sis mid review report - 2012

Mid Year Report 2012

2 Student Interactive Society | https://www.facebook.com/SLIIT.SIS

Contents At A Glance .................................................................................................................................................... 3

Noteworthy Successes .............................................................................................................................. 3

Next Semester Agenda.............................................................................................................................. 3

Presidents Letter ........................................................................................................................................... 4

Academics Committee .................................................................................................................................. 6

Multimedia capability in Laboratories .................................................................................................. 6

MAC OS Installed Laboratories ............................................................................................................. 6

More free Laboratories ......................................................................................................................... 6

SLIIT Moodle Issues ............................................................................................................................... 7

Reference and additional study materials ............................................................................................ 7

Library Issues ......................................................................................................................................... 8

Academic Feedback for Students .......................................................................................................... 8

Assignments and examinations ............................................................................................................ 9

Fourth year elective subjects ................................................................................................................ 9

Campus Life Committee .............................................................................................................................. 10

Open Hours at SLIIT ............................................................................................................................. 10

The Canteen at 1st Floor ...................................................................................................................... 10

Security Cameras for the Bag Rack at the Library ............................................................................... 11

Photocopy Machines within SLIIT ....................................................................................................... 11

“Batch” should be replaced by “Group” ............................................................................................. 11

Environment Utilization for study ....................................................................................................... 11

Security Camera Installment, Maintenance and Removal.................................................................. 12

D-Block Wi-Fi ....................................................................................................................................... 12

Library Books Limited to Study Content ............................................................................................. 12

Discussion Rooms in the Library ......................................................................................................... 13

Social Life Commiitee .................................................................................................................................. 14

Upcoming Events ................................................................................................................................ 14

Suggestions ......................................................................................................................................... 15



At A Glance Summary of the previous work and future plans

Noteworthy Successes

Ayubowan China together with AIESEC SLIIT

Bana Programme together with FCSC

Save A Life Blood donation Campaign

Wasantha Muwadora 2012

Mahasara Stage Drama with Art Circle

Research on Campus Issues

Facilitating Imagine Cup 2012 with FCSC

Next Semester Agenda

Poson Kalapaya together with FCSC

Pirith Program

Padura musical event with FCSC

Annual Dansala

Talent Show Together with Art Circle

Get Together 2012

SLIIT Walk

Going Down Party for final year students

Achieving solutions on campus issues

Sports Week together with Sports Council



Presidents Letter President’s evaluation of the organization and plans for the upcoming semester

Thank you for reading our mid-year, one of many projects we have undertaken to make the SIS more

responsive and effective. The most exciting work we are doing may very well be those internal

improvements we have made that will make our student-facing projects more numerous and successful.

As you will read the updates below, however, these internal reform projects have not negatively

impacted our ability to bring out valuable improvements to campus right now from the research on

campus issues to Wasantha Muwadora 2012.

When I came into office last March, I realized that

we were not as effective of an organization as we

could have been or ought to be from the lack of

camaraderie in the SIS to the inefficiency of

meetings of the SIS committee. It became clear to

me that I needed to focus on achieving results for

students but also needed to care for the SIS as an

organization. I believe that one of the most

important things I can do, aside from leading the SIS to achieve its goals is to set the organization up to

be successful after my term in office.

One important component of this long term vision is addressing issues in academic and campus life of

the students. I felt this issue must be addresses from SIS which will increase the standards of student life

of SLIIT and ultimately the overall standard of SLIIT. The notable achievement we have accomplished so

far is the inauguration of an active page using the social website Facebook to interact with the mass

student number of SLIIT. Students have actively take part in polls, questioners and posts put up there

regarding above matters. Feedbacks of the students enable the SIS to identify areas of student life to

highlight for the SLIIT management to focus more on. Academic Committee has benefited themselves

also to conduct research efficiently on their areas.

I have also made many attempts to explain to SIS to the incoming class in order to establish a good

relationship with them and to build excitement about becoming involved in the SIS. I hope this work will

spur on a new generation of capable and enthusiastic SIS committee members, since we can only be as

effective as those who are elected to office.

Although we are looking eagerly to the future, we have also been

very thoughtful about improving academic and campus life right now

or in the near future. For example Ayubowan China, powerhouse

under myself and Roshan Milinda has added a new variety to the

social life and an innovative experience to students bringing

together them in a totally new way. On top of that under Roshan

Milinda 1st and 2nd years were given opportunity to grow as leaders in the

SIS, gaining valuable experience which I hope will enable them to make even more meaningful



contributions going forward. Save A Life Blood Donation Campaign was totally organized by 1st and 2nd

years of Metro campus which brings future leadership potential to practice. Collabarative effort taken

with FCSC under Pasan Akalanka’s initiative for the Bana programme was successful with great

feedbacks. First time ever in SLIIT history a stage drama was staged together with Art Circle after about a

year of formation of Art Circle. This became an exceptional event and Art Circle is motivated to organize

more events under the leadership of Ranuka Madushan in the future.

In achieving SIS objectives of promoting cultural, social activities and

promoting healthy interpersonal relationship among the student

community and staff of SLIIT, Wasantha Muwadora 2012 was held.

This event became a huge success with the massive number of

participation and the variety, flow and uniqueness. I called risky but

essential shots during this project such as;

Dividing components of the events between Faculty student communities who were elected

recently during that time, but paid off really well as they cooperated and got to know each other

well.

Introduction of traditional dress code which symbolizes the unity and support for the SIS event

as well as safeguarding the true value of a cultural event.

This shortlist of highlights does not even begin to neither do justice to all of the work the SIS team has

done nor give full credit to the group effort required to pull off every single project, so please read the

project reference at the end of this report. As always, and especially in light of this report, I welcome

your feedbacks. Team of SIS genuinely enjoys making SLIIT better place, so let us know how we are

doing.

Mohan Chathuranga

President SIS



Academics Committee Assessment of the current scenarios and suggestions for improvement by the team

Multimedia capability in Laboratories

For the beneficial of SLIIT students in academic wise, it is better if the laboratory facilities allow

activating hearing capability in computers. When it comes to technical subjects, there are so

many video tutorials, podcasts etc. available in the internet. This action will allow the students

to gain the needed extra knowledge within the laboratory.

As we talked to the server room administrator in 4th floor this can be done and the only problem is

keeping the silent environment inside the lab. As a solution we can suggest to come up with a rule that

the students must use a headphone while they are using multimedia capability.

Further the components in current Windows XP installed in laboratories haven’t been updated

in years.

E.g.: Windows Explorer cannot view a YouTube video since the explorer had not been updated.

As a solution we have to move up for a new Windows OS since Microsoft officially stopped updating

Windows XP.

MAC OS Installed Laboratories

As the 3rd year and 4th year IT and SE students have Mobile Application Development subjects

they are always suffering from the lack of MAC OS installed computers in SLIIT Lab facility.

Although there is one lab in 7th floor, it is not enough for the whole 3rd year and 4th year

students. This is a very huge problem when it comes to assignment submission deadlines and

Mobile App projects all have come at once. Our suggestion for this problem is to build a new

facility and extend the prevailing lab working hours. Currently it is until 5 P.M. We suggest that

to increase until 8 P.M.

As we talked this problem with server room administrator in 4th floor this extension can be done for

group of students with a permission which was taken earlier from the server room officials. But it is

better if the students can stay until 8 P.M. without permission to help with their studies and projects.

More free Laboratories

The students of SLIIT expect a high availability of free computer laboratories to do their

assignments and other educational purposes. They also prefer a fast internet connection as well.

As an example currently the 401 computer laboratory is available mostly. But it is not in a good

condition since most of the PC’s do not function properly. There is a deficiency of hardware such as

keyboards and mouse and other issues like very slow functioning which delay student activities.

This could be minimized by effective usage of 4th floor and 7th floor computer laboratories and

replacing 401 and other laboratory hardware and seek other deficiencies in them in order to get

the maximum usage of organization’s resources and provide more free labs for students.



SLIIT Moodle Issues

As the SLIIT Moodle is one and only official web site for academic activities, this website must go

through several changes that help with the interaction between SLIIT and students. First of all

we can do a competition and come up with several new designs. Further, if the prevailing

system is upgrading, following components should change and added.

Student affairs notices are less visible so that it should be modified.

The Q & A answering forum in subject wise is less interactive (less readable and design

must be changed) and we must put an answer to see the answers from a Lecturer or a

student.

Research Collaboration system should be added. It will give the capability to students to

create research groups and have a separate forum for them to share knowledge.

File sharing facility for research groups must be added. (not large files just documents and

small files)

For Curtin and Sheffield students (IT, CSN, and BM), there must be a separate page not

only to share their knowledge with lecturers and colleagues but also to see the updates

from their foreign university. Currently those students only get the lecture slides which are

the lecturers given and there must be a way in Moodle to collaborate with those

universities and get the updates and learning materials.

There should be organized way of notifying the students about industrial competitions,

workshops etc. not only in SLIIT but also in outer world.

For the students’ societies and clubs there should be enough space in the site to share

their recent updates, coming events and to express their ideas.

It is better if there is a way of direct contacting the Student Affair division through the

Moodle in any case. This will be very helpful for students to contact SA Manager through

an email instead of idling in SA division.

The study materials, lecture schedules and exam time tables must be uploaded in a timely

manner. Methods like reminders to the mobile phone through moodle also would be

helpful in order to fulfill the student expectations and support their educational success.

Reference and additional study materials

To benefit with the students requirement of reference books, we as SIS is making a path to

supply those books with cheap price. We also talk this with Alumni Club and they agreed to

contact book sellers and do the needful as they also willing do the same welfare for the SLIIT

students.



As SIS we are considering about taking the 1st floor common room photo copy shop to our

authority and put a welfare photocopy shop which the students can make the copies and get

the other materials for a reasonable price.

Further, faculty wise, we are building a procedure to give students a past paper bundle with

marking schemes and even some additional subject discussions for junior students with the help

of senior students.

Library Issues

Currently in Reference Library, they are not allowing to take note books to that section. Only

things they allowed are rough sheets and laptops. This is a very problematic situation since the

student cannot even refer his own note or cannot take quotes from a reference book. As we

study allowing students to take their note books won’t give an extra burden to library staff and

this is really helpful for the students. As we talked to many students this is their main

requirement regarding library issues.

Talking about the discussion rooms in library, they are not allowing taking reference books to

that room. Actually those rooms are used by the student groups to have group discussions. So

allowing them to take reference books (after an authentication by a staff member) is really

helpful and will not be a problem to administration in Library.

Keeping large variety of books other than academic subject materials are essential for a

university library. So keeping books like novels, books under art, music, sociality and etc. is good

to create a wise and complete SLIIT student. This action also will help to build a better attitude

about SLIIT life in the student mind.

We also identified that the library doesn’t have the Wi-Fi access where it is very useful for

student’s educational purposes. Students would have great benefits through Wi-Fi connection

within library.

Availability of relevant library books should be ensured.

E.g. currently the a student who follow the HR/IS module and Change Management module which are

final year modules, have identified that the relevant reference books are not available in the SLIIT

library.

Academic Feedback for Students

Currently there is no any regular way of giving the feedbacks about the answers which the

students written on exam papers. Some lecturers tend to conduct paper discussion sessions

and other lecturers answers student questions privately one by one. If the lecturer can give a

comment about the student’s answer in the paper itself, it’ll be very helpful and the student

will really know what mistakes they have done in the examination.



Same procedure can be applied to project reports also. Further, we as SIS kindly request from

academic authorities to redistribute the reports to the students after finishing all the markings

and studying.

Assignments and examinations

The students are facing a tough schedule due to assignments of all subjects in the same time period

where they cannot allocate enough time for each assignment for best results. This is especially when

students are expected to balance with the mid examination, mid assignments, final examination and

final assignments.

Therefore differentiation of assignments which would include class quizzes and presentations and other

practical evaluations will be interesting especially when it comes to management subjects, since usually

it includes only a report submission.

The findings of the academic team showed that the students who follow theory subjects like

management subjects, believe that the questions from the practical aspect in the mid examination is

inappropriate since the knowledge by that time period is not sufficient especially since the new

course content they have faced. However this can be applied to all modules.

The practical aspect can be evaluated in assignments and the final examination. So that the students will

first have clear idea about the theories and then get a thorough knowledge through practical experience

and other methods like case studies.

Fourth year elective subjects

The high number of available elective subjects, student’s likes and dislikes, importance of a subject

and the path a student wish to take would affect the decision of electives. Students may not choose

a subject that would support the career he/she wish to take, due to not having a clear idea about

the available subjects. Or they may seem lost in selecting electives. This was identified through the

students who faced this situation.

A clear idea about the electives must be given to all the students, with an explanation of the paths to

follow through each module. Past performances in various modules can also be considered to select an

elective. The SLIIT lecturers and counseling can take part in this to make a student’s academic success.

Pasan Akalanka Pathirana Leader – Academics Team



Campus Life Committee Current trends and suggestions future developments of campus life by the CL Team

Here in this report some issues regarding the Campus life will be covered. These are some of the key

issues which we believe should be addressed initially to enhance the life of a student within SLIIT. The

Key focus will be on matters of student life concerned with current facilities which we believe need

some improvement as well as new facilities which need to be brought to make life at SLITT easier. Here

we provide some solutions to these issues which we believe would enhance the quality of the campus

life at SLIIT.

Open Hours at SLIIT

SLIIT is accepting many international students and the number of students enrolled every year is

increasing at a very rapid rate which means that facilities within SLIIT are used by a very high number of

students. Since the technical facilities are limited, this means there is limited usage of these facilities by

an average student and this is further limited by the hours SLIIT is open for students. Also this means

that there is less time for students to utilize their capabilities within SLITT premises as student groups.

So we believe that the current “open” hours for students at SLIIT must be increased.

AS a solution we propose that SLIIT should be open until 10.00 pm or 11.00pm. Students who are

close enough to SLIIT will be inclined to use SLIIT facilities during the night time and thus this will

create less competition for students during the daytime so that students living much further from

SLIIT will have more chances to use these facilities without facing too much competition.

The Canteen at 1st Floor

The problem with this canteen is that the prices offered for whatever food concerned is very much

higher than it should be. Students have no option but to pay a higher price for something of inferior

quality. The canteen of a campus should be able to offer cheap food for a reasonable quality. This

canteen is nothing but expensive and quality of food offered for this price is very much low. Also the

current menu is very much narrow especially when soft drinks are concerned. No soft drinks are

currently available in this canteen offering students no choice but to resort to using the lower canteen.

This inevitably creates much inconvenience when considering the lunch hours.

We propose that the crew running this canteen needs to be replaces by someone who can do this

considering the perspective of students. They should be able to offer something cheaper without

compromising quality to an extent which affects student health. A good example would be the crew

running the canteen at the ground floor. They offer a diversified menu convenient for students.



Security Cameras for the Bag Rack at the Library

The bag rack at the library in the 3rd floor needs a security camera because many students utilize the

library and during these hours their valuables or other student matter within their bags is unfortunately

susceptible to theft. Students may also mistake another’s bag for theirs.

To address this issue we believe that the installment of a security camera in this area is vital.

This can be used to trace the individuals responsible for theft and will also reduce the

possibilities of theft.

Photocopy Machines within SLIIT

There were some issues within the photocopy machine at the 1st floor common area, so we believe that

there is a need for a stable, affordable and a reliable photocopy machine. Students at SLIIT always had

to go outside of SLIIT to get photocopies at such times.

To address this issue, we believe that SLIIT could have a separate crew running a photocopy

machine service employed by SLIIT, offered with other facilities so that the revenue generated

goes to SLIIT.

Another Solution we believe is to have the above mentioned service run by students. This

creates an opportunity for students to earn money as well.

“Batch” should be replaced by “Group”

With the ever increasing number of students at SLIIT we see that sometimes one whole year of students

of a certain discipline are divided into two or more “batches”. This as we believe creates a division

among students of the same year following the same discipline and we believe this is a critical problem

as student unity is not enhanced by this. Also usually a batch is referred to a whole year of students

following a same discipline.

We believe that instead of the word ”Batch”, “Group” would be a more friendly word that

appeals to the psychology of the student. A word other than ”Batch” would be more suitable to

keep the unity of students within the same discipline more tight.

Environment Utilization for study

With the ever increasing numbers of students at SLIIT, finding an area for study is becoming an

escalating problem. The first floor common area and the second floor of the main building get crowded

day by day. So is the open area available in the D-Block. Due to many students getting into one closed

area, the groups in these areas have to bear up the noise of each other. This decreases the probability of

students studying together at SLIIT which means they end up studying at one or another’s boarding

house. This is very inconvenient since their access to required facilities will be very much limited in

nature.



To address this issue we propose that “Summer Huts” should be built in many possible areas

of SLIIT. This means that students will be studying in open areas hence one study group will

not disturb another. Also students requiring electricity to use laptops will have more space

and less problems when using the first floor common area and the second floor in the main

building, since those who do not require electricity will always be very inclined to use these

“Summer Huts” as it will be less noisy.

Security Camera Installment, Maintenance and Removal

Some of the Security Cameras are in fact not suitable for security. Their power can be easily removed

and hence during certain events organized at SLIIT, whenever any random issue concerned with security

arises, much of the blame goes to the students responsible for organizing, where they are held

responsible for the dysfunctional security cameras. The security camera may be in fact dysfunctional for

a long time and the concern about its functionality comes when the event is being organized. This is very

much unfair from the student perspective as the fault is not theirs but in the installment and

maintenance of cameras.

We believe that all the cameras at SLIIT should be up to a certain standard. They shouldn’t have

their power cables accessible from the outside; otherwise anyone can remove this, disabling the

camera power. Cameras that are more “Student-Proof” should be used. Cameras not up to this

standard should be replaced with proper ones.

D-Block Wi-Fi

Students in the D-Block have no access to Wi-Fi services. This is pretty much of an inconvenience to

them. Also this means that there are more students in the 1st and the 2nd floor competing for Wi-Fi

services meaning there will be too much crowd in these floor which is not very conducive to student

activities.

Wi-Fi services should be installed in the D-Block.

Library Books Limited to Study Content

The books in the library at SLIIT are very much limited to the course content of students. Students

should also have access to books which are beyond their content and context so that character

development is enhanced within SLIIT. A university is not just a place for study but a place where

students can gain universal knowledge and develop their personality, so we think the library could have

novels, in Sinhalese and English, and could have books on other disciplines such as Politics, Medicine,

Physical Sciences, Arts, Languages, etc. This will be conducive to the mental health of students and

develop a culture within SLIIT. This will also lead to students being more diversified in their final year

projects and enable their “Out of the box” thinking.

We propose bringing new books to the library that are more diversified in their context.



Discussion Rooms in the Library

The Discussion rooms in the library are not in a very conducive state for students since their air

conditioning systems are most of the time switched of, which forces students to leave the library for

discussions on subject matter, which means they have to face the problems mentioned in (6). This also

means that the extra space allocated for the discussion rooms is becoming of no use to students.

The solution would be to switch on the air conditioning systems, when students enter into the

discussion room.

This concludes the report on issues regarding Campus Life. We hope to do our best to solve these issues

in our capability to make student life at SLIIT convenient and comfortable.

Lahiru Kasun Rasnayake

Campus Life Team



Social Life Commiitee Summary of the undergraduate social life of SLIIT and preferred improvements

Upcoming Events

Get-Together 2012

This is the most known and anticipated event of the SLIIT calendar. All the students and the staff of SLIIT

will get together to enjoy themselves. Most importantly this is being organized to welcome the 1st year

students by their seniors. It’d be a life remembering experience on behalf of the 1st year students and

the most awaited for the rest of the students.

A giant stage will be created to welcome Mr. & Mrs. SLIIT competitors as well as various talents of the

SLIIT undergraduates. Apart from academic excellence students have various capabilities and talents in

arts like singing, dancing, acting etc. To show case this unmatched talent SIS will organize the Talent

Show 2012 which will be commenced weeks before the Annual Get.

Talent show comprises of:

Auditions

Stage Play

Students will face an audition, which will be judged by industry professionals for their talents. After the

1st auditions the selected will go through training and more practices to fine-tune their talents to face

the next stage of auditions where the best out of the best will be selected.

Then they finally selected students will practice with the band itself that will play at the stage play on

the Annual Get-together. After practicing and enhancing their skills and talents they will perform in front

of the entire SLIIT audience unveiling the hidden potential of SLIIT undergraduates.



Suggestions

Social Interactivity between Students and Staff, Students and other universities as well as

Students and Industry is a matter that we should highly take in to consideration. Apart from the

robofest, there is no other event Organized by SLIIT which industry partners, other universities and

schools participates. So to make the relationships or the interactivity between SLIIT students and other

parties stronger we can organize some events such as given below.

Annual Dinner – Dance ( A social)

Annual Dinner – Dance for the 3rd year or final year students will be a great opportunity to

interact well with their lecturers and industrial community. We suggest that it would be better if this

event can be held at outside premises.

Out comes

Increases the bond between SLIIT and Industry partners.

Final Year Students Get the opportunity to know the Industrial community.

Increases the bond between Students and The academic staff as well as non-Academic

staff.

Inter-University Quiz Competitions

An undergraduate, as a young learner, is obliged to pass on and dispense the experience and

knowledge he/she gained as an undergraduate to benefit the rest of the society.

Inter-University quiz competitions will encourage the under-graduates to achieve academic

excellence and increase their awareness of the latest happenings of other university students around

and increase the bond between them.

Objectives

To increase the bond between the under-graduates of SLIIT and other universities as well as the

Industrial Community.

Test students’ accumulation and retention of knowledge in a real life situation.

To encourage independent study and academic excellence.

Recognize and appreciate non-traditional venues for competition.

Build self-esteem.



Empower students with new understandings

Provide opportunities for faculty, students, and the community to work together.

Inter-School Quiz Competitions

Having a Quiz competition, by inviting all Advance Level school students will be a great

opportunity to promote the degrees in SLIIT as well as to improve the knowledge of the students and

gain experience by giving them a chance to work as a team and to achieve a common goal.

These Quiz Competitions can be taken in to the next level by joining with several industry level

sponsors and further this can be make into even a Television program by joining hands with a Television

channel and make this a Programme such as Future minds etc. By this SLIIT will be more recognized.

Kasun Hapuarachchi

Leader – Social Life Team

sis mid review report - 2012

Education