COVID-19: Malaysian Universities Move To Digital Learning Platforms, But Not All Have Followed Suit

Wire

COVID-19: Malaysian Universities Move To Digital Learning Platforms, But Not All Have Followed Suit

As the COVID-19 infection spreads, now Malaysians across industries, institutions, and offices are opting for work/study at home facilities. In the span of a day, multiple universities in particular have announced suspensions in face-to-face lectures, tutorials, classes and presentations in favour of online teaching platforms.

Asia Pacific University of Technology & Innovation (APU) have already suspended all on-campus learning and replaced it with APU’s Online Digital Learning platform, rolling out this Wednesday, 18th March 2020.

In APU’s case, all non-academic services, such as administrative functions will still go on as normal. Examinations will also continue to take place as scheduled.

“APU has been fully in compliance with directives provided by the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education & Ministry of Higher Education. We have implemented proactive measures to safeguard the community; we do fully realize that this is a stressful time for all our students, their parents and all staff of APU. We hope the APU community will all cope with this difficult situation in a calm and mutually supportive way,” as stated in the
University’s circular.

They’re not the only ones. Some other universities have issued statements online and on social media regarding going virtual:

https://www.facebook.com/notes/taylors-university/important-notice-for-our-taylorians-were-going-virtual/3100775173279715/

Some others haven’t gotten on board yet though:

MSU’s statement has no mention of moving to an online-learning platform, and didn’t respond when called for a comment on the current situation and any changes in their stance.

Suffice it to say that a shift of this magnitude will take some time to implement, but at a time when many are panicking and anxious to go to even class, something must be done. It’s not us who are saying it, students and parents themselves are commenting on these posts, asking to switch to virtual learning. These are but a few of the universities that have switched over to virtual learning, and hopefully more will follow the lead of these institutions.

With time, the spread of the virus should decrease, but until then, all we can really do is implement safety precautions to stop it from being a possibility in the first place.