Press Release: Response to Allegations against the UEW Learning Management System(MOODLE)

On Wednesday April 1, 2020, Management received a letter on the above subject signed with the name: Evans Owu Jnr. Our checks confirmed his identity as a registered 3rd year Political Science student (one of our over 85, 000 students).  In the said letter, Mr. Evans Owu Jnr. made several unfounded and mischievous allegations and, as well, cast innuendos at our fully functional Moodle Learning Management System (LMS). Management takes this opportunity to respond to the wild and baseless allegations so that discerning students and staff will acknowledge the enormous and progressive efforts UEW Management has deployed to ensure that, despite the closure, the semester proceeds effectively to its logical conclusion. 

Even before we proceed to react to the issues that border on the broader UEW Moodle LMS as raised in Mr. Evans Owu Jnr.’s letter, we have evidence to show that Mr. Evans OwuJnr.’s letter was founded on pure mischief. Mr. Evans Owu Jnr. purported to speak on behalf of other students and on his own behalf, and created the notion that as of March 29, 2020 the impression created by Management urging students and Faculty to go ahead and access the UEW Moodle system was a ‘hoax’ and an ‘illusion’.

On March 25th, 2020, Mr. Evans Owu Jnr., following the Vice-Chancellor’s earlier release on March 18, 2020, successfully logged into his Moodle account at exactly 11.15pm. On the next day March 26, 2020, he logged in again and was able to change his password. Thereafter, he went ahead to access a course in his programme of study. It is also important to note that before writing his letter to Management, Mr. Evans Owu Jnr. never bothered to check with his Class Representative, Lecturers, the Head of Department or the Dean of his Faculty on the state of the online teaching and learning options. If he did he would have realised that diverse online learning approaches were being used by Lecturers and students in his Department. This is the same person who wants the world to believe that no guidelines have been provided for students to access the Moodle system.    

Since government announced the shutdown of all Universities due to the COVID-19 pandemic, UEW has taken series of progressive measures to ensure that teaching and learning continue through the online mode to make sure our students are not adversely affected by the closure. Indeed, UEW has since March 18, 2020 released three public statements on the deployment of its Moodle LMS system as the option for teaching and learning during the shutdown period. These statements have been widely circulated on all major media, online and social media platforms including the UEW Website, the latter being same platform where Mr. Evans Owu Jnr. passed to access his account on March 25, 2020. It is obvious that even though Mr. Evans Owu Jnr. has seen the releases from Management on UEW using the LMS for teaching and learning, he has, nevertheless, decided to play the mischief and bring the name of the University into disrepute.

The statements that “Currently no single department has been able to outline the details of how its courses could be accessed on the *LMS Moodle* or platform” and that “most of the courses have not yet been uploaded” are outright lies unsupported by the facts on the ground.At the start of the roll out of Moodle, there were already over 680 courses on the Moodle Server. Currently, and specifically as of Wednesday, April 1, 2020, we have in excess of 1400 courses (representing about 99% of all second semester courses) active online on the LMS. Both Lecturers and students are actively engaged in teaching and learning on the platform.  Furthermore, guidelines were developed and posted on the UEW Website by our ICT Directorate and Student Records Office and, as well, also shared on various social media platforms. Most students have utilised the guidelines and are active on the UEW Moodle LMS. The allegation that “Management at the moment has not been able to provide the channels and means through which the virtual learning could be materialized”is another palpable falsehood. 

In the Vice-Chancellor’s statement dated March 18, 2020, shared on all media platforms and referenced by Mr. Evans Owu Jnr., the VC indicated in paragraph 6 that “All Lecturers are required to actively participate in UEW virtual classroom system and may, in addition, use other alternative platforms for effective teaching and learning”. Again, as part of our contingency plans submitted to NCTE on managing the shutdown through continuous teaching and learning, we submitted that “Additional digital platforms such as WhatsApp, Telegram, Schoology, Zoom, Google Classrooms etc. may also be utilized to reach students”. This took into consideration the fact that not everyone would immediately be able to migrate onto the LMS so permission was granted for Lecturers to use alternative platforms. So, where is the notion that Management did not provide channels and means of using the virtual classroom? It seems so obvious that Mr. Evans Owu Jnr. is just bent on disparaging the image of the very University that is training him.

Management wishes to further state that all students accounts have been activated on the LMS; this includes our over 85,000 students from UEW and 5600 students from our affiliate Colleges of Education. All 105 Colleges of Education courses for the B.Ed. Basic Education programme for all 15 Affiliate Colleges of Education have been created on the UEW Moodle LMS Platform.

Since March 18, 2020, the LMS team has received several emails of courses and about 99% of them have been created on UEW Moodle LMS. Students or Staff who face challenges have been given modes of reaching out for assistance. The support desk has constantly been receiving calls from students and lecturers for assistance relating to all kinds of LMS issues.

While we acknowledge the fact that a comprehensive role out of programme to manage a crisis among a population of 85,000 students may have its own challenges, Management wishes to assure all students and Lecturers that we are working round the clock to make sure the UEW Moodle LMS works effectively and efficiently for everyone.

Signed

REGISTRAR

Source : www.uew.edu.gh