TGMI completes first semester with innovative solutions |09 July 2021

Employees and learners during the press update yesterday (Photo: Louis Toussaint)

The Guy Morel Institute (TGMI) successfully completed its first semester without having to cancel any qualifications, despite public health and safety protocols enforced against the Covid-19 pandemic.

During a press update held yesterday morning, employees and learners from the institution shared their experience during the pandemic and ‘new normal’, and the solutions put in place by the institution to deliver courses and qualifications, while adhering to public health requirements.

Executive director Shella Mohideen noted that the pandemic proved to be challenging at first, as the restriction on movement order meant the institution was forced to adopt digital technologies, much quicker than it had strategised.

“It has been a very challenging first semester, but at the end of June when we did our evaluation, we realised that we have more successes than challenges. And a lot of the challenges we faced can also be counted as a lesson learned. Challenges were many, but we have tried our level best to turn those challenges into opportunities,” Mrs Mohideen stated, before handing over to other members of staff to detail their own experiences.

Patrick Bristol noted that the pandemic resulted in the institution accelerating towards its longer term strategy to adopt digital technologies, to facilitate teaching and learning. With staff and students not able to physically attend lectures, TGMI transitioned to online platforms, and, in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, trained and supported staff to use Microsoft Teams.

In its efforts to support learners, who themselves had to adjust to remote learning, management managed to secure two packages from service providers for mobile and internet packages, as devices are central to the blended-learning mode adopted by the institution. A business continuity allowance has also been introduced to cater for lecturers and staff’s internet needs.

The institution has gone much further than adopting digital technologies to intensify communication with learners, establish a student council, and make changes to the scheduling of programmes to meet the needs of different groups. A hybrid approach has since evolved, comprising a combination of learners, some of whom follow online, and others who attend physically.

Lecturer Keddy Ernesta highlighted the importance of being innovative to keep engaging with learners and clients, and deliver on the institution’s mission. He too spoke of the opportunities that technology has afforded both staff and learners, in terms of convenience and flexibility, especially for learners from the inner islands who would previously have to physically attend classes.

Online collaboration has proved to be successful among adult learners, providing them more opportunities for interaction, to easily collaborate and work together on group projects, as well as the flexibility to balance work, family and student life. Although assignments are now more practical, the quality of learning remains the institution’s priority.

Mr Ernesta is satisfied that the institution has successfully overcome the challenges and will continue to improve. The major challenge overall is the quality of internet, although this has not served to discourage learners.

“TGMI is ensuring adherence to health protocols,” said Quality Assurance manager Sherley Marie. “It has adopted an approach to minimise the number of persons on the campus. The institution is arguably far ahead of the labour market, adopting flexible working and incorporating it into their human resource plan, to the benefit of staff who are unable to attend and those who are able to work remotely, a move which has boosted productivity and morale.”

Laura Pillay