Practicality of e-learning amid COVID-19 lockdown

The outbreak of COVID-19 in December 2019, has altered nearly every aspect of day-to-day life even in countries that reported very few to no case at all.

In view of the rapidly evolving situation, authorities including federal and state governments have placed new bans and restrictions as well as advised people to stay at home to curtail spread and save lives. These measures are taken even when nearly all the cases in Nigeria are imported.

Schools, including higher institutions, have shut their doors in many countries to help curb the coronavirus pandemic but education authorities are said to be contemplating online contacts to ensure syllabus coverage. Some of the e-learning methods include live streaming and short videos.

Baze University, Abuja, said it would use e-learning mechanisms to maintain academic activities in the face of the COVID-19 restrictions. The ViceChancellor,

Professor Tahir Mamman, said. the university has been engaging students in online learning before now.

Similarly, the V-C of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), Prof. Abdalla Uba Adamu, said e-learning has been effective in delivering knowledge. He said lectures were conducted online by the institution, adding that thousands of students interacted with facilitators through live streaming using mobile devices and that live interaction between students and facilitators took place only during exams. He said NOUN was by law, allowed to carry out correspondence education which required a lot of resources and training.

A secondary school teacher who preferred anonymity said e-learning was good in covering syllabus especially during such period of lockdown but that most public schools lack the required resources and competence to engage students online.

Online methods, he said, were not practicable for young learners in basic schools as they cannot manipulate devices.