Orientation Session Held

St. Mary’s university held orientation sessions for the graduating class students of undergraduate programs on November 3, 2020, as part of preparation to resume classes, which have been closed for the last seven months due to COVID-19.

Opening remarks were made by Misganaw Solomon (PhD), Vice President for Research and International Relations, who warmly welcomed back students to their university. He briefed the participants about the overall preparations made by the University to enable students to pursue their education in safe and secured environment

The orientation dealt with different topics regarding preparations made to resume the discontinued classes. The first part of the orientation was facilitated by W/ro Mekdes Adane, Dean, Student Support Services Office. Her presentation focused on the care and precautions students should make during their stay on Campus to prevent themselves from the Virus. She also explained the preparations made by the University to make students learn in safe environment.
Highlighting the roles of SMU COVID-19 Compliance Officers, a team of volunteer students who work collaboratively with the University to make sure that the COVID-19 prevention mechanisms in place are implemented properly and students learn in safe and secured environment, W/ro Mekdes urged all students to collaborate with the Officers. Besides, she indicated that students can contact the Guidance and Counseling Unit and First Aid Clinic for any assistance and can use the telegram channels at respective departments for online support. She also provided important telephone numbers the students can use in case of COVID-19 emergencies.

The second part of the orientation was related to preparations made in relation to academic affairs, which was facilitated by Misganaw Solomon (PhD). He briefed the students that:

• Classes will begin on the coming Monday, November 9, 2020 (Tikimt 30, 2013 E.C.);
• The delivery mechanism will become independent learning, where much will be done by students through learning resources made available on the University’s Learning Management System (LMS) and the instructor will focus only on major topics;
• Students are required to download and read/watch lecture notes, slides, videos ahead of time and come up with questions to facilitate fruitful deliberations;
• A group of students will be assigned to one classroom and each student should take a permanent seat in the classroom until they finish their courses;
• The face-to-face lecture time will be just forty minutes, to minimize physical contact among students and instructors; and
• Students can get support from the Student Support Services Office and their respective departments.

The third part of the orientation session was on how to take exams online using Learning Management System (LMS). This was presented by Henok Teklu, Director, ICT Development and Support Unit, SMU. He demonstrated how the system works. The final part of the orientation was a Q & A session, where the participants raised questions and concerns and detail responses were given by the orientation facilitators.