Covid-19 impact survey |25 September 2020

TEC’s first virtual forum in progress (Photo: Thomas Meriton)

Access to internet connection major barrier to blended learning mode

Access to internet connection, in terms of connectivity and affordability, has been one of the major challenges for students and lecturers at tertiary institutions during the pandemic and remains so even as these institutions adapt to blended learning.

This was among the points established by a Covid-19 impact survey conducted by the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) recently and which was discussed in the TEC’s first virtual forum yesterday.

Aimed at bringing tertiary institutions together to share their experiences in adapting teaching and learning during a pandemic, the online forum was officially launched by principal secretary for tertiary education, Dr Linda Barallon.

Dr Barallon noted that the Covid-19 pandemic was one which took everyone by surprise but the Ministry of Education and Human Resource Development and tertiary institutions have worked collaboratively to develop their plans of actions.

“I am pleased to note that all training institutions now have their own plan of actions. This is important to ensure safety, hygiene, vigilance and sustainability of the good practice for each of these institutions, keeping in mind that learning should continue and that there should be minimal disruption to teaching and learning,” said Dr Barallon.

Chief executive of TEC, Jean-Michel Domingue, subsequently followed with the results of the Covid-19 impact survey.

The survey received a 28% response rate from learners with the highest response coming from the Seychelles Tourism Academy (STA), Seychelles Business Studies Academy (SBSA) and National Institute of Health and Social Studies (NIHSS).

Meanwhile 45% of lecturers in tertiary institutions participated in the survey.

Overall learners agreed that the institutions’ management were helpful in helping them acclimate to online studies during the restriction of movement period.

Statistics show that 74% of learners knew whom to contact, 92% of staff knew whom to contact, 83% of learners felt that they could communicate well or very well with their lecturers while 17% felt that they could not communicate at all.

Assessment of learners seemed to be an issue for staff during close down as only 10% of lecturers felt that they could assess learners very well.

About half (59%), felt they could sometimes assess their learners well, 16% not well at all and 16% did not assess their learners at all during the period institutions closed down.

When asked how well could learners access learning materials sent by their institutions, 29% of learners felt that they could access the learning material very well, 62% sometimes well sometimes not, 9% not well at all.

The main online platforms that were most used during the pandemic were WhatsApp, e-mails and the Ifnoss portal.

However the survey identified the greatest barrier to the blended learning mode—a mix between face-to-face teaching and online learning—in tertiary institutions was connectivity and accessing internet.

In her interjection, Dr Barallon noted that this disadvantages the most vulnerable of students who sometimes cannot even afford to purchase a smartphone and/or laptop never mind pay for internet packages.

She observed that the TEC and other stakeholders should find ways to ensure that all students, no matter their financial status, receive equal learning opportunities even as tertiary institutions move to adapt to the new normal.

The online forum further saw exchanges of novel and innovative ideas such as from SBSA that have found a method to track their students’ performance and online attendance.

Mr Domingue stated that he was pleased with TEC’s first virtual forum since it provided a lot of food for thought and allowed for the sharing of best practices to improve service delivery in tertiary institutions.

“Even though I am a seasoned educator, I was impressed with the forum because it shows that there is so much left for us all to learn,” said Mr Domingue.

A second and third forum has been scheduled for October 1 and 8 to allow for more tertiary institutions to share their best practices.

Elsie Pointe