(This article was first published in the New Vision on December 14, 2022)
By Francis Emukule
One of the sectors that underwent a drastic shift in the way things were done after the world experienced lockdowns following the COVID-19 pandemic was education.
Many activities shifted online when several lockdowns and curfews were instituted around the world, including Uganda.
At the time, schools had closed, but studies had to continue, so solutions to enable online learning had to be devised.
Bridging Education Gap
In a period of just two weeks, the International University of East Africa (IUEA), as a solution to bridging the education dent that had been created by the COVID-19 pandemic, had moved its students to their online learning management system, which could be easily accessed through the browser.
However, over time, there grew a need to upgrade the online learning system to improve usability, accessibility, and, most importantly, ensure inclusivity for all the students.
Seeking Solution
It was on that ground that two students, Aron Aman, a fresh graduate of software engineering at IUEA, and Daniel Mogga, an alumnus of the university, upgraded the online learning management system into an application called ‘My IUEA’. All the application requires is an Internet connection for the initial connection to the application, where a student can pre-download all the content they need, and later access it on the application without an Internet connection.
“Before that, students were required to have an Internet connection to access all the learning material, and the challenge with that was that many could not access data easily,” Mogga explains.
“This application solves that problem; all a student needs is an initial Internet connection to download everything they need and then access it at their own pace,” he adds.
Challenges
Initially, the major challenge with the learning system was that it only operated on the Internet and did not allow pre-downloads, which meant that students without Internet could not access classes or any reading material on the learning platform.
Mogga says a student can refresh the application with a single Internet connection in case they feel they need to access it. The student is able to access classes according to their schedule without the need for an Internet connection. The application also has features, such as forums for students to have their discussions; assignments can also be accessed on the platform; private chats and notes.
Mogga and Aman are also working on adding a school fee feature, whereby students will be able to transact payments through the application. However, that is not to say that the transition of the online learning management system into an application came without any challenges. Aman explains that launching the application for both Android and IOS was a huge task for them.
“This year, we were excited to launch this application, but changed its security policies, yet everything was built based on the old security policies. This meant we had to go back and re-do most of the things with the new security policies.”
Mogga and Aman were awarded the best innovation accolade for 2022 from the university vice-chancellor as a token of appreciation for their creation. The duo continue looking out for societal issues for which they can create viable solutions.
