Center for Information & Communication Technology
Center for Information and Communication Technology (CICT)
Introduction
The Centre for Information and Communication Technology (CICT) is the main hub of the Institution in terms of digital Information and Communication delivery, training and software solutions. The Centre serves the entire staff and students of the Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro.
The mission of the Centre is to train versatile and multi-skilled staff and students for further advancement in the world of ICT within the corporate academic culture and tradition. Our vision is to make the Institution ICT Centre a techno-change hub where the expertise and technical competency of the trained would be retrained for effective teaching, research, innovation and invention needed for communication and National Development.
The services at the CICT are provided per time and delivered in real-time, particularly, the activities involving, admission, resolving issues for students on the portal and ensuring staff can download and upload students' results on the portal and many more. The centre is always open to work and carries out services online after closing hours.
The quality of our service delivery is second to none. Dealing with staff and students of the Polytechnic demands that quality services are rendered. The centre ensures the correctness of information provided and to the appropriate quarter. The centre gives relevant information and numerous solutions to the Institution as the need arises.
The responsiveness at the CICT can be said to be 24 hours. The ability to work both physically and virtually makes responsiveness a smooth ride for the centre.
Services at the Centre.
The services at the Centre include but are not limited to the following:
a. Internet Provision
The Internet is an important tool for curriculum delivery and Academic research. The world is commonly called a global village with numerous and diverse information readily made available, all thanks to the Internet that connects the world as a global village. The Centre is responsible for providing and managing Internet across both staff and students.
The current capacity of the internet is 160mbps/160mbps against the previous bandwidth capacity of 20mbps/20mbps. The internet provision is currently from Globacom and Airtel at 80mbps/80mbps respectively. To improve coverage, wireless access points have been installed in each school and almost all departments have been connected via the fibre optic link running from the west and east campuses and around the premises. Surveillance cameras were installed at strategic or sensitive locations such as the ICT laboratories and the Institution's main gate and environs to provide surveillance and help the Security Unit deliver its services more efficiently. To enhance access to research materials and current information/literature, an e-library centre with 200 units of all-in-one computers, with a dedicated internet bandwidth is in place. In addition, there is a provision for the internet in offices to support easy access to online information and literature to support research in the Polytechnic.
b. Software Solutions
Student Portal
The admission process for students, from the initial application process, to result in processing, issuing of certificates and transcripts are digitized making it easy for students to carry out such activities successfully. The Centre is responsible for managing and providing this service.
Learning Management System (LMS)
This was developed during the COVID-19 Pandemic to ensure that students were meaningfully engaged.This is still very much in use and presently employed by Open Distance Flexible e-learning for lecture delivery.
E-library Resources
This is a software solution deployed on the website for both staff and students to have access to some e-book resources at the comfort of their homes. An initiative during the COVID-19 Pandemic is still very much in use. This is one of the solutions developed and deployed by the Centre.
Online Conferences, Journal, and e-repository
The Centre also ensured that the conferences and journals of the faculties (Schools) are hosted online for wider accessibility and reach. This has been impacted by the webometric ranking of the Institution. The e-Repository in particular contains the research outputs of the staff.
Computer-based-examination (CBE)
The Centre developed this solution to examine some selected courses, particularly general courses at 100 levels and more.
QR Code Certificate Generation
This handles the certificate generation of graduating students with the ease of certificate verification via the QR Code. Thus, eliminating the manual stressful means of verification.
Examination Record and Transcript Solution
The ERT solution was also developed to manage all the old records of students generated before the advent of the Portal to ease and speed up the transcript processing and delivery to former students.
Other solutions include:
E-Registry solution to manage all the operations within the Registry division.
The E-voting system was deployed during the COVID-19 Pandemic for the electoral processes of the Institution and is still much in use as the need arises.
c. Academic Research Integrity
The Turnitin Software to check the similarity index and academic integrity of intellectual properties of lecturers and students of the Polytechnic was purchased by the Institution and managed by the CICT for effective use and delivery. The centre also ensures that all staff have and use Institutional e-mail in the conduct of academic and administrative matters of the Polytechnic.
d. Training and Development
The advancement in the world and the dynamism being experienced in ICT calls for training and retraining of staff and students for the effective use and deployment of new trends in technology so as to keep pace with global standards. From time to time, staff are trained and retrained as the need arises, particularly for competency required for effective job delivery.
CISCO Academy
A student training arm of the ICT on Information Technology essentials and CCNA (computer networking) gives our students an edge over other students in terms of employment after graduation, due to the globally recognized qualifications acquired from the program. The program equips the student with the fundamental computer and IT skills needed to function effectively in the modern workspace environment.
