UNIMED begins 2nd semester online

By Sade Adewale

University of Medical Sciences, (UNIMED) Ondo will today commence second semester of the 2019 /2020 academic session with online lectures.

The resumption came after more than a month break following the lockdown and closure of all primary and secondary schools as well as tertiary institutions in the country in the wake of the outbreak of corona virus in March, 2020.

The Vice-Chancellor, University of Medical Sciences, UNIMED, Ondo, Prof. Adesegun Fatusi at a meeting held with Deans and Heads of Departments in the institution opined that the global pandemic may not be fully contained within the next few months, hence the need for the university to come up with ideas on how to effectively manage the situation by teaching the students and without exposing them to any health hazards.

Fatusi revealed that e-learning platform is a veritable tool during this period as students can be taught and there is provision for interaction between students and lecturers. This “new normal” approach will reduce student’s loss time, keep them engaged in a directed lifelong learning process, provide an interesting opportunity to improve quality of learning and a transparent means of assessment of lecturers.

To implement the e-Learning management system, Deans of Faculties and Heads of various Departments across the seven faculties in the university were divided into smaller groups and trained by members of the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Centre headed by the ICT Director, Dr. Ebenezer Olajuyigbe, Citp.

The Heads of Departments have been equipped to train the academic staff in their various departments.

According to the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic), Prof. Adeseye Arogunjo, online course registration commenced on 11th of May, 2020 and is expected to end on Friday, May 22, 2020 while online lectures will start on Monday, 18th May, 2020 and end by August 14, 2020. If the pandemic persists, the second semester examination will start on Monday, 24th August, 2020 and last for three weeks.

He adding that students are not expected to resume or come to the university to receive lectures as the physical campus remains closed to students, saying Course Advisers assigned to each course are expected to guide students and respond to enquiries via online platforms.

Arogunjo said the university management will continue to monitor the situation of the pandemic, national response and state government’s directives to aid optimal decisions that safeguard the lives of students, staff and other stakeholders of the great institution. The Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic), therefore directed that all Students are to stay at home and attend online classes until further directives from the University Management which will be published on the University website (www.unimed.edu.ng)

Deans, Heads of Departments and other members of staff on duty are encouraged to follow safety measures put in place by the University management.