Virtual orientation organized for 2021 College of Education Freshmen
The College of Education has, as part of the 2020/2021 academic year, organized a virtual orientation for newly admitted undergraduate students into the College.
In his welcome address, the Acting Provost of the College of Education, Prof. Michael Tagoe counselled students to be proactive and take their studies seriously in order to graduate successfully after their course of study.
Prof. Tagoe charged the fresh students to be responsible and take initiative, since no one would ‘ring a bell’ to prompt them for the next activity in the University.
He further encouraged the newly admitted students to develop core competences such as communication skills, collaboration, creativity and innovation and finally critical thinking and problem-solving abilities.
The College Secretary of the College of Education, Mrs. Emelia Agyei-Mensah, gave an overview of the 2020/2021 Academic Calendar. She noted that teaching in the first semester would span a period of 6 weeks after which, there would be a week of revision, after which students would take their exams over a two week period. Students would have an additional three week period after this, while off-campus, to complete any outstanding assignments online.
The College Academic Affairs Officer, Mrs. Cynthia Adu, took students through an overview of academic programmes and regulations. She outlined the programme structure for the freshmen and demonstrated the registration processes.
Mrs. Adu also touched on the grading system, the requirements for graduation as well as the mode of deferring programmes, should the need arise. She advised freshmen to familiarize themselves with the necessary information captured in the Students’ Handbook and the University’s website.
Dr. Deborah Atobrah, Coordinator of University of Ghana Required Courses (UGRCs), introduced students to the University’s Required Courses. She explained that the UGRCs are to foster broad mindedness, inter-disciplinarity, and grow the writing, critical and analytical skills of students.
On her part, Dr. Patience Dzandza Ocloo of the Department of Information Studies spoke about the Humanities and Education Required Courses (HERCs) which are a prerequisite for every Level 100 student within the Colleges of Education and Humanities, and were introduced to replace a number of UGRCs that had been discontinued. Dr. Dzandza Ocloo pointed out that HERCs have two main objectives; to help students broaden their scope of knowledge and to ensure students attain their required credit hours in Level 100.
Dr. Simon Peter Aheto of the Department of Distance Education spoke on online teaching and learning. He assured students that online academic work using Sakai would be as effective as in-class teaching and learning, since the University has well trained facilitators to guide students. He introduced students to other tools and technologies that may be used for online learning such as Zoom, WhatsApp, Signal and Telegram.
He urged students to create learning spaces at home and on campus for their virtual classes and to approach their virtual classes with the same attitude and level of respect as for physical classroom teaching and learning.
Mr. Samuel Osei-Mensah from the Students’ Accounts Office engaged students on how to manage their finances while some student representatives welcomed the students and introduced them to some clubs and extra-curricular activities that would help make their stay in the University interesting.
Messages from Deans
Deans and Heads of Departments briefed the students on course offerings and career opportunities and gave them hints on how to make the most of their stay at the University.
Prof. Audrey Gadzekpo, Dean of the School of Information and Communication Studies tasked students to be open to learning and to also take interest in things taking place outside the classroom.
The Acting Dean of the School of Education and Leadership, Prof. Jonathan Fletcher, encouraged students to concentrate on their personal development and display their leadership skills and qualities in handling new and old problems facing Ghana and the global community.
Prof. Olivia Kwapong, Dean of the School of Continuing and Distance Education, challenged the fresh students to take advantage of the new environment they had entered, and take full advantage of all the opportunities the University has to offer.