E-LEARNING PLATFORM
The aim of the e-learning platform is to provide a technology driven tuition option to students and faculty of UHAS. While the aim is not to eliminate normal face-to-face contact between students and lecturers, the system is expected to supplement normal lectures by providing an avenue where students could readily access lectures at their leisure. It has been observed that for a number of reasons, students become distracted during normal lectures. Since lectures take place within specific periods, some students would have little opportunity to review what was taught if the lectures are not recorded and made available. UHAS was established with the intention of using technology to enhance teaching and learning. The use of the e-learning platform would therefore fulfil that strategic objective of the University through structured delivery of lectures, high quality video recordings of lectures, provision of adequate data storage, and deployment of a communication system that would allow both students and lecturers, irrespective of their location in the country, to have uninterrupted access to information available on the platform.
OBJECTIVES
Based on the above aim, the immediate objectives of Phase 1 of the e-learning platform are to:
1. Produce high quality video recordings of lectures, starting with First Year and Physician Assistant courses designed with the assistance of Universities outside the country.
2. Provide a platform where:
- Instruction materials such as notes and videos will be made available to students electronically
- Students and lecturers can collaborate and have meaningful discussions online
- Lecturers will be able to assess students electronically
3. Make the system accessible to lecturers and students located at the University's campuses initially but upon successful testing of the system, extend access to the whole nation and then onto the Internet.
4. Provide video conferencing facilities that will allow interactive delivery of lectures from one campus to another, and from other parts of the country and outside the country to UHAS
SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS
The MOODLE e-learning software, an Open source product has been installed and configured for this purpose.
HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS
- VPN and APN HIGH-CAPACITY SERVERS that can be configured to enable full-scale deployment of the e-Learning platform
- LAPTOPS, TABLETS, ETC. using links to facilitate communication between the e-learning server and client devices
