through the ALM<br>
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Challenges Encountered No ICT infrastructure available before the Ebola outbreak
Most of the staff were not computer literate
Management was very reluctant in spending money to develop and implement the Alternative Learning Mode.
Students were already at home and it was very difficult to reach them
Only few people were allocated to develop the Alternative Learning Mode
Some staff were even trying to sabotage the project due to selfish reasons<br>
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Lessons Learned Traditional methods of education is only limited in the class room
Always be prepared for unforeseen occurrencies
Try to incorporate ICT in all our curriculums
Management of the university should take ICT more seriousely<br>
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The way forward To ensure that there is a robust ICT infrastructure in the university
Ensure that all staff and students are ICT au fait
To increase the ICT budget
To have a robust eLearning platform in the university
Internet connectivity should be a priority in the university<br>
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Conclusion Technology has revolutionized business and now is the best time for it to also revolutionize learning especially in higher education. Live classroom is good in many ways but then in this 21st century, it is very costly, time wasting etc. The need to transform how institutions learn points to a more modern, efficient, and flexible alternative: eLearning. The mission of corporate eLearning is to supply the workforce with an up-to-date and cost-effective program that yields motivated, skilled, and loyal knowledge workers. This alternative learning mode can help achieve the following;
Anywhere, anytime and anyone
Substantial cost savings due to elimination of travel expenses
Just-in-time access to timely information
Higher retention of content through personalized learning
improved collaboration and interactivity among students
Online training is less intimidating than instructor-led courses.
To bridge the educational gap, then African universities need to step up and use ICT as a tool for learning and teaching<br>
