By Sulaiman Fasasi | Aug 26, 2022 |
Original Article in Independent here
ABEOKUTA – Experts in the education sector have advocated the movement of school curriculums from offline to online saying the future of education across the world is online.
This was the thoughts of Dr Salaudeen Jubril Abdullah, the Director, Executive Education at Nungu Business School, Lagos, and Dr Afiz Musa, the Director Insight Institute for Islamic and Technical Education, IIITS, Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.
The two scholars spoke, at the weekend, during the launching of Insight Institute for Islamic and Technical Education online school and 4th annual convocation of the Institute.
Dr. Salaudeen, who is also a student of the Islamic school, said all that is required for the online school was his cellphone data and logging in into the Institute’s website, www.insightistech.com.
The Director who studies Islamic theology, Arabic Grammar and Arabic Morphology in the Institute maintained that with the challenges all over the world, there is need for institutions to key in into online education opportunities.
Dr. Salaudeen explained that the online school has given him opportunity to add to his many degrees, one of which was in Islamic Shari’a, adding that the Institute provided a platform for him to learn at his own pace.
“With the challenges we have around the world today, it is important that we begin to move the curriculum and even the pedagogy of leaning into online platforms.
“The reason being that we have a lot of very busy and working adults trying to take knowledge from different part of the world and with the advent of the cellphones and Internet, it has made access to leaning much easier and faster and that is why it becomes so important today that we move a lot of the pedagogy online.
“The Institute is current online, like I said, I am an online student and I am enjoying the learning, I can participate from anywhere around the world, it doesn’t alter my schedules, I can be in my car and take knowledge, I can be in my home and take knowledge, I can be in the kitchen and take knowledge, it makes it very easy and flexible.
“I can also go back to missed classes, I can watch the videos, I can download the books and I can take snippets. It makes live easy, it makes connectivity easy, it makes connection easy.
“I have a background in Arabic and Islamic studies and of my three first degrees, one of them is in Islamic sharia and I was looking for opportunity to continue learning and to continue to learn, I don’t need to move away from my comfort zone.
“So, I saw the Institute as an opportunity for me to continue to learn because learning does not end, learning starts and continues for ever. So, I used it as an opportunity to learn and learn forever.
“My message is that we have an opportunity now, we don’t need to go far and wide, the insight Institute is there, the platform is there and ready and I urge us all to join and take learning from it.
Dr. Musa, the Director and Proprietor of the Institute explained that the idea to adopt online school was born out of the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and the need to also disrupt the disruptor.
According to him, while many people saw the pandemic and negative occurrence, it rather provided an opportunity for the management of the Institute to think out of the box and tap into the opportunities provided by the pandemic.
“The idea came about during the COVID, we were all confined and learning process stopped abruptly and so many people became unemployed as a result of that and so many students also lost focus and we thought of ways to move the learning agenda forward by facilitating the easiest way to acquire knowledge. That was what brought about the idea of going online.
“Online school will also give us the opportunity of getting to so many people who ordinarily may not be able to join the physical class probably due to their busy schedule or the distance.
“Nothing could be as simple as being in your room and assessing knowledge, this is the reason why we deemed it wise to go online to spread the messages, the beauty of Islam and beauty of learning by getting connected to so many willing Muslims who would be motivated by the move.
“At the beginning, many people were skeptical, they did not believe that internet could be a means to acquire knowledge. To so many people, they thought it just a medium of entertainment.
“But with this development, so many people are getting sensitized gradually. We started with very few students but now, we are talking about 100s of students scattered around the world.
“Online education is the future of education, we cannot say categorically that the bad experience we had during the COVID-19 will not reoccur, many of such challenges will still come as much as you live, such challenges will come, so we need to respond to these challenges positively.
“Some people considered the time of COVID as the worst time ever, but to me, I saw it as an opportunity and I tapped at the opportunity and it worked and it is working.”
The Director explained that the online Institute has 24 hours instructors attached to different students from across the world with a view to breaking the time difference barrier.
“We are also making efforts to improve, all it requires is our phone, the data and connection to the website via www.insightistech.com.
“We have different qualified teachers across the country. We have also made learning easier by offering general classes, the same way we have also offered one-on-one mode of learning where teachers are attached to the student.
“In fact, we have classes for 24 hours with instructors also actively available for 24 hours. With this, the time differences across the world are never a barrier.
