7th April 2020:
In a matter of weeks, coronavirus (COVID-19) has changed how students are educated around the world. SLIIT, Sri Lanka’s largest non-state degree awarding institute, has understood that as students face tremendous, disruptive change the need to create safe spaces and opportunities to learn at a distance is vital.
Making the transition with confidence, SLIIT now delivers lectures to students via the institution’s advanced online platform. SLIIT uploads the lecture videos on a daily basis and students go through their normal learning process.
According to SLIIT’s real-time monitoring, to-date over 8,000 students have viewed content 59880 times in twelve days, an extremely positive response from students. To-date over 681 unique lectures have been completed ensuring success in continuing to drive student engagement and focused learning while outside of the classroom.
Online learning has also transcended the geographical distances and the lockdown that prevails in the country. Noteworthy, SLIIT have noticed that through this platform not only the students in Colombo, but students of other centers such as Kandy, Galle, Jaffna and Kurunagala are also using the platform to maximize their learning.
Through the platform, students are able to comment on areas which are not clear through bookmarking and the lecturers can see the areas students need more clarifications. Students are able to view the recorded lectures and live lectures also through their mobile devices.
The learning materials such as PowerPoint presentations, Word and PDF documents, Videos of the lectures are all linked via SLIIT’s Learning Management System, CourseWeb.
“Teaching and learning from home is a big change for most students and educators. While our teachers and students have shown extraordinary resilience during this difficult time, we are committed to help and empower them to stay motivated and engaged with learning, The number of views alone have been very encouraging as we continue ensure students can communicate and demonstrate learning in new ways, ” said Prof. Lalith Gamage, Vice Chancellor/ CEO, SLIIT.
Assuring students’ timetables are not delayed or they are at a disadvantage during the coronavirus, SLIIT is also planning to deliver exams through an online friendly method. Furthermore, future orientation programmes will also be delivered online.
Providing enhanced support to the students who are facing exams, lecturers highlight related key areas through bookmarking. They also assist in helping to summarize all important sections, which are included in a single file for easy reference.
If a student reports that the module is difficult and she/he cannot follow it, the lecturer is able to see the student’s participation, engagement and able to conclude if the student is dedicated towards that specific module through analytics tools linked to the video portal. Further, this method helps SLIIT to restrict the audience to SLIIT community and closely monitor student progress.
To improve interactions through online learning, SLIIT also uses the ‘Hybrid mode’ enabling offline viewing and live interactions via Webex and Zoom. Through this method, students can clarify any doubts in the video lectures by directly discussing with the lecturers.
“Because of these initiatives, SLIIT students are now able to complete their degrees on time, and also remain at home with their families, safe and comfortable during this unprecedented global crisis. Our future plans include enhancing the platform to include online tests, tutorials, online assessments and other learning resources so that the students can benefit further. We thank students for their enthusiastic participation despite a worrying local environment. We must appreciate the Internet Service Providers Dialog Axiata and Sri Lanka Telecom, who have made access to our content free of charge to our students through their networks. Additionally, we are grateful to the team at SLIIT including the Deans, Directors, Academic and non–academic staff who tirelessly work from home to make this a reality and continue to work hard to enhance our online delivery ensuring our students have an enriching online educational experience, noted Dr. Malitha Wijesundara, Dean, Faculty of Humanities and Sciences, who conceptualized and developed this online platform more than two years ago.
Transitioning to online classes, SLIIT has worked hard to provide students receive an excellent online teaching and learning experience ensuring the teaching staff and infrastructure support all areas of studies.