The Federal Polytechnic, Nekede, Imo State has braced up for full implementation of ICT and digital technologies as a compulsory component of its curriculum and teaching/learning processes.
The rector of the polytechnic, Engr. Michael Arimanwa, who made this known in an interview with Daily Trust, emphasised that digital learning has come to play a vital role in education and should be integrated into the classroom.
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He restated that no institution with a clear mission and vision can afford to toy with the teaching and learning of ICT these days as the world is currently in the ICT age.
Engr. Arimanwa expressed the determination of his administration to ensure that appropriate Information/Communication Technologies (ICT) and other meaningful modern tools that enhance quality teaching and learning are adopted by the school.
He recalled that in February 2020, the institution had, as part of its Smart Campus Initiative, held an audience with the Chief Executive of Zinox Computers, Chief Leo Stan Ekeh at the 1000-capacity auditorium on the campus.
“We are eventually training every staff, but for now we are focusing on the academic staff. We also have training for non-academic staff to effectively digitalize the school for more viable ICT,” he said, adding that the essence was to ensure “an up-to-date, properly trained, qualified, high performing team.”
The rector further explained that given the dynamic way classrooms are changing worldwide, “digital teaching and learning is replacing traditional educational methods more and more.”
Daily Trust gathered that in line with the ongoing digital transformation in the school, new e-learning approaches have been adopted to ensure effectiveness not only in teaching and learning but in examination coordination.
According to Arimanwa, his overall goal is to enable students to find and use online resources and identify what they need to learn in addition to their proper application of the information on the problem at hand.
“This would provide for both staff and students a wide educational base, better contexts, more engaging activities and greater sense of perspective than traditional educational methods, thereby increasing one’s efficiency and productivity,” the rector said.