Chrisland University Takes The Lead In Quality And Value With Classera LMS Method Of Assessment

Professor Chinedum Peace Babalola, Vice Chancellor of Chrisland University, Abeokuta has disclosed that the institution is taking the lead in providing quality and value to teaching, learning and assessment using the Classera platform. Recall that the institution has just concluded her second semester examinations via virtual mode. No thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic. The examinations  were powered by a learning management system called Classera. 

In the words of Professor Babalola, the use of the platform to conduct the just concluded online examination for the students of the university has added quality and value to the university’s method of assessment which is founded on integrity. 

In a statement released through the office of the Vice-Chancellor, the professor further stated that the university had studied other possible online assessment methods including Google Classroom,  among others, and discovered gaps which were well taken care in Classera.  "The University found Clasera Learning Management System (LMS) to be robust enough to handle learning and assessment with emphasis on the examination integrity". 

Professor Babalola explained that with Clasera, seven different question modes like essays, mcqs, hotpots, fill in the blanks, among others are available, adding that the platform has its own language, and it includes real-time video and chats which makes it highly robust and flexible. 

Emphasising on the integrity of the remote virtual examination, the Vice-Chancellor said, “The university did not want to jump into online examination to avoid malpractices and lowering of the standards. Hence, we took time to understudy Classera and test run it until we were satisfied that it would help run exams that are credible and devoid of cheating as much as possible. With the use of a proctor, no one else can impersonate in the exams, as it does live video recording of the activities during the exam and provide live monitoring to supervisors. With these, it can track any intruder into that exam and once it observes any form of malpractice, it will shut down. Apart from that, all what transpired during the exams are stored in the university cloud storage for review where required”. 

Providing a background on how the university adopted Classera, Professor Babalola said, “Chrisland University was one of the first universities in Nigeria to embark on online learning immediately the lock down was declared. To run an effective online teaching and learning, workshop on e-learning was conducted for lecturers in late March and  lectures began in the first week of April. 

At the outset, the university adopted various platforms including Google Classroom, Zoom meeting, Microsoft Teams, WhatsApp and others. In between, lecturers were attending various online training workshops. As time went by, the University considered the need to have a  more suitable Learning Management System (LMS) and in the process discovered Classera Learning Management System which presented by the trio of HP, Classera and Miral Companies”. 

Rating the performance of the institution and the platform adopted, the Vice Chancellor declared that the  online exams were largely successful with minor issues experienced by the students which are mainly due to network connectivity which is a national problem in Nigeria. 

On the other uses of Classera, Professor Babalola mentioned that, the platform would also be deployed to run the summer semester teaching and learning which will be starting very soon and it will also be useful as the University plans to blend face to face learning with LMS in the post pandemic scenario.

She added that the platform would help the university with quality assurance assessment of both staff and students as the Management of the institution could use it to assess staff performance from the comfort of their offices. 

She said that the National Universities Commission (NUC) in Nigeria could use it to assess universities’ performance as It offers a good quality assurance performance system.

Babalola said that with the successes recorded with the use of the platform, Chrisland University has taken a giant leap ahead of many other institutions in utilising technologies for the delivery of teaching, learning and assessment. She expresses her appreciation to the members of staff who committed their energy and resources to the successes recorded so far and admonishes them not to rest on their oars.