Olamidele Adeleke
The novel Coronavirus also known as COVID-19 is a viral disease that affects the respiratory organs of humans. It’s contagious nature has turned it into a global pandemic that has led nations of the world to take certain preventive measures against its spread.
One of the many measures taken by the Nigerian government to prevent the spread of COVID-19 is the shut down of schools and physical learning centers.
Moshood Abiola Polytechnic together with other tertiary institutions also showed full compliance to this measure.
However, for some online learning in Mapoly was unexpected many were not prepared but the Coronavirus pandemic left the school no choice than to go online as learning cannot only be done within the school walls.
This is why the management of MAPOLY came up with the idea of resuming classes via the Telegram and Whatsapp platforms.
This platforms allows the lecturers to give lectures on their respective courses to the students from the comfort of their homes through the use of internet.
Students in various departments in Mapoly now receive lectures on telegram while others make use of the whatsapp platforms.
With access to good android phone and network, students can now take lectures (in audio,pictures,videos or text form) from their lecturers through the plaform without physical contact.
Some lecturers can now even monitor attendance taking for their lectures.
The use of the telegram platform has conquered the capacity problem of WhatsApp since WhatsApp was the most used social medium in the institution before the lockdown order began.
Whatsapp can only accomodate 256 users while Telegram can contain as much as 200,000 users therefore leaving no student the excuse of already full groups as done with WhatsApp.
Students can also access information at low cost because Telegram does not consume a lot of data. Any student can be part of the lectures with data subscription.
Lectures on these platforms can also be retained for future purpose just like when students take notes in a physical class for reading later.
However, not every student can assess this means of communication as it requires a powered smartphone.
Although some students have smartphones, while others do not have because of one reason or the other therefore making them miss out on these lectures.
Others live in environments where electricity is a big challenge to them. Although whenever they have the opportunity to still get the information passed by lecturers at a later date when they have charged their phones, they’ll miss out on attendance taking,if the lecturer takes attendance.
While other students find it difficult to download the Telegram app for some reasons. Though sending messages on Telegram does not consume much data,downloading the app does.
Nevertheless, students have been advised to try as much as possible to take advantage of the online learning platform as there won’t be enough time to go over some of the topics treated online again in class when school finally reopens.
Also, there is probability that examination might commence immediately after resumption.
No doubt, there is a need for students to embrace online learning, key into digital platforms and make judicious use of their time during this pandemic period.
