LASU Launches Website To Boost Students’ Performance

Lagos State University (LASU) has launched an e-learning website to boost the performance of candidates in the Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE) and Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).

The launch, which held at the institution’s faculty of education boardroom, was the intervention stage of the Lagos State Government-LASU e-learning and social media project designed to provide lessons for students in English, Mathematics, Biology, Commerce, Chemistry and Physics.

Project Director, Prof. Peter Okebukola, said the project has a lot of benefits to the students such as presentation of lessons and past questions through social media.

He said: “The intervention phase being launched today will present 72 learner-friendly lessons to students on topics they indicated as difficult in six target subjects; deliver the lessons through mobile phones; social media and e-learning platforms, present SSCE and UTME pass questions and answers on each topic and also highlight common errors students make in school and public examinations on difficult topics in the six target subjects.”

Okebukola noted that majority of students who have phones now use them for social media thereby necessitating the need to make learning available through the social media.

“A good number of secondary school students are addicted to social media interactions offered through the platform of face book and twitter. Since students congregate around such media, it is helpful to embed teaching and learning of perceived different topics into their use so that students can be served where their hearts are,” he said.

In his address, the Vice Chancellor of the institution, Prof. John Obafunwa who commended the research team for their feat also described it as an interaction between the gown and town. He urged secondary school pupils to use social media to aid their studies rather than for things that are not beneficial.

“I want to believe our secondary school students would appreciate this project and buy into it. The time we waste on social media can be spent updating ourselves. One thing that is very striking here is that we are witnessing another major interaction between the gown and town. If there is anything we should be proud of I think that one is a great achievement, above all, this is something we should be proud of and buy into it” he said.

In his message, the Chairman, Lagos State Research and Development Grant Council (LRDC), Prof. Olufemi Bamiro, emphasized the importance of Information Communication Technology (ICT) in improving access to education, adding that the adoption of ICT method by the research team to solve some of the problems in education sector is a commendable effort. Bamiro who expressed optimism about the success of the project noted that the project would set the state on the path of digital revolution.

He said: “The potential of ICT to improve access is made possible by the development of customized educational programmes that can reach students all across the country as being demonstrated by the project being launched today. The research team should be commended for the adopted methodology to address the problem of quality and relevance of the curriculum.

“The present project is setting Lagos State on the path of digital revolution that will transcend the present scope of courses and geographical spread. LRDC can hardly wait for the results of the present experiment, which, to my mind is primed to succeed. Its success will set the stage for additional flow of resources in the delivery of education in the state and beyond.”

In her goodwill message, the Dean Faculty of Education, Prof. Ayo Badejo described the project as a good development and innovation, stressing that it would go a long way to increase access to formal education and make learning pleasurable for senior secondary school students. She therefore urged the research team to extend the project to the pupils in the junior secondary and upper primary schools.

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