UG: Economics students lament ‘unfair treatment’ from lecturers in online examination

University of Ghana Economics students have complained about the manner in which their departmental lecturers are carrying out the online examination.

According to the students, they were expecting to be administered with take-home assignments, but that has not been the case.

“The problem cut across for all levels of the department which is sad. I expected the lecturers in the department to be friendly to their students but it appears they are rather being hostile to them,” one student told UniversNews.

A level 300 student who registered for Microeconomics 312 expressed concerns about the challenging nature of the Sakai Learning and Management Systems.

“The examination was only open to the students for 6 hours and 30 minutes despite the University directed that the time span should range from 24 or 72 hours. I started the exams at 10 am and expected a smooth transition of my questions but that was not the case. It took two or three minutes before the next question could appear. The system restarted over again when I got to question 68. It means that I had to start from question one again meanwhile I was left with just 30 minutes. I started and the system kept logging me out without any notification. Unfortunately, I couldn’t finish with the 100 Multiple Choice questions.That was my first attempt and I couldn’t go back to try the second attempt because it was 12:30 noon already. I got in touch with the lecturer and he made it look like I was not trustworthy. Later, the lecturer posted on our WhatsApp page that students who could not complete the examination online would have to come to campus for the paper on a due date,” the student claimed.

Other students who experienced similar challenges are, however, calling for the lecturer to set new online questions for them as they may not get parental authorization to return to campus solely for the Macroeconomic and Theory 2 examination.

The students emphasized that such a mode of assessment is inequitable because the arrangement for students who may be coming back to campus is likely to differ as compared to their course mate who have had the chance to take the examination online.

The students also want the Head of the Economics department to step in an resolve the matter.

Story by: Eli Djomekou | universnewsroom.com