School principals are in a critical position to get their staff and students to fully harness the potential of E-learning platforms, says a local provider of the Moodle E-learning platform.

The Samoa Information Technology Association’s Project Manager for the E-Learning Project, Mailo Henry Mailo, told the Samoa Observer on Thursday that currently seven schools in Samoa use the Moodle open-source learning management system.

They include Avele College, Samoa College, Leififi College, Channel College, Amoa College, Mataevave College and the Itu o tane College.

The Moodle systems used by the seven colleges were developed by Mailo as part of the SITA E-Learning Platform. On top of being the Project Manager, he is also the Managing Director of Urban Tech, a local IT firm providing services such as E-learning systems, network design and cloud hosting.

With the Government last week downgrading its COVID-19 Alert Level to Level 2 and directing educational institutions to move to remote learning platforms, Mailo says there is no better time to use Moodle than now.

Looking back at the project he manages and the performance of the seven colleges that have been using Moodle since 2020, Mailo said Avele College is currently ahead of their peers as they fully utilised the system. 

“This project is actually seven schools but we are only covering year 13," he said. 

"The experience we draw from this project, we need the top to bottom approach. 

“Principals must show commitment as they are the ones pushing the teachers down to students to use the system.”

Highlighting the vital role that college principals play, Mailo warned that if a principal failed to envision the future of education in technology, then his or her school will not advance and their students miss out on opportunities.

He said parents also have an important role to play if their college is part of an E-learning programme.

"Parents play a very important role because some of the parents, they don't believe in giving internet access to their kids,” he said.

“But then if they are not giving the opportunity for kids to use the internet then they won't be able to access the online materials.”

In terms of success stories connected to the project he is managing, Mailo said he was of the view that the Moodle platform was a major factor in Avele College's academic success last year when 99 students qualified for the National University of Samoa’s University Preparatory Year (U.P.Y.) program. 

Following the Government’s directive last week for schools to move to remote learning, a lot of educational institutions designed a pick-up and drop-off of assignments method to enable their students to continue learning at home during the lockdown.

However, Mailo said a school that joined the Moodle platform did not need to do that. 

Using the Avele College as an example, he said the Moodle platform was initially intended for only Year 13 students, but is now available to all levels of the college. 

"For Avele the whole Year 9 is starting now. It started with Year 13 and Year 12 on Monday, and by Wednesday Year 9, Year 10, and Year 11 have been included," he said.

"Imagine a kid that is from Savai’i that is from a school with no Moodle so that means they have to travel all the way while the disease is spreading.

"So Avele students living in Savaii, they don't have to come. 

“Notifications are now distributed through the Facebook channel and then they can log into the Moodle system where the resources are available."

Mailo also indicated that making Moodle available for all levels at Avele College was also a contribution of the SITA membership who are alumni of the college.

If resources are given out, Mailo said that there is no interaction and no teacher present to provide assistance. But with the Moodle platform, students have access to a virtual classroom where they are in contact with teachers and see the blackboard as lessons are being delivered.

Mailo is hopeful that more schools will join the project enabling them to access the platform, as it will avoid any adverse effects on a child’s education in the event of another Alert Level 3 Lockdown. 

And with the uncertainty surrounding the country’s active COVID-19 cases which now stands at 31, Mailo has revealed that some schools have shown interest in the platform. 

"Therefore we would love to do this and add more schools because there are a lot of other schools that are now showing interest because they can see that the project is being rolled out now, it's almost two years now," he said.

"There is actually no better time to do Moodle and use Moodle than right now.

"We would like to acknowledge Christina Mualia and U.N.D.P. for believing in us and for making this project possible. 

“It requires money to pay for the system to be installed, patent licences of the software used, pay little allowance to our S.I.T.A. members."

Mailo then appealed to the community for assistance in expanding the project in order for it to reach all schools across the country.