Arrangements for Online Engagements of Distance Learners in the Wake of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The University of Ghana Distance Education Programme was not spared from the disruptions brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. Management of the Department needed to make a radical move to shift from its hybrid system of delivery to a full-fledged online delivery. In spite of the limited time for this move, a lot of creative planning had to go into this, which led to a virtual training of 340 tutors, through four modules, to prepare them adequately for the task. Aside from assessing the planning and the virtual training aforementioned, this reflective paper also delves into other important issues such as the rolling out of a virtual/online academic and counselling support and architecture for monitoring of all the 228 courses that were moved onto the online space. This paper has implications for both policy and institutions that might be faced with similar circumstances, and it makes suggestions for exploration of other useful tools for delivery and monitoring that would contribute to better online engagements.

Viewpoints of Students towards Cyber Counselling

“…There is also a high knowledge of the use of internet facilities by Ghanaian youth, especially among students [10]. Another study by Amponsah, Aheto, Anapey, and Kwapong [11] showed many students in Ghana have been using electronic means to study and do other stuff. The rapid advancement of the use of the internet could be explained in terms of the government's initiative to provide Wi-Fi services freely to all post-basic education schools in the country.…”