SIS Mid Review Report - 2012

Mid Year Report 2012

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

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


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

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