UG Health Science students urged to take advantage of virtual labs

27th March 2020

The Pro-Vice-Chancellor in charge of students and academic affairs of the University of Ghana, Prof. Nana Aba Appiah Amfo has urged health science students, as well as those whose courses are more in practice than in theory, to make use of virtual laboratories and other relevant materials on the internet.

Prof. Nana Aba Appiah Amfo’s comment is in reaction to the disapproval of some students at the Korle-Bu campus of the University on management’s decision to allow academic activities to continue online following the closure of the university.

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The students have questioned the possibility of their courses to be studied in a virtual classroom.

But the Prof Appiah Amfo says that lecturers have been asked to adjust course contents to allow for the smooth running of academic activities.

“In terms of course contents, emphasizing flexibility, instructors are encouraged to allow a reasonable amount of flexibility regarding the remaining course load,” she said in an interview on Campus Exclusive on Thursday.

Although she admitted that virtual learning had its own challenges, she noted that it was very necessary for the university to move to e-learning.

She mentioned that aspects of the course components that require clinical and practical sessions may be minimized whilst the University of Ghana Computing Systems works with relevant units to explore the use of virtual methods.

Prof. Nana Aba Appiah Amfo further urged students to take advantage of the move and explore other technologies relevant to their courses of study and also help broaden their scope of knowledge.

According to her, there are various opportunities that will help students, particularly those in the Colleges of Health and also Basic and Applied Sciences, to discover more innovations.

“There are a whole lot of opportunities out there that I think this gives us some fine opportunity to take advantage of,” she stated.