Paper Sample on COVID-19 Pandemic: Designing Effective Online Learning Platforms

Introduction

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic that has paralyzed most of the operations across the world, academic institutions are establishing ways to provide education through online platforms. The systems for online learning to be established should be advantageous in that students can get the best resources as possible from them. Therefore, the platforms should be designed in a manner that makes them easy to be used by the students as well as the instructors. At the same time, the systems should also be cost-effective to the students. Cost-effective means the cost of using the system to learn should be achievable by the students without much straining.

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Thesis statement

This paper will entail designing a system that will facilitate online learning since COVID-19 has disrupted the traditional approach. Like other academic institutions, UT Tyler is also developing a system that will enable the students to learn online.

Q1: The solution should make use of management information system

The platform requires a management information system that will be keeping records of all the operations performed in the online learning system. As such, hardware components and a database management system are necessary to store all this information and enable communication between the instructors, head of faculties, and the students.

One of the critical components of an online learning system is computer networks. Communication between the instructors, the various heads of departments, and students will communicate through this network. A network creates the platform in which interaction between the different sections of the institution can interact via the internet. Through the system, examiners will be able to access assignments and exams from students. The various accreditors will also be able to access the results using the network. Therefore, having a good working network is very important for the institution to implement online learning successfully.

Computer hardware is also a critical aspect of an online learning system. Therefore, UT Tyler, as an institution, has to acquire the necessary hardware components to make the process a success. Students require devices such as tablets, laptops, computers, or smartphones for them to access the learning materials. On the other hand, the same tools are necessary for the instructors to upload or share the resources. For the network to connect to the internet, hardware components such as routers and wireless components have to be in place.

An effective information management system requires a database management system (DBMS). Since the institution handles information about thousands of students and a good number of academic staff, a database management system is necessary to keep all this information secure and organized. The DBMS comprises multiple databases containing tables that store data for specific categories. Access privileges and permissions are essential in the databases.

Q2: Evaluating the viability and feasibility of the system during ideation phase

There are different phases or stages of developing the proposed system. One of the steps of design thinking is the ideation of the discussed problem. Other scenes are empathizing, identification, and defining the problem, developing a prototype, and testing the system. Ideation is the stage where the team members provide different ideas in sessions on how to solve the problem. A desirable system is one that can accommodate all the user requirements adequately. To evaluate the project during this stage, the team must propose and explain in detail ways to implement the system such that it will always be available for the users. A system that is still available to help the users solve the problem in question will be viable (Pelz, 2019). The system should also serve all the intended purposes; that is, it can support a wide range of learning mechanisms.

During ideation, the system evaluated through a series of actions. The first action is to shortlist all the ideas posed by the members. The head of the team notes down the views in a flip chart. All the designs are relevant during this exercise. Members then receive various criteria. Rating the shortlisted ideas is then done on every test provided. When assessing the views, the team records the ratings on scorecards. Next is to identify the design with the most scores on the scorecard for analysis. A thorough investigation is then done on the defined ideas to determine their chances of solving the problem at hand. If a plan is complicated, experts will help in reviewing the essential aspects that are mandatory. The selected idea should clearly define how the information will be organized and processed in the management information system (MIS). The concept should consider all the institution's management levels and the kind of information accessible by each level.

Q3: Necessities for an effective and efficient system

It is vital to develop a system that will still be reliable even after the COVID-19 pandemic is over. Hence, the system to be developed has to keep the institution running as usual. Therefore, UT Tyler should focus more on creating a system that will allow academic operations to be performed online rather than the usual physical interactive way of learning. Although setting up a 100% reliable system might be too expensive or impossible, the value proposition of deploying this system is much higher than risking lives. With this pandemic, it is less likely to resume the classroom learning due to fear from both employees and students.

The first thing that UT Tyler should do is to avail of all the necessary materials required for online learning. Necessary resources include coming up with strategies to assess and evaluate the students and accredit them. It should also provide maximum awareness of the benefits of adopting online learning as compared to usual classroom learning. Maximum mass awareness to both academic staff and the students on how to use the available system is useful. Keeping the institution running as usual during this period will enable the institution to thrive once the world stabilizes. Otherwise, it will be challenging to rebuild again, which will make it unlikely to catch up with other similar institutions.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the institution should make sure the online platform to be implemented covers all the necessary operations within a university for it to be fully active. Although it can be highly demanding, it is worth doing because of the long-term benefit of keeping the institution running. Creating such a system will keep the University running despite the current challenge at hand.

References

Pelz, B. (2019). (MY) Three Principles of Effective Online Pedagogy. Online Learning, 14(1). https://doi.org/10.24059/olj.v14i1.1642.