Ausi students to benefit from online courses

By PATRICK GITHINJI

Australian Studies Institute (Ausi) has simplified teaching and learning by upgrading their student's website.

This is by upgrading from portal one to two, which will see systems run using moodle education software, which allows lecturers deliver lessons online.

Ausi director Mahul Shah said the new portal is a global user global user friendly learning management tool where educators are able to teach and interact with students on Internet.

"Information technology experts from Navitas in Australia visited us to train our IT Manager, lecturers and staff on Portal 2. This is a more advanced internet application which will improve communication between the management, staff, lecturers and students," said Mahul.

Mahul said lecturers are able to create lessons, grade assignments, set exams and quizzes and post reading documents and calendars of events online.

"Information technology experts from Navitas in Australia visited us to train our IT Manager, lecturers and staff on Portal 2. This is a more advanced internet application which will improve communication between the management, staff, lecturers and students," said Mahul.

Certification

He said Ausi is a member of Navitas Limited, a publicly listed Australian Company.

The college offer certificate qualifications in business, computing and information technology, nursing, law and mass communication and diplomas in business.

Furthermore Mahul said Ausi is also validated by the Commission for Higher Education to offer diploma courses and granted authority to collaborate with Edith Cowan University to provide Bachelor degree and Master of Business Administration (International) programmes."

Ravi Singh, the IT Manager of Ausi, said, "The Portal 2 has been introduced with Google Apps which will make the sharing of information and ideas at the Institute faster and more efficient."

Singh said this Internet facility also provides students more time to study because all the information needed is updated online on a daily basis.

Course topics

In addition he said the lecturers will be able to post contents of assignments every day on the website and thus help students who are not able to attended lessons due to sickness, or any other reason to keep up with their course topics.

"As Kenyans become more conscious about saving forests, this wonderful communication tool reduces the use of paper because students do not need to print and photocopy education materials from the website. It also minimises the need for staff to prepare announcements for the notice boards," said Singh.

Academic experts have stressed on the need for Kenya to take advantage of Information and Technology in order to improve learning.

Unfortunately despite the rolling out of fibre optics IT access in some remote areas of the country where learning is handicapped by lack of facilities, access to this technology is still limited.

Yet, Online courses enable person who may not be able to attend university due to either living too far away from a campus or having a very busy schedule to attend classes.

By colleges going online, it will allow more students flexibility to study at the comforts of their homes.

Regular in-person classes may at times be offered when a person is at work and therefore they maybe forced to miss the lesson.

This is particularly when most of the learning institutions in the country are centered in the urban center and owing to the traffic snarl ups on most streets students are unable to make it to class on time.

At other times the facility may not have enough space to accommodate the entire student who would be interested to pursue a particular course.

Use of online services now expands the horizon allowing students to pursue whatever courses they are interested in at the time of their convenience.

Internet Connection

They also can be able to attend classes from the comfort of their homes or office or anywhere so long as there is access to an Internet connection and a computer.

This allows persons who live far away from a college attend lectures without having to commute for long distances.

In addition, these benefits allow a college or university to target an entirely new market base of potential students desire to attend college but are unable due to a variety of challenges.