Since the Covid-19 outbreak in Ghana, life has never been the same. Institutions such as ours had to navigate the turbulence of the virus to minimize its impact on our student community.
Ms. Diane Odubote a Level 300 LLB Law student and a national of the Ivory Coast shares her experience. Diane who is the Ag. President of WIUC International Students Association also assesses the impact of the university’s interventions on her and other International Students under 3 Itemized areas where she concludes that despite earlier hitches, generally Wisconsin International University College exceeded her expectations.
CONTINUATION OF LECTURES
Wisconsin International University College, Ghana was one of the early institutions to put in place mechanisms to migrate teaching and learning onto the online platform. This decision according to management of the school was taken for a variety of reasons, but majorly to minimize the disruption in the academic calendar which could have impacted heavily on both the student and the school. According to Diane, measures taken by the university were innovative and swift despite the early setbacks posed by the sudden outbreak of the novel corona, the school did its best to provide them classes online in the midst of the lockdown and adherence to the social distancing protocols. This she said ensured that that academic work including teaching, learning, and assignments continued uninterrupted.
EXTENSION OF CLASSES PERIOD
Unlike other universities in the country caught up in the Covid 19 disaster, the Wisconsin International University College ensured students achieved the most from the online learning experience albeit being the first of its kind for me. As a result of lost time and lag in classes due to challenges posed by poor internet connectivity and data access, management of Wisconsin extended the teaching period beyond the stipulated deadline to ensure no single student is left behind.
For Diane, this came as timely intervention to many of the students. According to her, internet connectivity remained a challenge throughout the process and remains eternally grateful to the school for taking their challenges into consideration in its decisions.
TELEGRAM PLATFORM
One of the major highlights of this novel corona outbreak period is the seamless and timely flow of information to all stakeholders. This according to Ms Diane to a very large extent reduces anxiety and panic on the part of the students in the muddle. Ms Diane specifically mentioned the initiative of the university to set up a Telegram platform for all students as very helpful. According to her, it enabled them to receive official and timely information with considerable ease. It also helped a lot in ensuring students got access to their emails.
In conclusion, Ms Diane expressed profound appreciation on behalf of her colleagues to the University for the Pragmatic Measures taken to minimize the impact of Covid 19 on them and academic work. She remained hopeful that, going into the future, Management would consider making online learning an integral part of the teaching and learning in the university due to its huge potential. In addition she expressed gratitude to the SRC too for the immense support it offered the international students in the midst of the Covid 19 outbreak with the donation of foodstuffs and toiletries.
