The fulltime undergraduate students of Divine Word University in Madang are gearing up for their Semester One examinations online over the next two weeks, starting on Monday 4th June, 2018.
This is the fourth consecutive year that the students in the Madang campus would be doing their semester examinations online via the Moodle teaching and learning management platform.
DWU inaugurated the online examinations for its students in the second semester of 2015 and has been successful and the university is not going back to the traditional paper (hardcopy) method.
The online examination enables efficiency and cuts out challenges associated with the traditional paper mode.
Tests within a semester are also conducted online while the students are required to submit soft copies of assignments to their lecturers online. Lecturers and tutors also make available soft copies of their lectures and tutorials to students online via Moodle and they interact with the students on the same platform.
The online examinations are part of the overall digitization of teaching, learning and research activities in DWU under its Third Decade Strategic Master Plan 2016-2026. This is for the university to achieve international competitiveness.
President of DWU, Professor Cecilia Nembou, highlighted the importance of DWU keeping pace with learning and teaching in the digital age in her welcome address to the students and staff in February this year.
“In 2018, DWU moves into the second year of implementation of the Third Decade Strategic Master Plan (2016 – 2026), in which we aspire to offer to each category of learners an appropriate learning mode be it face-to-face, online or blended by the application of the latest technology,” said Prof Nembou.
“DWU can achieve transformative learning in the digital age by working together as a community of learners with tolerance of each other’s multiple perspectives connected by a set of shared strategic objectives that motivate each and every member of the community to achieve the desired outcome.
“Transformative learning does not apply only to students but also to staff both academic and administrative.”
The President gave the address under the university’s theme for the year: “Transformative learning with core values for the digital age”.
The Madang campus has a 100 percent computer (laptop) access by its students and staff (academic and administration) and 24-hour wireless internet connectivity.
The university issues laptops to all undergraduate students who complete their full registration fees in the first year.
This enables students and staff to work anywhere and anytime on campus after official lectures or office hours. To prepare students for learning online, it is mandatory for all first year students to study a computer end-user unit (subject) in the first semester of the year they enroll in DWU.
Meanwhile, DWU opened the Centre for Learning and Teaching (CfLT) in January this year to assist staff and students achieve their full potential in teaching and learning using the online, blended and face-to-face modes. The Centre is headed by Associate Professor Iwona Kolodziejczyk.