The Registrar of the Accra Institute of Technology (AIT), Dominic Osei-Boakye, has stated that the physical campuses of the university remain closed despite the easing of the restrictions on COVID -19 pandemic by President Akufo-Addo.
According to him, the campuses would only be opened to people who want to make admission enquiries and students who need special services.
President Akufo-Addo, on Sunday in his 10th address to the nation on May 31, 2020, gave a green light to universities in the country to resume lectures on June 15, 2020.
But a statement issued and signed by the AIT registrar said the President’s easing of restrictions was prudent, but their students would continue to study and sit for their examinations through their e-learning system.
He stressed that AIT has all the technological systems in place to continue to run the university online without meeting students physically.
“We wish to inform all stakeholders that our physical campuses will remain closed to all stakeholders except people making admission enquiries and students who need special services. AIT has all the technological systems in place to continue to run the university online without meeting students physically. We have successfully run the university using our systems since the ban commenced.
The university has a learning management system dubbed ‘LEMASS’, which is effectively utilised in the delivery of online teaching and learning modes for our students,” Mr. Osei-Boakye hinted.
He added, “These systems were not developed as a mere survival measure, as it were, for COVID-19 as in the case of several struggling universities.”
The AIT success story of implementing technology in education predates COVID-19 back to 2009 when it was the only university in Ghana that had a system which allowed students to submit assignments, access electronic library, partake in quizzes and others. Lecturers in the university could grade their work online and assess their students in whatever form using the same system.
Therefore, a ban on physical contact with students had zero impact on their operations since they were already using systems. All the university had to do was to deploy these systems with very few modifications due to the pandemic in order to better serve their students.
“In an effort to eliminate any physical interaction between students and the faculty of AIT while still realising the same outcomes of the teaching and learning experience, the institution deployed a clearly stated protocol to better streamline the entire online learning experience,” he said.
The AIT protocol for the delivery of the online teaching and learning programme stipulates the five different components of the process.
AIT is a leading technology-focused private university.