Date: 2020-06-18

Prof. Ibrahim Abikan, the Director, School of Preliminary Studies, University of Ilorin, Kwara State, says online classes introduced to assist Nigerian students is a necessity to live up to the reality of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Abikan made the assertion on Tuesday in Ilorin while speaking with newsmen after a successful two-day workshop on virtual teaching organised by the School of Preliminary Studies in collaboration with Kwara State University, held at the Fufu Campus of the SPS.

This is contrary to the position of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, which has directed its members to shun directives to engage in online teaching of students.

The President of ASUU, Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi, canvassed the position earlier in the week.

But Abikan said online teaching would make the students to be more productive in their individual chosen careers.

He said: "The COVID-19 has brought a lot of realities that we need to stick to, one of which is deciding a new method of communicating with our students in imparting knowledge outside the regular face-to-face teaching method.

"As the COVID-19 has not stopped the sun from rising and setting, the days of life continues and that is why we need to devise a means to continue what we need to do without being completely locked down, which has brought the idea of online teachings."

Abikan also said another reason why the school has to embark on online teaching is that the school's programme is time-bound and supposed to end by August.

The don emphasised on students' productivity, adding that one good thing about it is that even after COVID-19, online classes would continue in order to make students more productive.

He said the students were more familiar with the online gadgets than the teachers and now that the teachers had been taught too, the students could be engaged online, take out of the time they waste online for useless endeavours to useful and productive engagements.

Abikan explained that the management of the SPS monitored all platforms of classes together with the lecturers and students either on WhatsApp or Telegram.

This, he said, was to check the progress of work and to call attention to where anyone was lagging behind and also to be abreast of all conversations on the platforms.

Abikan appreciated the tremendous support of the management of the Unilorin in terms of honorarium of the facilitators, refreshments for participants and approval of token to purchase data for lecturers that would be on the programme.

On his part, Dr. Tayo Arinde of the Department of the Performing Art, Faculty of Arts, Unilorin and a participant at the workshop, said the "training had actually brought us to the positivity of COVID-19".

Arinde added that the training had been very beneficial.

He said there are benefits to phones and laptops that they were not aware of before.

He said: "There are challenges, but we believe that by the time government is playing its part, lecturers, students and parents are playing their respective parts too, it is going to be a great thing for the improvement of education in Nigeria."

Similarly, Dr. Khadijat Abdulkareem of the Department of Plant Biology, Faculty of Life Sciences, Unilorin, another participant, urged the university management to create an environment to enhance online teaching.

She added that it was fulfilling because it was the first time she had opportunity to learn about the visual class-worth-visual audience.

Abdulkareem said: "I have been taught so many things, which include the usage of Zoom, how to create WhatsApp groups, upload files on WhatsApp and Telegram, how to control permission and privacy, and how to convert Microsoft word to PDF using various forms."

Also speaking, Olu Olajugba, the Deputy Registrar, School of Preliminary Studies, Fufu, disclosed that 55 teaching staff, 15 SPS staff and four facilitators participated in the two days training.

Olajugba therefore urged all the participants to apply what they learnt for the good of the students, Unilorin and Nigeria at large.

He said they had to look into online teaching because of the effects of COVID-19 and urged parents to make their wards key into the new development.