Transition to Online Teaching and Learning during the COVID-19 Pandamic
This project was initiated to investigate various dimensions of online education as it has been in practice in higher education in Sri Lanka since the COVID-19 pandemic. Some of those dimensions include pedagogies for effective online teaching, the effective use of technology, teachers’ familiarity with online tools of teaching, the adaptation of traditional pedagogical practices to suit online teaching, online assessment, online learning strategies, learner motivation and student satisfaction. While exploring the type of online teaching and learning practiced in the country during the pandemic, the project intends to experiment on implementing some selected models of blended learning in higher education in post-COVID-19 Sri Lanka.
Project Coordinator:
Dr. Sujeewa Hettiarachchi
Research Team:
Professor Shirantha Heenkenda
Professor BWR Damayanthi
Professor Lalith Ananda
Professor Manjula Ranagalage (Rajarata University of Sri Lanka)
DMSLB Dissanayake (Rajarata University of Sri Lanka)
Student Internship Programmes in Humanities and Social Sciences
In the context of globalization, the traditional view that universities are essentially designed for the production and dissemination of knowledge has changed. Universities have ceased to exist only as a source of information, knowledge and research, and have been linked to individual, social and national development. At present, universities worldwide are under pressure to provide degree programs that align with graduate employment and industrial needs, and hence to perform for the service of the nation.
The current university system in Sri Lanka has been criticized for its failure to fulfill the expectations of the stakeholders. According to the Central Bank Report of 2009, “the country has a supply-driven education system with little relevance to labor market conditions and to entrepreneurial culture”, highlighting the structural imbalance between the employer and the undergraduate. Despite the abundance of literature about the mismatch between university education and demands of the labor market in Sri Lanka, the role of undergraduate internships as a means of lessening unemployment and underemployment through bridging the gap between the level of student’s skills and market demand has not been studied. Thus, this project aims to investigate the role of internships in enhancing the employability of graduates in Humanities and Social Sciences.
Project Coordinator:
Ven. Prof. Pinnawala Sangasumana
Research Team:
Ven. Kudakathnoruwe Vineetha
Dr. Kanchanakesi Warnapala
Dr. Rasanjalie Perera
Mr. Ajantha Kalyanaratne
Mrs. Geethika Rathnayake
Mr. N. A. N. J. Maduwansha
Mr. G. P. S. Nalaka
Ms. P. D. Wijesekara
Determinants of Students’ Academic Success in Higher Education
As commonly reported in the literature on higher education, students’ academic success in universities can be determined by a variety of cognitive and non-cognitive factors. While cognitive factors can include intelligence, academic abilities and aptitude, non-cognitive abilities encompass elements such as academic behaviors, academic perseverance, social skills, learning strategies and academic mindsets. Even though many studies have revealed how these factors can determine academic success in different socio-cultural contexts around the world, how these attributes are related to academic success in the Sri Lankan context is less known. Thus, this project is undertaken to investigate how various non-cognitive factors determine student academic success in higher education in Sri Lanka. The study of these factors can help university administrators with their decisions on university admission as well as establishing support services in universities to enhance students’ academic success.
Project Coordinator
Dr. Shantha Wijesinghe
Research Team
Mr. N. M. A. Jayasinghe
Ms. Nadeesha Abeyrathne
Ms. P. D. Wijesekara
Use of Digital Research Methods among Academics in Humanities and Social Sciences at Sri Lankan Universities
Digital Research or Digitally mediated research methods means the use of online and other digital technologies for research purposes. This is a novel research orientation developed during the past decade with the advancement of digital technologies. As a recent upliftment, this new research orientation has been acclaimed by both Humanities and Social Science researchers as they were witnessing the accelerated changing patterns of the society and its people with the changing digital technologies. This research project on ‘Digital Humanities and Social Sciences’ investigates the digital research orientation among Humanities and Social Science researchers in Sri Lanka. Hence, we expect that this project will reveal the existing situation of the country concerning the use of digital humanities and social sciences.
Project Coordinator:
Dr. Tharaka Ananda
Research Team:
Senior Professor Premakumara de Silva (University of Colombo)
Mr. Ravi Gamachchige
Mr. G. P. S. Nalaka
Ms. Shohani Badullahewage
The Project on the Vedda Language
According to many sources (e.g., De Silva, 1959; Dharmadasa, 1974; UNESCO 2003), ‘Vedda’ is a language that is nearing its extinction. Such an extinction of the language of the indigenous community of Sri Lanka may not simply mean the death of another language, but a loss of access to a vibrant ancient culture in the world. Although the creole of the Vedda communities of Sri Lanka is an extensively researched domain particularly from anthropological perspectives, scrutiny of such scholarly works would also reveal that most of them had been completed either in the 1970s or in the 1980s.
The aim of this linguistic Project on the Vedda language is mainly to document this language from a synchronic perspective, though for comparative purposes its historical development too will be examined. Within this broader aim, we undertake the following tasks which constitute an inquiry into this language from several perspectives, which are essentially original when compared to existing research on this area.
- To compile a comprehensive grammar of the Vedda language from a generative syntactic perspective.
- Digitization of the Vedda lexicon: This will be a project undertaken within the Vedda language project to digitize not only the already documented vocabulary, of which many are not in use among the present-day Veddas but also the contemporary vocabulary of the Veddas.
- Qualitative ethnographic research to unravel the synchronic aspects of the Vedda creole in terms of sociolinguistic dimensions by exploring the nexus between the Vedda communities and language use in a broader context of society.
Project Coordinator
Professor Lalith Ananda
Research Team
Ven Professor Madagampitiye Vijithadamma
Prof Saman Chandra Ranasinghe
Professor R. Chandrasoma (University of Sydney)
Dr. Tharanga Weerasooriya
Publications:
The syntax of the Vedda language (International Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies)
Employability Survey of Arts Graduates
This is a longitudinal research project undertaken to trace the employability status of the graduates of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. The results are expected to inform the curriculum revision process of the faculty.
Research Team
Prof. Charmalie Nahallage
Piyoda Wijesekara (RA)