National Institute of Library & Information Sciences (NILIS)

07/5/2020

Dear members of staff and students,

I convey my best wishes to everyone and their families on this 52^nd day of learning and working from our homes. I am hopeful that everyone remains in the best of health, and are coping well with the COVID19 related changes that have occurred to our daily living.

To the students, I am thankful to each and every one of you for having complied with the university’s request to access on line teaching – learning, despite the technical challenges faced by some with access to internet and out of pocket cost for data that has been hopefully minimized by the supportive action adopted by the UGC and LEARN. Additionally, adjustment to the concept of online learning required our own members of staff to be re-orientated, trained and supported by our own leads in online education, ITC and network operation with administrative changes that are still being put in place. The University of Colombo is proud to be number one in the data records of on-line learning. 

However, we are well aware that many students face multiple problems. Please be assured that your teachers in conjunction with the Welfare Branch of College House along with the Student Counselors and Hostel Wardens have traced students who are facing problems and are working out methods to help overcome these. Many approaches are being adopted, such as WhatsApp groups and even individual telephone calls to you or your home numbers. Please be assured that the UoC will make certain that ‘no student will be left behind’. Academic schedules and examinations in parallel with a phased-out plan to restart face to face teaching, are also being reviewed to ensure equity and fairness. I salute all staff members who have given of their time to help the administration in handling this complex process.  

Meanwhile, although the curfew is being relaxed in the Western Province, the university staff has been instructed to attend work in practicable numbers with the adoption of maximum health and safety precautions as per government guidelines. Therefore, the students will have to continue learning and functioning from your own homes. In addition, some of the university hostels are yet being used for quarantine purposes. We are also aware that private boarding owners have made unreasonable requests from our students. We shall highlight these issues to the higher authorities and try to find ‘healthy’ solutions. 

In parallel, the welfare branch through the student counsellors, will address the wellbeing of all our students through a holistic approach. Please respond to these offers and make sure you remain healthy in body and mind.

I wish everyone Happy and Peaceful homebased Vesak and Ramadan seasons, and all others in their chosen faiths.

Yours truly,      

Chandrika Wijeyaratne

Vice Chancellor

University of Colombo

At the moment NILIS is conducting 5 online courses and trying to initiate 10 more in 5 centers. These were courses that were being conducted in face to face mode but were unable to continue due to the close down due to the Covid-19 virus outbreak. There are over 10 WhatsApp groups initiated to support online learning. Some groups are even sharing teaching materials/activities until proper LMS accounts are formed. We are happy to note that nearly 300 students have joined with us to receive online education at this difficult moment. 

However, this doesn't mean that we do not have constraints. Due to closure of offices, we were not able to get student records from the NILIS office and therefore had to collect everything from scratch (Those from outside the Colombo, Gampaha, Kalutara, and Puttlam Districts may know that we are still locked down at homes from 16th of March). We have only a limited staff due to difficulties in accessing from homes. Also, there are several limitations that the technology is imposing on us, such as avoiding peak times in scheduling Zoom meetings, limiting the size of uploads to the LMS (to 50MB), etc. With all these, we are trying our best to provide you with the best possible education. 

Therefore, please bear with us for mistakes that may take place. Also, we may not be able to respond to all individual queries or requests. You may understand that this time it is difficult to respond to individual calls from students. 

However, we know that you may have concerns. Therefore first try to resolve issues after talking with family members, because the family matters the most. Then talk to the class monitor (if you don't have one, please name by the vote of the majority). If the class monitor decides that the majority agrees for a particular change, he/she can talk to the relevant teacher. The teacher will contact the Coordinator and find a solution.

Thank you for your understanding! 

Yours sincerely,

Dr. Ruwan Gamage

Acting Director - NILIS

Students and teachers are able to access the JSTOR e-journals database. There is no need to login if you click on the link available under the 'NILIS e-Library' subcategory coming under the 'Miscellaneous' category.