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Saturday, May 22, 2021

CHALLENGES NAFTI STUDENT FACED DURING E-LEARNING

  

 Source: SABC-NEWS
         

Checking the temperature of a student 

 

The COVID-19 pandemic came with new and innovative ways of doing regular activities and academic institutions are not left out. Teaching and learning activities had to be done online since schools were closed down to prevent the spread of the virus. 

The introduction of the e – learning sessions although was innovative it came along with challenges not only for students but for lecturers as well. 

 

                                                                                  

                                                                            Home page of e-learning portal 


 A Digital Art student at NAFTI, Gabrielle Mbida explains how the internet connection has affected her so much. "I find it very difficult to submit assignment on the school or E-learning portal, I sometimes have no choice than sending it via E-mail or WhatsApp in other not to miss the deadline or fail my course. In other cases, the portal is supposed to accept a file of 20 MB yet when I try to load an assignment of 5MB it is unable to load," she laments. 

Other students also stated that sometimes due to traffic on the e- learning platform it makes the server slow or makes the platform inaccessible. When this happens, they are unable to watch their lecture videos and also submit their assignments. 



          

A photo of the portal when its inaccessible

 

  

Belinda Oduro is a lecturer in the Broadcast Journalism Department at NAFTI. She also stated some challenges of the e- learning and how it has affected her.  "If at any given moment in time we have all the students and lecturers logging on to the platform at the same particular moment the system gets choked; it is so slow and can be quite frustrating when you want to upload a video. Sometimes, I have made it a point to wake up at 12 midnight or 1am just so I could upload my lessons or assignments or even mark assignments." She continues to lament, "I don't know whether the student really understood what I thought or not and whether they were answering the questions base on what they have learnt or what they googled or what their friends told them and it quite a challenge for me, so at the end of the day I still walk away not 100% sure whether the student has understood everything i taught or not." 


 The head of Technical at NAFTI, Stanley Yeboah explains what the main issue is and how the Institute is planning to solve the problem 




Mr. Stanley on how the e -learning problems are being handled


E-learning despite its numerous challenges, has come to stay, as such management needs to offer the best solution to ensure that teaching and learning is effective at NAFTI.  


                                                        

                                        Front view of the National Film and Television Institute(NAFTI)

 

Written by: Ophelia Dzamesi. 

  

 
 

 

Friday, May 21, 2021

Prohibition Of Sports Betting Among Muslims - Final Production



In recent times, the number of people engaging in sports betting activities have significantly increased due to factors such as media advertisement and accessibility to these services online

                                              
                                     A photo of a billboard advertising betting


Due to this mass involvement sports betting has become a norm in the society however, did you know that engaging in sports betting activities is regarded as a taboo in Muslim communities?

Although sports betting has been criticized by various religions it appears that the Islamic religion has taken the fight against betting more seriously.

The National Chief Imam, Osman Nuhu Sharabutu who is the leader of the Islamic faith in Ghana has sponsored the mounting of billboards at various parts of Accra to discourage Muslims from engaging in what he has described as an evil act.

                             

                                                
                                          
A photo of the Chief Imam’s billboard


Despite massive campaigns by the National Chief Imam and other clerics of the Islamic faith, some Muslims continue to engage in betting activities as betting centers are constantly filled with people.

                                         

                                      
                             A photo of a betting center at Nima filled with people                       

                         

This seems to indicate that the message being preached by the Islamic leaders have fallen on deaf ears.

In an interview with some Muslim youths in Nima, some stated that they continue to engage in betting activities since they are no jobs for them and it’s their only means of putting food on the table for their families. For some Muslims however, they were compelled to stop engaging in betting activities after losing huge amounts of money and valuable properties.

A cleric of the Islamic Research Institute, Sheikh Abdul Zakaria says such misfortunes are simply warnings and insists that those who engage in betting will incur the wrath of Allah despite their justification.

                         



Sheikh Zakaria explaining the cost for engaging in betting for Muslims

Would these warnings from Islamic leaders deter Muslims from engaging in betting activities? Only time will tell but for now betting companies will continue to fill their pockets as more people keep patronizing their services.

By Jonathan Bright Kwaw 




 


Wednesday, March 17, 2021

Elsie - Sound upload

 


Hi, 
Today is another exciting week and I just learned how to upload an audio from Sound Cloud to my blog 
Yaaay

Saturday, March 13, 2021

ONLINE JOURNALISM WEEK 6: FACTS CHECKING.CHIOMA BREAKUP WITH DAVIDO LAST OCTOBER

 Hi guys! Happy to come to you today with new stuff. For one week we engaged into a fact-checking investigation to verify a piece of information seen on an Instagram post (by gistdey247) which alleged that Chioma, the fiancée of the Nigerian singer, Davido, dumped him last year in October. Below we bring you a short report the process.

I.       INSTAGRAM

We started by checking the Instagram accounts of Chioma and Davido, as well as those of their close relationships. We didn’t find any evidence to prove or disprove the rumour.

II.    GHANAFACTS AND AFRICACHECK.ORG.
Our fact checking journey continued on. Here after entering the key words ‘Chioma’, ‘Davido’, ‘breakup’ we didn’t obtain any results. We didn’t give up yet.

GOOGLE RESEARCH

We went further to check on Google. In our Google search, we entered the key words “Chioma”, “Break UP”, Davido”. The results directed us to some sites including the following:

-          www.stelladimokokorkus.com
www.bellanaija.com 
https://www.lindaikejisblog.com/ 
www.naijaloaded.com
http://misspetitenaijablog.com/
https://thestreetjournal.org/ 

All these sites confirmed the rumors. Some even went a step further to say that Chioma even had a romantic date with a mystery guy, but with no evidence except the pictures below:


  •        

I.     CHECKING ON ENTERTAINMENT SITES AND BLOGS

 The next step of our fact check led us to top Nigerian celebrities and entertainment sites and blogs such as:

GISTMANIA (https://www.gistmania.com/)

Ø  Pulse.ng (https://www.pulse.ng/)

Ø  JAGUDA.com (https://jaguda.com/)

Ø  Thenet.ngNET (https://thenet.ng/)

Ø  TooXeclusive (https://tooxclusive.com/)

Ø  NiajaLoaded (https://www.naijaloaded.com.ng/)

Ø  BellaNaija (https://www.bellanaija.com/

Ø  Some of these sites and blogs just re-echoed the rumour, yet with no tangible fact to confirm it.

Other sites such as Pulse.ng, Jaguda.com, TooXeclusive, BellaNaija came up with some updates that point to fake news. One of them is Davido’s performance of his song ‘Assurance’ which was dedicated to Chioma at Jimmy Kimmel Live on March 2021. (https://www.pulse.ng/entertainment/celebrities/davido-performs-record-dedicated-to-fiancee-chioma-days-after-he-was-seen-with/y4y2rge

).  Another is Chioma’s  present to Davido on his birthday on 21 November 2020 (A month after the alleged breakup).
 I.     GOOGLE REVERSE IMAGE SEARCH

We then carried out a Google reverse image search on pictures we got on some of these blogs.

  




The aim was to find out the original context where the picture was taken.

We found out that these pictures were taken before the alleged breakup and not after as the blog post suggested.

I.     VIDEO VERIFICATION WITH INVID

We finally did an Invid verification on two videos featuring Davido to check their authenticity.

Video 1: Davido’s live performance at the American television show, Jimmy Kimmel Live, on 2 March 2021. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmUs9o6hoMA

Video 2: Davido steps out with a mystery woman as he is on vacation with his crew in St Marteen https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3v9k-dX3jCE



The InVid analysis carried out on this video (both Key Frames and Contextual analysis) show that the videos are authentic. There is however no cast-on-stone evidence of a break up.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, though many sites and posts on the web and social media have mentioned a break-up between Chioma and Davido, there is no tangible and undeniable facts proving it. Some facts, however, tend to point to fake news. These include

Ø  Davido’s performance on 2 March 2021 on a song dedicated to Chioma (Assurance).

Ø  The Birthday gift offered to Davido by Chioma on 21 November 2020 (when rumours say they broke up in October 2020).

While waiting for more evidence in favour or against the rumour, we can just consider this rumour as what it is: a simple rumour, a fake.

BY: -       GRACE BENEWAH

-                                    JONATHAN BRIGHT KWAW

-                                   JACQUELINE YEBOAA OWUSU

-                                 MICHELLE ANSU-ASUMA

-                               NDZOMO VALERY JOEL MBIDA

             OPHELIA DZAMESI

Wednesday, March 10, 2021

FACTS CHECKING "2021 DANGOTE EMPOWERMENT" - THE PREMIUM FACTS CHECKERS GROUP

 STORY

The story we used for the facts checking assignment was a story that was circulating on WhatsApp and other social media platforms. The story reads as follow:


“The Dangote Foundation is dedicated to adding value to people’s lives across Africa by facilitating health, education and empowerment initiatives, Proceed Now To Apply By Filling The Provided Form and Choose Your Preffered Payment Method, Your Account Will Be Credited As Soon As Possible.”

  1. Going through the official website of Dangote Foundation, there was no such offering of cash prizes as a form of empowerment by the foundation.
  2. The website that shared the said information also has no contact information. Although there is a Contact Button, nothing appears when you click on it. This clearly makes it a fake or phishing website.
  3. The site also has only one webpage which makes it suspicious.
  4. A fact checking organization by the name Dubawa.com also confirmed the said story to be fake.
  5. When the Dangote Foundation was contacted by Dubawa.Com, they disclosed to them the information is false.
  6. According a trusted news website by name Vanguardngr.Com, the Dangote Foundation in a statement signed by Mr. Francis Awowole-Browne, Director, Corporate Communication Department, Dangote Industries Limited, said the scheme was a scam.
  7. A search of the named director of the Corporate Communication Department, Francis Awowole-Browne revealed that he is indeed a member of company.
  8. The International Centre for Investigative Reporting, which is also a credible facts-checking firm in Nigeria also confirmed the falsehood of the “2021 Dangote Support Fund

CRITERIA FOR FACT-CHECKING THE STORY

1.      We checked from a facts-checking website for the credibility of the story

2.      We searched the profile of the director of the Corporate Communication Department of Dangote Industries Limited on LinkedIn to confirm his position in the company as “Vanguard.com” indicated.

3.      We also verified the authenticity of the website which shared the information by looking out for basic requirements of an official website such as contact details and different webpages.

4.      We also made follow-up on the official website of the Dangote Foundation to check if there is such information on their site.

5.      We also searched if other credible sources have the same story but the result was negative.

     In view of the above findings, we've come to the conclusion that the story is false and is intended to steal personal information of people who fall for it.

6.      We have attached links to our sources and a PDF Version of the Report for easy verification and perusal.

SOURCES

Source 1

Source 2

Source 3

Source 4

PDF Version of the Report

GROUP MEMBERS

1.      RICHMOND JOE BAIDOO        -           20130013

2.      BARNABAS ESSEL                    -          

3.      MICHAEL BOAKYE                  -          

4.      RHODA KRAH                           -           20120028

5.      ELSIE OFUATEY KOJDOE       -           20120032

6.      NADEEN MENSAH                  -           20130018

EFFECTIVENESS OF THE DIGITAL ADDRESS SYSTEM - FINAL PRODUCTION

The address system in this country is very bad to the extent that, sometimes when people are filling forms and are requested for their addre...