Vice-Chancellor's Report to University Council 2019/2020

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a decision to move the MBBS Final examination to delivery on the Cross-Campus Moodle (CCM) system—the University’s virtual learning management system hosted by the Open Campus for delivery of cross- campus course materials for students who are registered at different UWI Campuses.

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Sports Broadcasting – a collaborative OCAS, CPEC and Faculty of Sport initiative that brought in 25 participants at US $750 per person for a five-day workshop spread across five weeks. This workshop was tremendously successful and attracted Olympians, professional cricketers, seasoned broadcasters and novices.

The projected income from the first cohort is BB $3,342.43. Sports Coaching Psychology: developed to meet a specific need identified by the Dominica Olympic Committee, which sponsored the first cohort of participants. The projected income from the first cohort is BB $13,558.74. Fundamentals of Disaster Risk Financing for Advancing Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States: developed with funding from CCRIF SPC and includes 10 scholarships provided by CCRIF SPC.

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• COVID-19 and the various lockdowns which ensued increased the dependence on technology to such a degree that it was found that many individuals did not possess the requisite skills to manage the new demands. This was a catalyst for the planning of a free webinar entitled “Technology for Everyday Tasks” for prospective students as well as the public which provided training on the use of technology for online banking and bill payment. This community outreach initiative by Open Campus Jamaica Eastern provided a platform to highlight Open Campus programmes and courses. • The Sites’ technicians were tasked with monitoring online teaching sessions for CPE learners to ensure the effective delivery of teaching. By the summer of 2019/20, course participants were able to apply online to select from an offering of eight courses delivered over a 5-7-week period. A digitization project was also implemented to convert printed forms to electronic forms that were completed and submitted electronically.

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Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Human Resource department, through collaboration with its internal stakeholders, expanded the existing Home Based Work Arrangement (HBWA) to include all staff across its jurisdictions. The HBWA allowed the Open Campus to continue functioning and maintaining its customary high service to stakeholders, notwithstanding the national shutdowns across the region. To appreciate how the staff was responding to the HBWA, the HR department, with the support of the Planning and Institutional Research (PAIR) Unit, circulated a survey to staff. The responses were instructive and allowed the department to expand and enhance its training/development programmes and counselling services for staff so that they may be better able to cope with working during the pandemic and beyond.

Several workshops and webinars were offered: o CCRIF Train the Trainer Workshop: a fully funded workshop offered weekly for a total of five days over a period of five weeks designed to build the capacity of UWI Faculty to deliver the Fundamentals of Disaster Risk Financing for Advancing Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States course.

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CCRIF Summer Programme – a fully funded workshop offered by CCRIF SPC through The UWI Open Campus in place of its usual summer internship programme. SUMMER PASS – a collaborative OCCS and CPEC initiative to test cross-site operations for CPE delivery and to expand access to training at a low cost during the difficult economic times brought on by COVD-19. The gross revenue gained through this pilot initiative was BB $15,000.00.

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• 2019/2020 saw movement of the Cross-Campus Moodle (CCM) platform to an Amazon Web Services cloud hosted solution and managed the cross- campus migration.

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