COVID-19 pandemic UniSey to step up online teaching and learning |09 May 2020
The UniSey management team during the meeting with the press yesterday: (l to r) Ms Perreau, Dr Valentin, Ms Chang-ko and Dr Monnaie
Young as well as mature students who are uncertain of their further studies options as the situation abroad is in disarray because of the impact of the COVID- 19, the University of Seychelles (UniSey) is reassuring them that it is stepping up its teaching and learning which it offers online which would benefit them.
The vice-chancellor of the UniSey, Dr Justin Valentin, has said that before the situation created by the pandemic, the UniSey focused more on the direct contact between students and their lecturers but now with the ‘new normal’ that we all have to adopt and adapt to brought about by the COVID-19 situation, the UniSey is offering another option of teaching and learning which is the online mode.
“If ever there is the need to return under restrictions, the UniSey will not close but will continue offering online teaching and learning,” Dr Valentin explained.
Dr Valentin was speaking yesterday morning at the Anse Royale campus during a meeting with the press that members of the UniSey management team had organised to explain what the institution had been doing and what it hoped to be doing as the only higher education institution in the country.
Dr Valentin remarked that even though the UniSey was among the first group of educational institutions to close down physically and stopping face to face interactions on March 16, it is very pleased with its performance during this unprecedented time.
He noted that it was on the very same day that the UniSey triggered the Work from Home Online mode.
He went on to remark that unfortunately when the UniSey Emergency Plan was approved mid last year, preparing and responding to pandemics diseases did not feature in it.
“However using our internal expertise and the fundamental of our existing emergency plan, we could adapt straight away to the COVID-19 context,” Dr Valentin affirmed.
He went on to explain how, on March 17, the institution launched the COVID-19 management team which took control of the UniSey’s administration and leadership affairs. Using its internal expertise the UniSey carried out a series of training sessions during the week of March 16 to 20 for staff. The local media, as well as different social media platforms and the UniSey’s website, were used to reach out to students who were also very happy to shift to the online mode.
Dr Valentin said the UniSey had planned to remain on the Work from Home Online mode for two weeks but when the situation changed drastically towards the beginning of April, the UniSey team agreed to extend its plan to September.
“But the UniSey could have remained on the Work from Home Online mode until September as the nature of its business allows it to operate as such to a large extent, something we would wish our partners to know and appreciate,” Dr Valentin highlighted, noting that the UniSey is different from schools and most of the other local educational institutions hence making its mode of operation different.
“The UniSey has remained and is still in full operation with lectures and tutorials occurring online, meetings between staff are taking place online and every single student know how to reach their respective lecturers or other people in authority,” Dr Valentin noted.
He went on to point out that the UniSey also set up a sub-committee that works on examinations, in particular the mock exams. He said all respective courses have been able to hold their mock exams virtually which students were able to attend even though he has admitted that the turnout could have been much better but all the same mirrored the same picture the institution has seen for sit down exams over the years.
The COVID-19 UniSey team met on a weekly basis virtually, held its annual Labour Day team building activity through whatsapp, mobilise staff to engage in the various activities planned.
Now entering into the ‘new normal’ era, Dr Valentin said the UniSey is prepared, noting that the new normal is not only about washing hands frequently and observing social distancing measures “but also about how we operate, live and survive or how we practice and contribute towards the socio-economic development of our country and our region”.
Dr Valentin said the committee has for the past week been preparing and it is ready to accept back small groups of its 459 current students on Monday.
But he noted that the majority of students will not be coming back on Monday as they have completed their academic programmes and are on study leave while they wait to sit their exams in June and July.
Dr Valentin went on to add that learning on line is an option and the UniSey will step up its effort to explore how it can conduct lectures on the campus while students can at the same time follow the same lectures virtually at home.
“We will be pulling all our resources together to explore all possible ways to better deal with the situation,” said Dr Valentin.
Meanwhile Joëlle Perreau, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Development, added that not all students come physically to the campus to take lessons as there are groups of students who work entirely online and the way the courses are organised the lecturers can continue to teach them online.
She admits that when they come on campus it is better as they have the person to person contact with their lecturers but at the same time they don’t lose out when they follow lessons online.
Ms Perreau went on to note that the UniSey is more and more opting to providing courses online to benefit mostly an increasing number of mature students and working Seychellois who want to follow a course online.
She noted that the UniSey is open if they want to use the internet at the campus and liaise with e-tutors to assist them.
She said the UniSey is ready to continue offering online courses and all new students are taught how to use this method of learning and this will be intensified, she stressed.
Meanwhile Ms Perreau has assured all students and parents that no exams have been cancelled but all the protocols and policies needed have been followed and she has reassured all students that they will not lose a year but has called on them to continue working hard preparing for their forthcoming exams.
Ms Perreau went on to note that many universities which had been hosting our students are in touch with the UniSey to discuss the way forward. She noted that there are lots of opportunities that are opening up for Seychellois to develop their higher education further.
“All students who want to pursue their higher studies, either mature students who want to pursue studies for their masters degree, Phd, those students who have completed their A-Levels who had thought they were going to lose a year, the UniSey is ready to welcome you all. If they have a university in mind where they want to later continue their studies at 2nd and 3rd year they can do so but UniSey will help them out for the 1st year,” Ms Perreau highlighted.
She also noted that the UniSey can also provide a series of short courses as well.
For his part the Dean of the Faculty of Business and Sustainable Development, Dr Bernard Monnaie, remarked that teaching and learning on line does not mean that the campus will be empty but instead environmental science students for instance will have to come to use the laboratories for their experiments and reports.
He added that the online mode is an opportunity to deliver lectures easier for students from Praslin and La Digue.
The director of marketing at the UniSey, Dolivette Chang-ko, for her part noted that the committee has come up with different initiatives to enforce the social distancing measures, to encourage more hand washing and using hand sanitisers, for both students and visitors on the campus.
She said information has also been posted on the UniSey website to better inform students before they come back on Monday.
Ms Chang-ko added that during the closedown period the UniSey conducted an online survey with its students to know their thoughts, feelings about the whole situation, challenges they were facing with their studies, the new mode of teaching and learning, internet problems, among other issues and the results are being processed but in general the students welcomed the mode of learning remotely from home.
Meanwhile Ms Chang-ko has said applications for UniSey courses to start in September are open and she noted that the university is receiving a lot of queries online even during the time that the institution was closed as students who were considering to further their studies abroad are rethinking their decisions while others who were abroad have returned and want to know the different programme areas on offer at the UniSey.
She said all their uncertainties can be cleared if they get in touch with the UniSey either on line or by engaging with the institution directly.
Marie-Anne Lepathy