USP's student learning specialist, Raveena Goundar

The University of the South Pacific’s Semester Zero is an interactive online orientation program which is a first of its kind in the region.

USP’s student learning specialist, Raveena Goundar says this orientation program can be completed in less then four weeks and enables a smoother transition to university life.

She highlighted that in 2022 there were 2600 students that benefited from the program while in 2023 there were 3400 participants.

“So, we came up with the idea that we wanted to have something for the students so that they could get feel of the university life without even physically coming to the university so what happens at semester zero you get to test the basic literacy, numeracy and digital skills of all students.”

Goundar says that this program also aims to assist students with navigating the educational tools that they will be using in the University.

“Semester zero Chat GPT that we have introduced this year. So, what is semester zero GPT, if you have heard of Chat GPT it is a similar concept so it is an AI model that we have used as chat bot available on the semester zero course page so if you have any questions regarding semester zero or USP or your courses or anything it will respond to you in real time”.

The student learning specialists say that incorporation of AI in academia will engage students in an interactive manner.