Eba Kandovazu
IT will not be business as usual for higher learning institutions for the 2020 academic year as universities are still battling to come to terms with the dynamics that came with the shifting of operations as a result of the global coronavirus pandemic.
Despite concerns of unequal accessibility to online learning resources for all students and the tertiary institutions holding onto hopes that the academic year is not entirely affected by COVID-19, the University of Namibia (Unam) this week announced that traditional summative examinations for this semester will no longer be going ahead as planned due to the impact of COVID-19.
Instead, students will have to make up for examinations by excelling in their Continous Assessments that are currently being administered by lecturers via online learning. The examination mark shall be derived from a total average online continuous marks.
Initially, assignment deadlines and tests were supposed to be submitted on 8 May but the date has now been shifted to 12 June, the University announced. Unam Registrar Professor Francis Nyathi said that the shifting of the date is so that both lecturers and students have ample time to prepare for teaching and learning, as well as assessments.
“We advise all students to take their online tasks seriously as only the average mark deriving from them will constitute the examination mark. Further note that the assessment of your tasks will evaluate your ability to apply critical higher order thinking skills,” Professor Nyathi added.
Meanwhile, weeks after the announcement of a state of emergency by President Hage Geingob, the University of Science and Technology (Nust) has joined the bandwagon in introducing online and e-learning classes, nearly a month after students have been on an extended mid-term break. No assessments have been given during this period.
The university’s Acting Vice Chancellor, Morne Du Toit, in a statement made an announcement that face to face classes will no longer be permitted and that the rolling out of the e-learning will commence on 5 May 2020, a day after the lockdown. Online teaching, which is described as remote learning, he says, will commence on 11 May 2020.
Du Toit said that the online learning process was on recommendation from the Minister of Higher education, Dr Itah Kandjii-Murangi, whose letter reached the university on 15 April 2020.
“The institution will make study materials available through other media. Study packs will be distributed with the assistance of the NUST regional centres under the supervision of COLL. We are also aware that each student has unique challenges regarding their living, learning and health conditions during this crisis, hence our call for realistic expectations,” Du Toit said.
NUST campus will remain closed until further notice.
